Apple will hold an event dubbed Wonderlust next week where the company is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 family, Apple Watch Series 9, second-generation Apple Watch Ultra, and AirPods. While much of the attention so far has been focused on the iPhone 15, the upcoming watches look like notable upgrades in their own right. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman explains why in a new detailed report.
Even though the new watches will look the same as their predecessors, the main change this year will be a faster chip. That’s noteworthy because Apple smartwatches from 2020’s Series 6 to last year’s Series 8 all use processors that are essentially the same.
Those chips were based on the A13 Bionic chip that powers the iPhone 11. Gurman had previously said that the Watch Series 9’s S9 chip would be based on the A15 Bionic chip. In today’s report, Gurman reveals that the new watches will boast ‘major gains in processing speed.’ The newer processor will presumably also improve the energy efficiency of the wearables and help improve battery life. This could make them one of the best smartwatches of 2023.
Gurman claims that the new U2 ultrawide-band chip that’s coming to the iPhone 15 will also be found inside the watches. The chip will improve Find My capabilities of the new devices.
The watches are also expected to feature upgraded sensors and internal components with improved performance, efficiency, and accuracy. One example that the report gives is a new optical heart rate sensor.
The stainless steel variants of the Watch Series 9 will apparently be manufactured using 3D printers which use less material and are more environmentally friendly. Apple may also use this process for making the cases of the second-generation Ultra starting next year.
The Series 9 will continue to be available in 41-millimeter and 45-millimeter sizes, whereas the Watch Ultra 2 will be available in the current 49-millimeter size. We may see some new colors, including a black option for the Ultra.
