The Apple Watch 7 launched on September 14, bringing slimmer design and a brighter display to the smartwatch line.
The Apple Watch 7 launched on September 14 at the Apple event alongside the iPhone 13, bringing the first redesign to Apple’s smartwatch line. While the wearable isn’t coming until later this year (Q3 2021), we finally know what’s coming – and it looks like a bunch of incremental improvements. The Apple Watch 7 has a refined look that retains the rounded edges but with thinner bezels for 20% more screen area than the Apple Watch 6 – and new sizes of 41mm and 45mm. Technically, this is the first big redesign since the Apple Watch 2 expanded to the 40mm and 44mm sizes, but it’s not as drastic a redesign as we were expecting. While rumors had us expecting a more radical redesign to a flat-edged look like the iPhone 13, we’re still in round-edge territory. There also aren’t any new health tracking features – it looks like we’ll have to wait for next year’s Apple Watch 8 for the rumored blood pressure and glucometer sensors. And while the Apple Watch 7 reportedly has a new chipset, it seems this isn’t really an upgrade on the one in the Apple Watch 6. The Apple Watch 7 does get a 70% brighter Always On display while indoors, IP6X dust resistance, the same WR50 water resistance as prior models, and more durability. The battery is the same (18 hours expected), but recharges 33% faster. The Apple Watch 7 is Apple’s next major smartwatch, the successor to the Apple Watch 6 from last year. We’re still waiting on the Apple Watch SE 2, so in the meantime, the Apple Watch SE remains as an affordable smartwatch in the lineup – though the Apple Watch 3 is still the cheapest wearable Apple sells. This next smartwatch runs the new watchOS 8, something Apple has already unveiled and is coming to the Apple Watch 3 and newer wearables – but the Apple Watch 7 will take the most advantage of it. Ultimately, the Apple Watch 7 has incremental improvements rather than revolutionary changes, but it’s still the best Apple Watch you can buy (or it will be, when it goes on sale in the coming weeks).
