As part of its September livestream, Apple has just pulled back the curtain on the new Apple Watch 9 which brings plenty of new features to the table.
Replacing last year’s Apple Watch 8, the Apple Watch 9 will be the mainline pick from Apple’s next-generation of wearables, sitting comfortably in between the budget Apple Watch SE and the premium Apple Watch Ultra.
Powered by the new watchOS 10 software upgrade, the Apple Watch 9 makes greater use of Apple’s revised apps which now boast upgraded designs that are, on the whole, more colourful and appealing to the eye. There’s also the introduction of Smart Stack which sees a widget-style system on your wrist, giving you useful glances at a handful of key apps like Apple News and Fitness.
Design
Despite rumours that an Apple Watch redesign is in the cards, the Apple Watch 9 isn’t the device to introduce this rethink. To look at the Apple Watch 9, you’d be hard pressed to see the immediate difference from the Apple Watch 8. With the exception of the new colours for this year’s model, the two Watches look identical.
This means that it’s far more likely that next year’s Apple Watch X will be the device to usher in a new era for Apple’s wearables, so if you’re more interested in a drastic redesign then you might want to hold off until then.
There is however a new watch band to go with this year’s device that uses a new material known as Fine Woven, which looks to be more comfortable on the wrist.
Specs
The Apple Watch features a new S9 chipset that utilises a faster CPU – so fast in fact that it’s 30% faster than the Apple Watch 8. The newer chip also allows for on-device Siri requests, which speeds up the process considerably and doesn’t require you to be connected to your phone or the cloud for it to work.
The faster chip even allows for a new feature called ‘Double Tap’. This lets you control your watch by simply tapping your index finger against your thumb.
This is a developing story with more details to be added soon.
