Throughout Apple’s Wonderlust occasion, the corporate introduced the Apple Watch Sequence 9. With just a few {hardware} adjustments, this machine marks Cupertino’s first carbon-neutral product. Right here’s all the things we learn about this product, together with specs, launch date, value, watchOS 10, and extra.
To study extra concerning the newest developments for the Apple Watch, we’ve an Apple Watch Sequence 10 and watchOS 11 guides.
Apple Watch ban within the US
On December 18, 2023, Apple introduced it may need to cease promoting Apple Watch Sequence 9 in the USA on account of a authorized battle. This occurred as a result of in October, the US Worldwide Commerce Fee agreed that Apple infringed two of Masimo’s blood oxygen patents. This determination was despatched to Biden’s Administration for the Presidential Evaluate Interval, which expired on Christmas.
With Biden not revoking ITC’s determination, Apple needed to take away Apple Watch Sequence 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2 from gross sales. Then, the US Courtroom of Appeals for the Federal Circuit paused the import ban, contemplating Apple’s request to proceed promoting the smartwatches through the attraction course of.
By mid-January, the courtroom formally denied Apple’s request. Consequently, Apple Watch fashions with blood oxygen options have been as soon as once more halted as of January 18 at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET. Since then, Cupertino has been promoting these units in its shops with out this expertise.
In a brand new ruling request for the US Customs and Border Safety, Apple has appealed the patent infringement determination. Nonetheless, by 2028, the corporate might reinstate this characteristic to Apple Watch customers, because the patent is about to run out that 12 months.
That mentioned, if that you must purchase an Apple Watch Sequence 9, you should purchase it at a third-party retailer, similar to Amazon, Goal, or Walmart, as they’ll nonetheless promote the mannequin with a blood oxygen monitor.
Design
Apple Watch Sequence 9 follows the identical design as Apple Watch Sequence 8 and Apple Watch Sequence 7. It maintains the precise case sizes for customers to select from 41mm and 45mm. The distinction is that the show has a brand new most brightness of two,000 nits – twice as a lot because the earlier era. As well as, the display can now shine as little as one nit, which is ideal for darkish rooms or early mornings.
Like earlier years, Apple presents the Apple Watch Sequence 9 in aluminum, which includes a thick entrance crystal with a flat base and sturdy geometry for sturdiness and crack resistance with Ion-X entrance glass and chrome steel with sapphire entrance crystal. The titanium end is now unique to the Apple Watch Extremely.
Colours
For the aluminum Apple Watch Sequence 9, it’s accessible within the following colours:
- Starlight
- Midnight
- Silver
- (PRODUCT)RED
- Pink
For the chrome steel model, you’ll find it in:
Apple Watch Sequence 9 is carbon-neutral
As a part of Apple 2030, the Apple Watch’s carbon footprint has considerably decreased. Emissions have been lowered from the three largest sources of greenhouse gases — supplies, electrical energy, and transportation. The small quantity of emissions remaining are offset by high-quality carbon credit from nature-based initiatives. Apple Watch packaging has been redesigned to be one hundred pc fiber-based, and a brand new emblem on the packaging signifies carbon-neutral fashions.
Apple says that every carbon-neutral Apple Watch mannequin meets the next strict standards:
- one hundred pc clear electrical energy for manufacturing and product use
- 30 p.c recycled or renewable materials by weight
- 50 p.c of delivery with out the usage of air transportation
These mixed efforts end in no less than a 75 p.c discount in product emissions for every mannequin. To pick a carbon-neutral Apple Watch Sequence 9, customers should select an aluminum model paired with a brand new Sport Loop.
New processor and ultrawide-band chip unlock new options
S9 processor
After just a few years of no processor upgrades, Apple is giving us a brand new, highly effective S9 SiP with 64GB of storage. This chip is quicker, extra environment friendly, and unlocks new options. With a brand new 4-core Neural Engine, it may possibly course of machine studying duties as much as twice as quick when in comparison with its predecessor. These are the highlights:
Double faucet gestures: Customers can simply management the Apple Watch Sequence 9 utilizing only one hand and with out touching the show by tapping the index finger and thumb of their watch hand collectively twice to shortly and conveniently carry out lots of the commonest actions on the Watch. The sooner Neural Engine allows this new double faucet gesture, which processes information from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical coronary heart sensor with a brand new machine studying algorithm.
