Apple Watch Series 9 is slightly faster and offers a brighter display compared to Series 8. But are these improvements worth upgrading to?
The Apple Watch Series 9 is not a radical new smartwatch in any way. It is a by-the-numbers wearable with some hardware upgrades over the Series 8. Apple’s latest smartwatch gets a faster chipset, a brighter screen, and some interesting new gesture features while keeping the design largely identical to its predecessor. This is a tried and tested process for Apple, but does it make the Series 9 worth upgrading to for existing Apple Watch users or is it more suited for first-time buyers?
Table of Contents
Design and display
Double-tap gesture
Performance and software
Battery life
VerdictDesign and display
No matter how closely you look at the Apple Watch Series 9, you won’t be able to tell the difference between it and the Series 8 or even the Series 7 before that. The design has largely been left unchanged, so you get the same square-shaped aluminium or stainless steel frame in 41mm and 45mm sizes. The new Pink colourway (in aluminium) is the only way to identify a Series 9 from its predecessor. Other colour options for the aluminium model include Midnight (our review unit), Starlight, Silver, and Product (Red). The stainless steel version comes in Gold, Silver, and Graphite colours.
The right side of the frame has the familiar crown and pill-shaped button on the right side and a speaker cutout on the left side. By the way, the aluminium model is made from 100 per cent recycled aluminium while the Sport Loop straps are carbon neutral and contain 45 per cent recycled content.
The Apple Watch Series 9’s display looks similar to its predecessor as well. The 45mm variant offers a decently big screen with some bezels around. It’s still not completely edge-to-edge, but one expects Apple to reduce the bezels some more in the 10th iteration. It’s a good-looking LTPO OLED display with vivid colours and inky blacks. The biggest upgrade, however, is to the brightness which has been bumped up to 2000 nits from 1000 nits. That’s a lot of brightness for a smartwatch and it does show whenever you’re under harsh sunlight.Double-tap gesture
Double-tap is a major new feature exclusive to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2. It arrived recently with watchOS 10.1. Double-tap, at its core, is an accessibility feature that allows you to perform certain actions with just one hand. It’s meant for all those times when you just can’t use the other hand, like say, when you’re holding a cup of coffee or if you’re washing the dishes.
