Subtle changes that mostly go unnoticed: Apple has unveiled its latest watches – the Apple Watch SE, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. In typical fashion, Cupertino was quick to over-hype the product line. All three versions offer customers more of the same, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
From a hardware perspective, the Apple Watch received a new, more powerful chip called S9 SiP (System in Package). The S9 is an upgrade to the Series 8 S8 SiP, allowing it to work faster and handle more complicated AI tasks. However, this happens behind the scenes and most users won’t even notice.
Apple Watches don’t require a lot of computing power. However, as AI is increasingly integrated into the company’s products, more power is always a plus, even if it goes unnoticed. The 9 Series features a 4-core Neural Engine to process machine learning tasks twice as fast as the 8 Series. The S9 SiP is also more power efficient, delivering this performance with the same 18-hour battery life as the 8 Series.
Gestures have always been a part of the Apple Watch’s operating system, but they required you to use your free hand to touch the device. Series 9 offers a new hands-free gesture called Double Tap. Tapping your thumb and index finger simultaneously can perform various functions that would normally require touching the crown or screen.
By default, Double Tap acts as the primary button in every app. Users can, among other things, play and pause music, snooze an alarm, answer and hang up calls, or take a photo using the Camera Remote app. The gesture also opens watchOS 10’s Smart Stack on the watch face, while subsequent double-tap scrolls through widgets.
While the new gesture is part of watchOS 10, the faster Neural Engine makes it possible. So don’t expect it to work with your older Apple Watch. Algorithms read data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and heart sensor and forward it to the Neural Engine. The watch uses machine learning to detect subtle wrist movements and changes in blood flow when the index and thumb come together.
A brighter screen is the only other hardware new to the Apple Watch. The Series 8 display reached a resolution of 1,000 nits. This year’s model carried over the original Ultra’s 2,000 nits screen, while the new Ultra 2 received an improved 3,000 nits display. Apple advertises that both screens are easier to read in bright sunlight, but from our own experience, 1,000 nits is sufficient for outdoor use. So this is another new feature that users probably won’t notice too much.
As for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, it’s more of the same too. It has all the features of last year’s Ultra, but has a wider altitude range that it can perceive, with a low of 500 meters below sea level to 9,000 meters above sea level. When paired with an updated diving app from Huish Outdoors, the Ultra 2 is great for tracking dives up to 40 meters deep.
A handy feature on all Apple Watch models is Find My iPhone. I’ve used this feature more times than I’d like to admit, but pinpointing your phone’s exact location can be a bit fiddly. I usually just signal the phone to make an audible tone.
Thanks to the improved second-generation Ultra Wideband chip on the S9 SiP, the latest Apple Watches have significantly improved the precision of finding your iPhone. When you are within range, the display shows how far away it is and in which direction. Unfortunately, this functionality is only available if you’re looking for an iPhone 15, as that received the same updated UW chip.
The Apple Watch SE is still the stripped-down entry-level version of the Seris 9. It has all the basic functions of last year’s model. Even Apple only dedicated a paragraph to the SE.
“Apple Watch SE continues to deliver the core Apple Watch experience at a more affordable price and is a great way for users to start their Apple Watch journey, use it with Family Setup, or give a gift to loved ones. Additionally, the Apple Watch SE offers activity tracking, high and low heart rate notifications, fall detection, emergency SOS, accident detection, and watchOS 10.
Customers can start ordering all models today, with delivery taking place on September 22nd. Fortunately, this year’s product range did not fall victim to inflation, so prices remained at the same level as last year. The Apple Watch SE is $249the standard series is 9 $399and the Apple Watch Ultra is $799.