Apple Watch Series 9 brings 30 percent faster S9 chip

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The Apple Watch Series 9 was just announced, and it gets the first performance boost in three years thanks to the new S9 chip. It’s also got a brighter display, faster Siri responses, and watchOS 10.

That’s not all, as there are more options for sustainable watch bands to make the entire Apple Watch Series 9 carbon neutral. You also get a new heart rate sensor, for better health monitoring towards your goals.

Here’s what else is new.

Apple Watch Series 9 comes with carbon neutral options

Starting with the all-new S9 SiP, the chip powering the Apple Watch Series 9. It’s got a 4-core Neural Engine for 2x the speed for machine learning tasks, like on-device Siri responses. That’s the first time Siri requests get processed on-device.

That new chip also enables a better battery life, with Apple saying it can last for 18 hours under normal use. You now get 64GB of storage for apps.

This year, Apple is highlighting accessibility gestures like double-tap (coming next month), which makes it so users can control the Watch with one hand. It triggers the main button in an app, for the most used feature without needing two hands. Neat.

The display is now brighter, at up to 2,000 nits of brightness–that’s twice the brightness of Apple Watch Series 8. And it can drop down to a single nit, perfect for groggy morning wakeups.

Apple has put the new UWB Gen 2 chip into the Apple Watch Series 9, so it gets Precision Finding for AirTags and other devices. And yes, that includes the iPhone 15 range.

The Apple Watch Series 9 will also use that UWB chip to track HomePods playing music, so the Now Playing playback controls will show when you get within four feet of the speaker.

And yes, watchOS 10 will come preloaded on the new watch, with new tools, redesigned apps, Bluetooth connectivity for fitness sensors, and more. And new FineWoven bands come with 68 percent recycled materials.

The Apple Watch Series 9 comes in both 41mm and 45mm sizes. There are aluminum colors, starlight, midnight, silver, (PRODUCT) RED, and pink, and stainless steel in gold, silver, and graphite.

Apple Watch Series 9 starts from $399, and preorders go live today, with store availability September 22.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.