On-device Siri: For the primary time on Apple Watch, Siri requests may be processed on the machine. For requests that don’t require data from the web, similar to beginning a exercise or setting a timer, Siri doesn’t depend on Wi-Fi or mobile networks, leading to faster and extra dependable responses. As well as, dictation is as much as 25% extra correct than the earlier era. Customers may even use Siri to entry information from the Well being app for well being and health queries.
Brighter show: As talked about above, the power-efficient S9 chip will increase the utmost brightness of the Apple Watch whereas sustaining its all-day battery.
Second-gen ultrawideband chip
Discover your iPhone: With a second-generation Extremely Wideband chip, it allows Precision Discovering for the iPhone 15 household, which provides you distance and course, in addition to visible, haptic, and audio steering to a misplaced iPhone.
HomePod integration: UWB additionally brings deeper integration between Apple Watch and HomePod. When an Apple Watch consumer will get inside 4 meters of a HomePod enjoying audio, Apple Watch Sequence 9 will launch Now Enjoying to regulate the media. Or if nothing is enjoying on HomePod, media ideas will seem on the prime of the Good Stack.
Sensors
As rumors identified, Apple, certainly, didn’t add new well being sensors to the Apple Watch Sequence 9. That mentioned, that is all the things you get with this Watch:
- Excessive and low coronary heart price notifications
- Irregular rhythm notification
- Cardio health notifications
- Temperature sensing
- Emergency SOS
- Worldwide emergency calling
- Fall Detection
- Crash Detection
- Excessive-g accelerometer
Sleep apnea detection
When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Sequence 10, it introduced its predecessor would additionally get sleep apnea detection. Constructing on the clever well being options already accessible to trace key in a single day metrics similar to coronary heart price, respiratory price, and wrist temperature, the Apple Watch now presents a characteristic to assist establish indicators of sleep apnea.
Research reveal that sleep apnea is a doubtlessly severe situation the place respiratory stops repeatedly throughout sleep. The situation, estimated to affect greater than 1 billion folks worldwide, is undiagnosed usually. If left untreated, sleep apnea can have essential penalties on well being, together with an elevated threat of hypertension, Kind 2 diabetes, and cardiac points.
To detect sleep apnea, Apple Watch makes use of the accelerometer to observe small wrist actions related to interruptions in regular respiratory patterns, tracked by a brand new Apple Watch metric known as Respiration Disturbances. Whereas a few of these disturbances are regular, they’re essential to trace as they can be utilized to assist perceive restfulness of sleep and, when occurring regularly over a number of nights, could also be related to sleep apnea. Customers can view their nightly Respiration Disturbances within the Well being app, the place they’re categorised as elevated or not elevated and may be seen over a one-month, six-month, or one-year interval.
The FDA authorized sleep apnea detection earlier than the Apple Watch Sequence 10 went on sale. This characteristic is obtainable for US and Canadian customers operating watchOS 11.1. Later, extra nations and areas have been added.
Battery and connectivity
Apple additionally didn’t change the battery and connectivity specs. You possibly can have Apple Watches with GPS or GPS + mobile connectivity. Cupertino guarantees an all-day battery of as much as 18 hours or as much as 36 hours in low-power mode.
The Apple Watch Sequence 9 additionally has quick charging, so you’ll be able to at all times have your Watch on everytime you want it.
watchOS 10 powers Apple Watch Sequence 9
Because the Apple Watch Sequence 9 doesn’t have groundbreaking {hardware} functionalities, Apple bets on improved watchOS 10 options to make this machine extra attractive. With watchOS 9, Apple expanded its Sleep functionalities, revamped Watch Faces, and a brand new Medicines app.
Apple says that “nearly each app has been rethought.” With that, these apps use the complete display to create new locations for content material, so you’ll be able to see and do extra, which is particularly helpful for a bigger Apple Watch show. As well as, Apple added two new Watch Faces, Pallet and Snoopy.
With Good Stack widgets, you get the data you want under any Watch Face. You simply want to show the Digital Crown to disclose widgets within the Good Stack. It contains a number of timers, your subsequent assembly, music enjoying, and extra.
