Apple Watch Series 9 is official: more power!
Apple just announced the new Apple Watch Series 9 at its Wonderlust event, but you would be forgiven if you saw the new timepiece and thought it was the Apple Watch Series 8 from last year instead.
Just as the rumors were hinting, the improvements with this generation can be considered minor, although that heavily depends on how you look at it. If you were hoping for some alterations regarding the design, like a thicker/slimmer body, a boxier look, new buttons and other changes of the sort, then you might be disappointed.
However, if you have been waiting for Apple to introduce some substantial upgrades in terms of processing power and speed with the Apple Watch, then the Series 9 might just be the one to deliver on those ends.
Another perk of the S9 chipset is that it comes with a new ultra-wide band shift which makes finding your iPhone even easier, with the Series 9 giving you the exact distance and direction of your phone (even if it is in another room). To let you know you are very close, the watch will vibrate and give off an audible signal.
Just as the rumors were hinting, the improvements with this generation can be considered minor, although that heavily depends on how you look at it. If you were hoping for some alterations regarding the design, like a thicker/slimmer body, a boxier look, new buttons and other changes of the sort, then you might be disappointed.
Apple Watch Series 9 upgrades
A significantly more capable chipset
Of course, we are talking about the brand new S9 chip, which has a GPU that's 30% faster compared the Series 8, making animations appear much smoother. There is also a new four-core neural engine on board, which can process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast, allowing for Siri requests to now be completely handled on device, essentially making them faster to process.
Since Siri requests are now handled on device, this also means simple ones like starting an outdoor workout don't require a connection anymore. What's more, with the higher security that comes alongside on-device processing, users can now ask Siri to access their health data and tell them how much they slept, their average running heart rate, and other metrics that the Apple Watch has gathered.
New software features
Then there's the double tap gesture, which allows users to interact with the Apple Watch Series 9 with just one hand. By tapping your thumb and index finger twice you can pick up and end calls, stop a timer, play/pause music, snooze an alarm, and more. It can also launch the new smart stack watch face and go through the different widgets. In fact, you can use double tap in every app, as it controls the primary button in said app. The double tap feature will be available in October.
Brighter Display
The Apple Watch Series 9 comes with a display that has double the maximum brightness of the Series 8, maxing out at 2000 nits. That's not all though, as the display can also go as dim as just 1 nit of brightness, so your watch doesn't blind you as you wake up or create that awkward moment when you light up at the cinema.
Apple Watch Series 9 colors
The Apple Watch Series 9 will be available in a Pink, Starlight, Silver, Midnight, and ProductRED aluminum cases. There are also stainless steel options in Gold, Silver, Graphite.
Apple Watch Series 9 price and availability
The Apple Watch Series 9 will be available in stores beginning Friday, September 22, starting at $399 for the base model.
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