To celebrate the upcoming Black History Month, Apple unveiled a new Black Unity Collection to commemorate Black culture and community. The company says this collection is inspired by the “rhythm of humanity” and includes a special-edition Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop, a matching watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpapers.
As it did last year, the new watch face and wallpapers will likely be available later today with iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and watchOS 11.3 updates.
Apple says it’s supporting several global organizations whose work focuses on elements of rhythm, creativity, and community. This includes grants to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans, Battersea Arts Centre in London, Music Forward Foundation in Los Angeles, Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and The National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee. Apple’s support for these organizations builds upon the company’s longstanding commitment to advancing economic, educational, and creative opportunities in communities around the world.
This time, the collection Unity Rhythm weaves together the colors of the Pan-African flag: black, green, and red. The Black Unity Sport Loop is woven in a custom pattern of raised and recessed loops that creates a lenticular effect, revealing green on one side of each loop and red on the other. When the band is worn, the colors appear dynamic, shifting from green to red as a user moves their wrist, and the color yellow appears in the transition.
The matching Unity Rhythm watch face features custom numerals formed by intertwined threads of red, green, and yellow. The watch face reacts to the gyroscope, so when a user raises their wrist to check the time, the strands coalesce from a series of abstract brush strokes into digits. When using the Unity Rhythm watch face, distinctive, rhythmic chimes mark every hour and a half hour.
The Unity Rhythm iPhone and iPad wallpapers feature the same custom lettering writing the word “Unity,” which changes orientation when the device is unlocked and locked.
The Black Unity Sport Loop is available for order on the Apple Store online today, and will be available in Apple Store locations beginning this week for $49 (U.S.).