The Management Middle is now accessible when urgent the facet button. Urgent the Digital Crown as soon as nonetheless opens the App Library – which has been reimagined – and urgent twice opens the playing cards added to your Apple Pockets.
New options for Apple Health Plus on watchOS 10 embrace the power to create a customized plan in your exercises. If in case you have a objective, similar to a private occasion, or need to drop pounds, you’ll be able to choose your weekly schedule, how lengthy you might be planning to exercise per day, the size of the plan (as much as 8 weeks), and the exercise varieties you’re planning to have interaction.
watchOS 10.1 options
watchOS 10.1 has been accessible since October 25. These are the brand new options of this replace:
- Double faucet gestures: Customers can simply management the Apple Watch Sequence 9 utilizing only one hand and with out touching the show by tapping the index finger and thumb of their watch hand collectively twice to shortly and conveniently carry out lots of the commonest actions on the Watch. The sooner Neural Engine allows this new double faucet gesture, which processes information from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical coronary heart sensor with a brand new machine studying algorithm.
- NameDrop from iPhone to Apple Watch: NameDrop is a brand new characteristic that permits you to simply share your contact data from one iPhone to a different by approaching them. Apple says that nearing an iPhone to Apple Watch to carry out the identical motion might be potential later this 12 months with the Apple Watch Sequence 6 and later, Apple Watch SE (1st and 2nd era), and Apple Watch Extremely.
watchOS 10.2 options
watchOS 10.2 has been accessible since December 11. These are a few of the new options of this replace:
- On-device queries: Customers can ask Siri to learn and lengthy on-device Well being requests. This modification not solely makes requests sooner however extra non-public and safe to customers, as Siri can be utilized to entry the Well being app for well being and fitness-related queries on-device (accessible for Apple Watch Sequence 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2).
- HomePod characteristic: Customers can robotically view Now Enjoying when within the proximity of HomePod (2nd era) or HomePod mini enjoying media from Music or Podcasts.
- Outdated gesture again: Now, you’ll be able to swipe to change your foremost watch face. This characteristic is below Settings and Clock.
watchOS 10.3 options
watchOS 10.3 has been launched on January 22. That is the brand new characteristic of this replace:
- Unity Bloom Watch Face: Apple says this assortment is impressed by “the resilience and great thing about the Black group,” with Blooming flowers and vibrant colours representing Pan-Africanism and symbolizing generations working collectively to handle injustice and dismantle systemic obstacles.
watchOS 10.4 options
watchOS 10.4 has been launched on March 5. These are the important thing options for this replace:
- New emoji: Apple added 28 new emoji, together with a lime, shaking heads, a phoenix, and 4 new gender-neutral household emojis supposed to be represented through silhouettes, pores and skin tone modifiers, and gender variants
- Ignore Double Faucet setting: When utilizing Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, you’ll be able to flip off the double faucet characteristic for the Apple Watch Sequence 9/Apple Watch Extremely 2. Right here’s how Apple describes this characteristic: “When that is on, the double faucet gesture might be quickly ignored whereas utilizing Imaginative and prescient Professional”
- Siri enhancements: Now you can wake the non-public assistant with solely its identify by saying “Siri” as a substitute of “Hey Siri”
- A number of languages assist: Siri can learn incoming messages in a number of languages, together with Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and extra.
watchOS 10.5 options
watchOS 10.5 has been launched on Might 13. These are the important thing options for this replace:
- Pleasure Watch Face: Apple says it brings “daring, symbolic shade to Apple Watch. Signaling hope, energy, and fellowship to LGBTQ+ communities, the beams of sunshine glow towards a darkish background and stack on prime of one another to signify the eternal affect of LGBTQ+ activism and its function in illuminating the trail to better equality for future generations.”
- Bug fixes: watchOS 10.5 fixes a difficulty the place the Phrases of Service button when viewing a subscription might trigger a crash when tapped.
watchOS 10.6 options
Apple didn’t provide launch notes for watchOS 10.6; we solely understand it brings safety enhancements and bug fixes. This replace has been made accessible on July 29, and it’s doubtless the final foremost watchOS 10 replace.
watchOS 11 refines the expertise
In September 2024, Apple launched watchOS 11 to Apple Watch customers, together with Apple Watch Sequence 9. These are a few of the new options:
- Apple lastly lets customers customise their Exercise Rings. Due to this modification, the Exercise Rings will perceive deliberate relaxation days, accidents, or days off with out affecting the award streak.
