Apple Watch 9 likely Specifications – Opinion
The capabilities of each September’s new Apple Watch model are tricky to predict.
Apple, unlike Garmin, runs a tight ship when it comes to information security but the occasional unhappy staff member and supply chain leaks do give a select few analysts some good insights into the coming 1-3 years’ worth of developments.
Predictions are further complicated by Apple now pushing two ‘new’ Watch models in addition to the base model – SE and ULTRA. The base model also comes with a more expensive Sapphire/LTE option and there are numerous cosmetic options as well as small/normal-sized versions.
I’ve considered the quality of the leaks so far and looked at trends in tech both from the market and from how and when Apple has historically adopted the various tech cycles. Here are my predictions for Apple Watch 9; there are changes from Watch 8 but sadly it won’t be exciting.
2023 Models
I’m concerned in this article with the base model. In any case, I’m pretty sure that SE gen 3 will be next year in 2024. A new ULTRA is heavily and credibly rumoured for 2023, it could be a smaller Watch ULTRA or a next-gen model.
It would be easy to say that a smaller Watch ULTRA would simply have a smaller screen and battery but it would be equally plausible that it has the new hardware features I’m now going to outline.
Display Tech
Prediction: 2x Brighter screen of the ULTRA rolled down to Watch 9. That’s it.
The next generation of Watch screen tech will be micro OLED (2024). This tech is already widely available and it is feasible that Apple could add it this year. I would personally have guessed that but the industry rumours point to 2024.
Micro OLED will ultimately give a better image than we see in Watch 7/8/9 but I don’t think it will be materially improved in terms of its normal visuals. It might however work better in certain light conditions but its biggest addition to the Watch will be its power-saving abilities which should finally give the Apple Watch a notable battery life boost.
UWB
Apple is improving the Ultra Wide Band in iOS to work with its new VR/MR headsets. I would expect Apple Watch to get the same improved UWB facility. Separately, AirTag functionality is stated to be expanded in 2023.
Processor Tech
Prediction: Significant change
In recent years, Apple merely rebranded its processor. So the S8 chip we currently see in Watch 8 is effectively identical to the previous year’s S7 model. Rumours abound that this year we will see performance improvements based on Apple’s A15 chip (not A16). I suspect we will see quad cores, more L2 cache, the same 5nm architecture, higher and variable clock rates, more RAM and more storage on a fundamentally faster processor.
That said, I don’t think any improved performance will make much difference to the experience of using Apple Watch. Watch 8 seems fast enough to me already for what it can do and rarely has the lags I see on other sports watches on this site from Garmin and Co.
GNSS Tech
Prediction: Nada
This will not change. We already have dual frequency precision on Watch 8.
I suspect Watch 8 already has a flavour of tech similar to Garmin’s SatIQ technology where higher precision and higher consumption modes are dynamically enabled when needed. If not, Apple will turn that ability on its existing chipset…it’ll make a good PR story for them if nothing else.
Optical HR Sensor Tech
Prediction: Nada
Apple IS overdue for a new optical HR sensor. Its current Gen 3 tech was introduced on Watch 6 (2020).
However, Apple is definitely looking at widening the abilities of its sensor package to sense new things as evidenced by its interest in Rockley Photonics and other companies. The new sensor tech will potentially have a wide range of abilities including blood pressure, blood sugar, lactate and more besides. The problem is that the technology just isn’t quite there yet…albeit close. Again, new sensing abilities are for 2024/25 which probably means that Apple has little incentive to simply make a slightly better heart rate monitor when it can make a significantly better one in 2024.
Next Gen Sports Sensors for 2023 and beyond – Lactate, blood pressure, hydration, creatinine
Action Button
Q: Will the Watch 9 get the action button from the Watch ULTRA?
A: Complete guess – probably not
Take Out
2023 will see an ostensibly faster Watch 9 also with a few new hardware tweaks that will sound awesome in the Apple launch presentation but make little difference to the user experience.
Of course, the biggest change will be software and we’ve seen much of what’s coming as WatchOS 10 has already been announced (I’m using the beta). Whilst watchOS 10 has made important cycling-related enhancements, none of them indicates a new Watch Model or new hardware abilities of a Watch. If anything, they seem to signal more that iPhone might eventually morph into a better bike computer.
2024 will be an exciting year for Apple with more new models, new screen tech and new sensors. This year?…less so.
watchOS 10 – a surprisingly good mixture of PRO and TRIVIAL sports features
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