About Jeffrey Williams
At Apple’s September 2024 event, Williams introduced the Apple Watch Series 10, describing it as “the biggest wearable display we've ever built, even slightly bigger than Apple Watch Ultra!” He stated that “Apple Watch is an indispensable companion, and the display is central to everything you do with it.” During a December 2024 Red Chair Chat at NC State, Williams reflected on his career, noting that he joined Apple in 1998 when the company “had just lost a billion dollars, was almost, had to borrow money to make payroll.” He said that ideas at Apple “surface sort of anywhere across Apple” and that the company does not have “the idea department or the innovation department.” He also recounted receiving daily letters from Apple Watch users about the device’s impact on their health, saying it “helped save their life.”
Williams has a history of discussing Apple’s manufacturing and health initiatives. In 2017, he announced a $200 million commitment from Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund to Corning’s Harrodsburg, Kentucky facility for advanced glass technologies, stating, “It’s only fitting that the first commitment from that fund be for Corning.” He described the original iPhone’s shift from plastic to glass, saying Steve Jobs insisted “when it ships in June, it needs to be glass.” In 2015, Williams called the car “the ultimate mobile device” and said Apple explores “all kinds of categories” where it can “make a huge difference.” He has emphasized Apple’s vertical integration, stating, “I know of no other company as vertically integrated,” and noted the company’s focus on health, saying, “We view the fact that you wear this, we have an opportunity and maybe even a moral obligation to try to help people live a healthier life.”
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Jeffrey Williams's recent appearances.
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Transcript (5 segments)
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Jeffrey Williams0:00
Apple Watch has made a profound impact on so many of our customers' lives, and we continue to be inspired. This year, watchOS 7 adds several important health features that take advantage of the powerful technology in Apple Watch. The new sleep app uses the motion sensors to track your sleep. Automatic hand washing detection recognizes the motion and sound when washing your hands and encourages you to continue for the recommended 20 seconds. And watchOS 7 now uses your motion and heart rate to measure a lower range of VO2 max values. Now, the American Heart Association recommends routinely assessing cardio fitness levels, and VO2 max is the most accurate way to capture this. The problem is it's usually only measured in specialty clinics, but watchOS 7 can now measure a full range of VO2 max, which is a powerful predictor of your overall health. And coming later this year, you can receive a notification if your VO2 max drops to those lower levels. Each year, Apple Watch raises the bar, adding new features and technology that improve our lives. This year, Apple Watch takes another big leap forward, and I'm excited to show it to you now.
This is the new Apple Watch Series 6, the perfect combination of powerful features and beautiful design. Series 6 is our most colorful lineup ever. There's a new blue aluminum case, this updated classic gold stainless steel finish, a new gray-black stainless steel called Graphite, and for the first time, a stunning new Apple Watch PRODUCT(RED). Now, on the inside, Series 6 is packed with incredible technology, including a new health sensor that enables an amazing new capability. Let's take a look.
With Apple Watch Series 6, you can measure your blood oxygen right from your wrist. The new health sensor in Series 6 shines red and infrared light onto your wrist and measures the amount of light reflected back. Advanced algorithms use this data to calculate the color of your blood, which indicates the amount of oxygen present. The new Blood Oxygen app lets you take a measurement in just 15 seconds. And Series 6 also captures periodic background readings and stores them in your Health app. So if you wear your Apple Watch to bed, it can record background measurements while you sleep. I'll hand it over to Sumbul to talk more about blood oxygen and its importance to your health.
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Sumbul Desai3:46
Oxygen saturation, also known as SpO2, is like a vital sign. It's a key measurement that contains critical information about your breathing and circulation. Apple Watch is already a powerful health tool with apps that measure heart rate and heart rhythm, and now adding blood oxygen brings another valuable health measurement to users. Blood oxygen and pulse oximetry are terms that we've heard a lot about during the COVID pandemic. As you breathe, your heart and lungs work together to deliver oxygen throughout your body. Blood oxygen saturation is an indication of how well this system is functioning and of your overall respiratory and cardiac health. And pulse oximetry is how you measure it. Now, the Blood Oxygen app on Series 6 lets you measure your blood oxygen for fitness and wellness purposes from your wrist, anywhere and at any time. This is a great new tool for your overall well-being. And to enable future medical discoveries, we're launching three new health research studies to learn how longitudinal blood oxygen measurements, along with other health metrics from Apple Watch, can help manage conditions that affect the heart and lungs. First, to study how to better manage and control asthma using physiological signals from Apple Watch, we're collaborating with the pulmonary experts at the University of California, Irvine, and Anthem. Second, to learn more about how metrics including blood oxygen can be used to manage heart failure, we're partnering with one of the largest research organizations in North America, the University Health Network, and investigators at the University of Toronto. And finally, as we all continue to learn more about COVID and understand the interplay with influenza, we're partnering with investigators of the Seattle Flu Study and faculty from the University of Washington School of Medicine. We will explore how changes in blood oxygen and heart rate can be early signals of the onset of these respiratory conditions. So that's the new blood oxygen feature. We're so excited to bring this important new health capability to our users. Now back to Jeff to tell you more about the new Apple Watch Series 6.
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Jeffrey Williams5:55
Whether you're measuring blood oxygen, making a phone call on your watch, or simply checking your activity rings, it's all made possible by Apple silicon. Inside Series 6 is our sixth-generation system in package. It's a purpose-built design that's absolutely unique in the industry. It includes a high-performance dual-core processor based on the A13 Bionic in iPhone 11, but optimized for Apple Watch. The S6 is up to 20% faster than the previous generation. Series 6 also has great new features that are perfect for when you're out and about.
