Apple has refreshed its wearable lineup and has announced the Apple Watch Series 9 today. At an event hosted in Apple Park (USA), the brand unveiled the latest smartwatches which include the Series 9 and also the second-gen Ultra wearable called the Apple Watch Ultra 2. In addition, the company has also announced an affordable option under the SE series, the Apple Watch SE 2.
The Apple Watch Series 9 comes in two sizes 一 41mm and 45mm sizes. On the other hand, the Ultra 2 comes in a large 49mm size, similar to the last gen. Let us take a look at the details of all the new smartwatches from Apple in detail.
Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2, Watch SE 2: Price in India and Availability
The Watch Series 9 will start at Rs 41,990 in India. The Ultra 2 is priced at Rs 89,900. The Watch SE 2 starts at Rs 29,900. The Series 9 smartwatch will be available in Starlight, Silver, Midnight and (PRODUCT) Red in aluminium casing. In steel, the watch will come in Gold, Silver and Graphite colourways.
The smartwatches will be up for pre-orders shortly and will go on sale starting September 22 in India.
Apple Watch Series 9: Specifications and features
Starting off with the visuals, the series 9 comes with an edge-to-edge curved retina screen with support for Alway on Display. The screen can go as low as 1 nit and has a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. It comes in 41mm and 45mm screen sizes. Under the hood, the watch is powered by the new S9 chip with ultrawideband support and 32GB onboard storage. The watch is also swim-proof, dust and crack-resistant along with features like fall detection, emergency SOS, and car crash 一 all of which are part of the last-generation device as well.
The new chip features a new 4-core Neural Engine that can process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast when compared with the Series 8.
In terms of sensors, the watch offers a heart rate sensor, and blood oxygen sensor, and tracks temperature changes as well. The watch also supports sleep stage tracking and advanced workout metrics. In terms of battery life, the Series 9 is rated to last up to 18 hours along with support for fast charging.
The company also introduced a new double tap gesture, where users can use their thumb and index finger to do multiple things when the other hand is busy such as take/end calls, snooze alarms, access widgets, and more. This essentially works as a virtual crown. The double-tap function works without the user touching the watch. This feature will be available as a part of the software update next month.
In terms of software, the Watch Series 9 runs on WatchOS 10 with Namedrop feature. Other features of the watch include cellular (LTE) connectivity, Bluetooth, meditation, new watch faces, low-power mode, 25% more accurate dictation, advanced cycling tracking, Homepod integration and Health integration with Siri.
Apple Watch Ultra 2: Specifications and features
The second-gen rugged smartwatch from Apple is now better and stronger. For starters, the Ultra 2 is also powered by the new S9 chipset. It features a large 49mm dial with sapphire front crystal. The screen has a peak brightness of a whopping 3,000 nits. The Ultra 2 is also rated to last longer 一 up to 36 hours on a single charge in the regular mode and up to 72 hours in low-power mode. 
Further, this watch offers all the health and fitness-related features that the Series 9 offers. Since the watch is made for outdoor, it does come with dual-frequency GPS for accurate tracking. It also includes a built-in compass. Other key features include a water resistance rating, on-device Siri, a heart rate sensor, a blood oxygen tracker, sleep tracking, temperature sensing and ECG. There is also crash detection here.
For the Ultra 2, Apple has designed a dedicated watch face called Modular Ultra. This will take advantage of the large screen estate by offering more details such as real-time data, including seconds, altitude, or depth. It offers the most complications of any Apple digital watch face to customize for sports, outdoor adventures, and ocean and water activities.
Apple Watch SE 2: Specifications and features
The second-gen Watch SE comes with an affordable price tag in the US. It will be available in cellular as well as GPS options. It brings all the core features of the Apple Watch like activity tracking, high and low heart rate notifications, fall Detection, Emergency SOS, and crash detection, and it runs on the latest watchOS 10. The new Apple Watch SE is available in 40mm and 44mm aluminium cases.
