The first novelty of today’s Apple Event is a smart watch Apple Watch Series 10. It is the brand’s thinnest watch yet, with the largest display ever used on an Apple Watch. The panel is even larger than that of the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The watch will be offered in aluminum and titanium, which is carbon neutral, in 42 and 46mm bodies. Each of the materials also has three different color variants.
Key specifications of the Apple Watch Series
One of the biggest changes was the Retina LTPO3 display. Apple calls it “Wide-angle OLED” because it’s up to 40% brighter than before when viewed from the side. The refresh rate in Always On mode is now 1 Hz, and the display itself has a wider aspect ratio. From the user’s point of view, you get at least one extra line of text when reading the content on the watch display. In the case of the aluminum variant, the display (as well as part of the sides) is covered by Ion-X glass, in the case of the titanium models it is sapphire glass. The maximum brightness is up to 2,000 nits, the minimum is 1 nit. One of the displays is 326 ppi for both variants (42 and 46 mm).
The display is embedded in a thin body that is 9.7 mm thick, which is almost 10% less than the Apple Watch 7. Due to this, the minimization of components had to take place in order for Apple to manage to fit everything inside. Specifically, for example, the speaker is 30% smaller, but according to Apple, this will not affect its performance in any way. In addition, you can now play podcasts and music directly from the speaker of the watch, and you will not have to rely only on connected Bluetooth devices. The body of the watch supports IP6X resistance and water resistance for snorkeling, swimming and surfing up to 50 meters. It will be available in 42 and 46 mm sizes.
Introducing the Apple Watch Series 10:
All the necessary antennas were incorporated into the metal inner side of the watch. There is a larger coil under the back for faster and more efficient wireless charging. In 30 minutes, the watch is recharged by 80%, but Apple changed the battery life of the watch to the pre-recorded keynote so quickly that we almost didn’t have time to register it. Watch Series 10 are still taken as “all day watch”which in the language of numbers means 18 hours.
The performance of the watch is ensured by the dual-core SiP (System-in-package) Apple S10, which also includes a quad-core neural engine. This can, for example, improve the quality of calls from the watch in noisy environments, or makes the Double Tap gesture available. Apple Intelligence has not made it into the watch for the time being. The storage capacity is 64 GB, the watch also supports UWB.
Sleep apnea detection
The watch runs the WatchOS 11 operating system, which will include new “Smart Stack” widgets that only appear when you need them. Machine learning will help with the selection of the best photos for the watch face, a translator that recognizes spoken words is part of the equipment, or Siri working directly in the watch. They can still detect falls or accidents.
The thermometer will now measure the temperature underwater, and the watch will also tell you how deep you are while snorkeling (max. 6 meters)
However, Apple places a key emphasis on health. The watch alerts you beforehand about medication dosage, too noisy an environment or possible atrial fibrillation. The ECG remains on the menu, but blood oxygenation was not mentioned by Apple, due to a patent dispute in the USA, which gave the truth to the rival company Massimo.
Newly added to this is the detection of sleep apnea. This is a serious sleep disorder that can negatively affect you during the day, and long-term undiagnosed can lead to other health complications. According to Apple, up to 80% of those who suffer from this disorder are undiagnosed. With the Apple Watch Series 10, diagnosis takes a month, the watch uses an accelerometer to measure the “Breathing disturbance” metric. And if they suspect sleep apnea, they’ll let you know. They can export their measurements to PDF and send you to a professional. Detection will eventually be available on Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9.
The watch will prepare a possible sleep apnea report in 30 days
Apple adds that sleep apnea detection should arrive in more than 150 countries in September, among which Europe was also mentioned. Approval by the US FDA is still missing, but it should happen soon. The watch also measures the temperature during sleep, for example to recognize the period of ovulation, and now also the water temperature. Another new sensor is a depth gauge (up to 20 m), which, for example, reveals when snorkeling how deep you are under the surface.
The polished aluminum version of the watch will be available in black, rose gold and silver. The titanium variant, which is up to a fifth lighter than last year’s stainless steel, will be available in aviation titanium with shades of Natural, Gold and Dark Gray Slate.
The basic 42 mm version of the watch starts at 11,490 CZK, in the case of titanium, the starting price of the smaller version is 19,990 CZK. For the 46mm version, the aluminum model costs CZK 12,90, while you will pay CZK 21,490 for the titanium watch. All titanium models immediately include eSIM support, for which an additional three thousand is paid in the case of aluminum models. Sales will begin on September 20, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch SE 2 will continue to be offered alongside the new generation.