Apple Watch Series 9 'Basically Unchanged' Other Than Performance Boost From S9 Chip

[4odomi]

I just want much better battery life (like 36 hours) and better scratch protection on aluminum model screens.

Get a Stainless Steel for the scratch protection or the Ultra for both 😊
I have never had any marks or scratches on my stainless steel watches, after my first aluminium, would never buy one again!
Every part of the Stailess Steel or Ultra is top quality.
You get what you pay for my friend 😊

 

[4odomi]

Like one of the posters above, I’m fairly content with the series 4. I had the battery replaced and felt like it extended the life. May do it again when needed until one of the following upgrades happen:
1.) improved process for chip creation resulting in improved efficiencies and battery life
2.) improved health functions - while I’m not diabetic, I would love to know more about blood sugar levels. I do find temperature interesting, but can wait.
3.) provide an e-ink display that is visible in outdoor sunny skies. I don’t need a color display truthfully, and if an alternative display would allow improved battery life, I’d take it in a heartbeat.

You can see the series 8 stainless steel & Ultra fine in the sunshine, series 4 was not so good.
Often it's a false economy just to keep older tech running because it seems cheaper to do so 😊

 

[FelixDerKater]

The more substantial improvements will be on the Ultra model.

 

[4odomi]

I have the AW6 cellular as well. It was so bad on cellular that I cancelled the plan and shut it off! That was my first and last cellular AW unless they can come up with amazing real world battery life improvements on it.

The Cellular is not designed to be used like a phone, it's for the odd emergency or paying in a shop without your phone, I can do 3-4 calls a day on it and it will still last me all day.
Cellular is one of the best features on the AW, you just have to know how to use it, the right way, it's amazing how few people actually realise that 😏

 

[gund1234]

I don't find the current AppleWatch models slow, better battery life would be more interesting at this point.

you don't need ML/AI capability in Apple Watch ?

 

[blonko]

The Cellular is not designed to be used like a phone, it's for the odd emergency or paying in a shop without your phone

You don’t need any kind of signal for Apple Pay, I have used my watch to pay for things with no cellular or Wi-Fi and my phone left at home - it works fine.

 

[4odomi]

I really wanted to replace the battery. This way I’ll be able to resell my watch if decide to upgrade.

I understand, sadly if it's aluminium, you might get $50 for it, if that, I recently sold my sons, series 2 (with decent battery) on Ebay for £36.
I've been upgrading my watches on Ebay since I bought a new 3 series, trust me, it's not worth holding on for more that 3 years, if you want a decent resale value and not worth buying brand new, especially if it's stainless steel, an almost new stainless steel watch every 2 years, costs me about £250 net

 

[gund1234]

Sadly it's a trend in general when it comes to electronics.

3nm (as N3B) is still very expensive I guess. With transition to N3E next year we can expect more affordable waffers.

It makes you wonder why they do yearly updates if there hasn’t been any notable change since Series 4 except for the Always On Display.

Apple is not expecting people with AW 8 to upgrade to AW 9.
They are designing AW9 expecting people with AW 4/5 to upgrade.

for iPhone i think they should have Mini one year and Plus on the other year.
there is market for mini and plus but doesn't justify Apple releasing Mini, regular and plus every year.

 

[4odomi]

You don’t need any kind of signal for Apple Pay, I have used my watch to pay for things with no cellular or Wi-Fi and my phone left at home - it works fine.

S8 brought bit more features tho.

Many more compared to the 6, but then again, depends how people use their watches....

 

[4odomi]

the new design comes every 3 years.

Gen 1
Series 0
Series 1/2 (released same time)
Series 3

Gen 2
Series 4
Series 5
Series 6

Gen 3
Series 7
Series 8
Series 9 <---- we are here in 2023

The new design will arrive in September 2024 with the Series 10.

The new design arrived last year, it's called the Ultra 😊
We'll get new sensors, like biometric & glucose, but I doubt, there'll be any major design changes

 

[4odomi]

What new design? Why does it even need a new design? It's exactly what it needs to be.

and it's iconic 😊

 

[4odomi]

the watch needs more battery life. the ultra isn't a revelation because it lasts "multiple days" (in fact if you workout / use it a lot it often won't survive 2 days) but because it lasts ONE day, all 24 hours, almost without exception. The Series watches do not. They last a day in the sense of 18 or so hours but if you forget to charge at night it will often be dead by morning the next day etc. Improving battery life to make it so even the Series watches never present a concern for surviving a full 24 hours even with a good amount of GPS or cellular use should be a big priority... competing watches (with downsides I admit) from companies like Garmin have managed to between 3 and in some cases 14 days!!! of battery life even with AMOLED screens like the Apple Watch.

It's because of those downsides, they last 14 days!
Garmin is a pure sports, activity watch, AW is that and a smart watch 😊

 

[4odomi]

I keep saying 2024 will be the year to upgrade iPhone and Apple Watch

---

I am still waiting for my Series 6 to finally drop below 80 % so I can get my free battery replacement and cancel AppleCare+. Something suspicious is going on there. 90% to 81% went rather fast and then it conveniently froze at 80%!

