Here’s a quick recap of the Apple Watch Series 9 upgrades that was announced at ‘Wonderlust’ this morning.
Powered by the custom Apple silicon in the all-new S9 SiP, Apple Watch Series 9 may be the most powerful Apple Watch yet. Of all the upgrades to the Apple Watch Series 9, what we’re the most excited about is the double tap gesture.
Double Tap Gesture
How brilliant of Apple, to have thought of introducing the new double tap gesture to allow us to go even more hands-free with the Apple Watch. Without touching the display, you can tap your index finger and thumb of your watch hand together twice to do all the things you used to have to do by tapping your tiny Watch screen. Double tap essentially controls the primary button within your apps – so you can easily scroll through your widgets in the Smart Stack, take a photo with the Camera Remote, play and pause music, answer or end a call quickly, and more. This is definitely a game changer, especially for those who are always on the go and multitasking everywhere they go. Like me.
Display
The S9 SiP allows the maximum brightness of the Apple Watch Series 9 to be increased to 2,000 nits (double the brightness of Series 8), making it easy to read text in bright sunlight conditions. On the other side of the spectrum, the display can also smartly lower to just 1 nit to allow you to read text / use your Apple Watch in dark rooms such as cinemas, without disturbing others.
Siri on Apple Watch
For any request that does not require information from the web, Siri can process those requests such as starting a workout or helping you set a timer quickly. You can now ask Siri on Apple Watch Series 9 to log Health data important to you – such as your weight and period. You can also ask Siri how many hours of sleep you clocked the previous night – making it that much easier to interact with your Apple Watch Series 9.
Precision Finding
A second-generation Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip is integrated into the S9 SiP, allowing Precision Finding to be perfectly complementary to the iPhone 15 family. This helps you leverage your Apple Watch to locate your misplaced iPhone – even if its in a different room. This helps klutzy people (like me) who mindlessly put your phone everywhere you go.
FineWoven Bands | Source: Apple
New Bands
FineWoven is a luxurious and durable microtwill made of 68% recycled content that has lower carbon emissions as compared to leather. Sporting a suedelike feel, FineWoven is Apple’s alternative to leather – which the tech giant has promised to stop using leather in any new Apple product, starting today.
The new recycled bands look really cute with the artistic looking specks adorning the entire band in different colours. Fun fact: Apple Watch Series 9 is Apple’s first carbon neutral product.
Pricing and Availability
The Apple Watch Series 9 comes in 41mm and 45mm sizes, in Starlight, Silver, Midnight and (PRODUCT)RED and an all-new Pink aluminium case and in Gold, Silver, and Graphite Stainless Steel cases – and starts at S$599. Apple Watch SE comes in 40mm and 44mm aluminium cases, and starts at S$379.
Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch SE and all Apple Watch bands will be available to order today, with availability in stores starting from 22 September 2023, Friday.
