Apple has a new watch ready for fans who love the best, and good news: it sports a slightly bigger screen than the Watch Ultra 2.
The iPhone 16 announcement might have largely been about an iPhone 16 or two, but there were other stories at the event. Other products to watch, so to speak.
Much like we’ve seen from previous iPhone launches in the past ten years, Apple spoke about a new watch, as the company’s combination smartwatch and health monitor turned 10 and became the Apple Watch Series 10.
There’s a new thinner design, improvements to the screen, and support for more health tracking, too, so what’s new in the Series 10 Apple Watch?
Made to be thinner
First up is the design, which sees some noticeable changes to the thickness and weight. The look is still very much the same, but 10 percent of the thickness has been shaved off, while the weight is also less due to changes in the use of materials.
There are two of them, with the regular aluminium Series 10 Apple Watch weighing a couple of grams lighter than the Series 9, and the more premium titanium Series 10 taking the place of the stainless steel, and shaving between 8 and 10 grams off the weight. That’s a serious reduction in heft, even if the weight wasn’t seriously sizeable to begin with.
The difference in size and weight has been reduced, sure, but the screen has increased in size: the 41mm is now a 42mm, and the 45mm is now a 46mm.
Upgrading the tiny OLED screen
An increase in screen size is one aspect, but there’s more going on with the screen of the Series 10 Apple Watch.
Much like how the M4 iPad Pro used a new type of tandem OLED screen with two OLED panels stacked together, Apple is using another new type of OLED screen for this gadget.
The Series 10 Apple Watch Sports the company’s first wide-angle OLED screen, which not only covers more screen size throughout its curve, but can be seen at more angles, largely because watches are made to be seen at any angle. The improvement doesn’t change the brightness — it’ll see roughly the same brightness as the Series 9, but the resolution is larger and the display area, too.
Sleep tracking for sleep apnoea
Much of the rest of the technology might feel the same, though some things have changed. There’s a new chip, the Apple S10 processor, while the sensors are similar, too: ECG, heart-rate, temperature tracking, SpO2 blood oxygen, GPS, compass, altimeter, and crash detection, too. Apple is bringing a newbie over straight from the Apple Watch Ultra: a depth sensor for swimmers, able to gauge as low as 6 metres.
The speaker can also be fired up to play more than just phone calls, with support for music via Apple Music, podcasts via Apple Podcasts, and just about any other Apple Watch app, too.
Perhaps the most intriguing new feature isn’t from a specific sensor addition, but rather a combination of AI and patterns in conjunction with the sensors already found on the wearable.
Breathing Disturbances will analyse respiratory patterns and match them with small movements in the wrist to pick up on interrupts to your breathing. By doing this over time, the Apple Watch can warn owners on whether there is a risk of sleep apnoea.
There’s no word yet on whether Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Association has approved this feature yet, but it’s a feature that could affect more people than you may expect. More than one billion people worldwide are estimated to have a degree of apnoea, many of which may not even realise it.
Apple’s other wearables
Interestingly, the Series 10 Apple Watch was Apple’s only new wearable announcement at the event.
We expected a new Ultra model, but that didn’t happen. Rather, Apple left last year’s Ultra 2 in the mix, announcing that the new features — such as sleep apnoea tracking — would roll out to the current Ultra variant, as well as a new black edition of the titanium watch.
Likewise, the Apple Watch SE is also staying in the mix, offering up a comparatively inexpensive take on an Apple smartwatch, albeit one that hasn’t seen an update in roughly two years.
Pricing and availability
Like most of the recent Apple announcements, the release of the Apple Watch Series 10 sees stores in Australia on September 20, priced from $649 depending on the variant being looked at.
Meanwhile the Apple Watch SE can already be found in stores for $399, and the black titanium Apple Watch Ultra 2 in stores the September 20 priced at $1399, the same as the current natural titanium Watch Ultra 2 which is available now.