Yes, I've got a similar problem with my MacBook, I've got Apple care until Jan 2024, last month it was on 84% this month it's on 85% 😳

 

[macos9rules]

I understand, sadly if it's aluminium, you might get $50 for it, if that, I recently sold my sons, series 2 (with decent battery) on Ebay for £36.
I've been upgrading my watches on Ebay since I bought a new 3 series, trust me, it's not worth holding on for more that 3 years, if you want a decent resale value and not worth buying brand new, especially if it's stainless steel, an almost new stainless steel watch every 2 years, costs me about £250 net

Or at worst, I’ll just give it to my 13-year son to replace his Apple Watch Series 3.

 

[4odomi]

To do what? I'm not arguing against a better processor, but what does the current processor not do, or do too slowly?

Granted, I use my series 6 as a fitness watch 99% of the time, and a smartwatch the other 1%, but it's just as fast as the day I bought it. I've scratched the hell out of the screen, though..

Get a stainless steel next time 😊

 

[4odomi]

I just “upgraded” from a Series 4 to a Series 8 because my Series 4s glass broke and it wasn’t worth fixing.

I notice literally zero difference. The larger screen is really hard to notice (completely different from the upgrade from Series 1 to Series 4) and the faster processor is barely noticeable.

The new sensors are beyond useless.

Always on display is mostly annoying and I have turned it off. At least this is a real upgrade for people that like it.

The only thing thing I didn’t know I was missing is the battery life bits that’s mainly cause my Series 4 was down to 71% health.

I would keep the 4 if I were you. I am actually a bit sad about mine because it was a cool feeling to have had it on my wrist every day for almost 5 years 🥲

I guess if you only use it to tell time and notifications and you don't like always on, then you won't see a difference between them

 

[azentropy]

Get a Stainless Steel for the scratch protection or the Ultra for both 😊
I have never had any marks or scratches on my stainless steel watches, after my first aluminium, would never buy one again!
Every part of the Stailess Steel or Ultra is top quality.
You get what you pay for my friend 😊

Nah. Don't like the looks of the SS as much as Aluminum, it is considerably heavier, plus the body actually scratches more and is less durable. I don't need Cellular (which SS now requires) nor want to pay basically twice as much since Aluminum are usually discounted more heavily besides being $300 less to begin with. On top of that SS doesn't offer a Nike+ version. The Ultra is way too bulky for me. I just want the sapphire crystal display instead of Ion-X on the aluminum body, go ahead and charge me $50 more (even though it costs Apple about $2 more).

 

[sleven]

You can see the series 8 stainless steel & Ultra fine in the sunshine, series 4 was not so good.
Often it's a false economy just to keep older tech running because it seems cheaper to do so 😊

I appreciate that feedback - I will definitely check out the 9 when it comes out. Who knows if I’ll drop the money though.

 

[SFjohn]

It seem like Apple is being very conservative with it’s upgrades because Apple expects declining sales, which they are creating with lackluster upgrades. 🙁

 

[4odomi]

Are you serious?!  hasn’t improved battery life at all!! It’s ridiculous and don’t tell me to get the Ultra. Apple has had 7 generations to markedly improve battery life and haven’t. It’s very frustrating.

They’re seriously testing on their laurels now in regards to the watch.

A Performance improvement is the only way to improve battery life at the moment, unless you want the huge Ultra on your wrist 😊

 

[4odomi]

blood pressure exists, Samsung has a watch that has it ...
CGM is a few years away, I agree

interesting from yesterday's earnings call was that 2/3 of AWs were sold to new (AW) customers, so the market is still there, just for upgrade it feels like iPhone

and Samsung has launched biometrics sensor in their new S6

 

[SFjohn]

Are you serious?!  hasn’t improved battery life at all!! It’s ridiculous and don’t tell me to get the Ultra. Apple has had 7 generations to markedly improve battery life and haven’t. It’s very frustrating.

They’re seriously testing on their laurels now in regards to the watch.

Physics is a bitch, sorry. 🥲

 

[jz0309]

Are you serious?!  hasn’t improved battery life at all!! It’s ridiculous and don’t tell me to get the Ultra. Apple has had 7 generations to markedly improve battery life and haven’t. It’s very frustrating.

They’re seriously testing on their laurels now in regards to the watch.

They have added sensors, increased display size, have AOD - and still it gives you 18hrs of usage, yea, sure, battery life is still the same, I guess those new features don’t use battery…

 

[jz0309]

The Cellular is not designed to be used like a phone, it's for the odd emergency or paying in a shop without your phone, I can do 3-4 calls a day on it and it will still last me all day.
Cellular is one of the best features on the AW, you just have to know how to use it, the right way, it's amazing how few people actually realise that 😏

You can use Apple Pay without cellular and without the phone…

 

[SFjohn]

As far as Samsungs amazing watches: 1) I don’t want a round watch, 2) Samsung releases crap features that don’t work, aren’t accurate, and break all the time. Samsung‘s OLED phone screens they make for Apple are an exception. 🤔