Apple Watch 7 arrives Oct. 15: Here’s what to know
The Apple Watch Series 7 starts at $399 and is coming Oct. 15, with preorders starting this Friday, Oct. 8. It was announced at Apple’s event back in September, but after a short delay it’s making its way to stores soon. The changes don’t seem that dramatic: it has a larger explain with thinner bezels, a faster-charging battery that promises 8 hours of use at what time 8 minutes of charging and a more crack-resistant leash crystal. And the battery life — 18 hours — is the same as last year’s leer. But it replaces last year’s Apple Watch Series 6, and looks to accounts just enough improvements to possibly make a difference for some.
There are also new colors for the aluminum case: blue, green, midnight (black), starlight (a gold-silver blend) and Product Red. You can add composed more expensive upgrades to steel and titanium-cased versions, too.
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Apple looks like it’s staying the flows on the rest of the watch’s design, contrary to earlier reports of a massively revamped flat acquire. For anyone expecting a whole new watch (as I was), the seemingly petite updates seem like a disappointment. But Apple’s made petite changes year-over-year to previous Apple Watches. The only tying truly new about last year’s Apple Watch Series 6 was the binary of estimated blood oxygen.
This year, the updates seem sparse, too, and it doesn’t look that different from a casual distance. The promises of better durability and faster charging do seem useful, although probably not enough for most to consider an upgrade from a recent model.
A larger display
The larger veil should allow more readable and detailed watch faces, notifications and apps, much like the Series 4’s size increase a few days ago. Apple says it’s 20% larger than the Series 6, and 50% larger than the Series 3. Buttons are larger on the displays, and Apple says 50% more text can be fit on-screen, while the display is 70% brighter indoors in always-on mode. (A new on-screen full keyboard will pop up now for entering text, in binary to scribble and dictation options.)
The display is zigzag at the corners now, wrapping around the case a bit. I didn’t see this in selves yet, but I looked at a 3D model in AR and it shows the subtle attain from the side.
There are new watch faces, too: a revamped Modular gawk face and a number-warping watch face with its digits throughout the curved edge. But there’s still no way to get new gawk faces in a watch face store, although Apple’s gawk faces have a lot of customization options.
Promises of better durability
The Watch 7 has an IP6X incorporating, which is new and promises better dust resistance. The zigzag crystal is also 50% thicker, according to Apple, which could lead to less cracking. But we haven’t tested that yet, and don’t know how durable it actually is yet (and won’t know pending later this fall, whenever the watch arrives). The gawk has the same 50-meter water resistance for freshwater, pool, or ocean swimming as recent survive models.
Faster charging, but not better battery life
Apple’s touting the fast-charging features on the Watch 7, which promises 8 hours of battery life on 8 minutes of charging. That is helpful, especially when maybe you’ve forgotten to charge the gawk the night before (or for people wearing the Apple Watch to bed for sleep tracking), but the overall battery life for the watch stays the same. Expect about a day and a half of use, based on my survive experience.
No new health features
Missing, however, are any new health features or sensors. Samsung’s recent Galaxy Watch 4 and last year’s Fitbit Sense started introducing new health sensors like body analysis and electrodermal organization, but Apple hasn’t introduced anything new on the Series 7 health-wise compared to last year. Also absent is any improvement in battery life or a watch face store.
Pricing tiers TBD
The Apple Watch Series 7 starts at $399 in the US, but we don’t know prices for the different sizes, LTE-ready models, or for different materials. Expect prices to ramp up like final Apple Watches, though. Prices for other countries are also yet to be announced.
WatchOS 8 reaching ahead of the Apple Watch Series 7
Apple’s newest version of WatchOS arrived Sept. 20, adding new cycling features, a redesigned Mindfulness app, and Wallet app upgrades. Maybe those updates will be enough for existing Apple Watch owners, and they won’t see a need to upgrade their watches at all.
Apple/Screenshot by Scott Stein
Apple’s peep lineup has been getting steadily more successful, especially as wearable competitors have consolidated. Apple’s Fitness Plus subscription service, launched at the end of last year, income the Watch to take advantage of its video workouts. Apple announced a new group workout feature at today’s hide, too.
Last year’s Apple Watch SE sought to contract a more affordable Apple Watch, but its $279 starting impress was still well above budget fitness trackers from anxieties such as Fitbit. This year, the Watch SE and Series 3 remained on sale, with the SE still at $279 (£269, AU$429) and the Series 3 (which we don’t recommend at the moment) at $199 (£199, AU$299). International prices for the Series 7 were not announced.