- It’s additionally potential to customise Exercise Ring objectives by the day of the week, so your leg exercise would possibly differ from the one you go for an out of doors run. Moreover, the Health app permits customers to customise the Abstract tab to point out precisely the metrics they need to see, together with their buddies’.
- Apple’s watchOS 11 additionally launched a brand new Vitals app, which focuses on well being and well-being options. This app permits customers to shortly view key well being metrics and achieve higher context about their well being.
- With Coaching Load, it measures how the depth and period of exercises affect a consumer’s physique over time. Coaching load helps customers perceive the pressure on their physique from exercises during the last seven days in comparison with the final 28 days.
- As well as, Good Stack provides new widgets, together with Shazam, Pictures, Distance, and extra. It may well additionally recommend widgets primarily based on time, date, location, each day routines, and extra.
watchOS 11.1 options
watchOS 11.1 was launched on October 28, 2024. This software program replace brings Apple Intelligence to the Apple Watch:
- Cut back interruptions: An all-new Focus Mode understands the content material of your notifications and reveals you those that may want rapid consideration, like a textual content about choosing up your little one from daycare later right now.
- Summarization: Apple Intelligence can summarize all of your notifications.
watchOS 11.2 options
On December 11, Apple launched watchOS 11.2. This small replace provides these new options:
- Tides app expands map assist for tidal situations and coastal places in China
- Digicam Distant app can pause recording of iPhone video
watchOS 11.3 options
On January 27, Apple launched watchOS 11.3. This replace added:
- Black Historical past Month Watch Face: This replace celebrates the Black Historical past Month with the Black Unity band and watch face. The corporate says the 2025 assortment is impressed by the “rhythm of humanity.” It features a special-edition Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop, an identical watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpapers.
Launch date
Apple offered the Apple Watch Sequence 9 from September 22, 2023, to September 2024. This wearable was launched alongside the iPhone 15 lineup. By January 18, 2024, prospects couldn’t purchase this watch from Apple with the bloody oxygen characteristic.
Apple stopped promoting this Apple Watch after it launched the Apple Watch Sequence 10.
Worth
Apple Watch Sequence 9 prices the identical because the earlier years. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to solely discover this watch right now in third-party shops.
- Aluminum, 41mm, GPS: $399
- Aluminum, 41mm, GPS + Mobile: $499
- Aluminum, 45mm, GPS: $429
- Aluminum, 45m, GPS + Mobile: $529
- Chrome steel, 41mm, GPS + Mobile: $699
- Chrome steel, 45mm, GPS + Mobile: $749
A brand new web page to purchase Apple Watch Sequence 9
Earlier than saying the Apple Watch Sequence 9, Apple revamped its Apple Watch shopping for web page on its official web site. Now, the corporate presents a streamlined and slimmed-down expertise, highlighting every a part of your new Watch and giving customers a greater understanding of tips on how to customise this wearable correctly.
For instance, if you begin searching for an Apple Watch Sequence 8, you start by selecting the fabric and end. As soon as you choose Aluminum, it reveals the completely different instances and the way every appears; the identical is value it for Stainless Metal fashions.
After that, you select the case measurement and completely different bands. Since bands are an important a part of the Apple Watch customization, Apple first reveals the 4 choices: Rubber, Textiles, Leather-based, and Stainless Metal. Then, if you click on on every possibility, the corporate reveals the completely different manufacturers and, lastly, the completely different colours.
Lastly, you select if in case you have a Watch to make use of as a trade-in, how you propose to pay, and if you wish to add AppleCare+. Throughout the entire course of, Apple additionally tells you the way a lot you’ll spend with every possibility and the advantages of every one.
What concerning the Apple Watch Sequence X?
Though rumors claimed Apple was readying an Apple Watch Sequence X for 2023, the suggestion doesn’t make sense as solely the product’s working system is nearing model 10, however the Watch isn’t turning ten years previous but.
That mentioned, it doesn’t imply Apple received’t launch an Apple Watch Sequence X sooner or later – because it has beforehand executed with the iPhone.
