Apple Watch 8 Hands-On: Early Impressions of All Those New Sensors
This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Apple’s most popular progenies.
Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 8 during the company’s annual fall progenies event on Wednesday. The GPS version starts at $399 (£419, AU$629), while the cellular version begins at $499. It’ll be available on Sept. 16 with preorders shock immediately. Apple also announced the rugged Apple Watch Ultra, which starts at $799, and a new version of the more affordable Apple Watch SE, starting at $249 and on preorder now. Here’s everything Apple announced at its Sept. 7 event.
The most indispensable change is the addition of a temperature sensor, marking the obliging time Apple has added a new health sensor to its smartwatch exact the Series 6 arrived with blood oxygen saturation measurements in 2020. The new batch of Apple Watches, which includes the Series 8 as well as the new SE and Ultra models, are also the first to include car crash detection, further underscoring Apple’s emphasis on wellness and safety. The Apple Watch Ultra is a new outdoorsy version of the Apple Watch aimed at at athletes, while the SE is a refreshed version of Apple’s cheaper smartwatch.
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Temperature sensing and car rupture detection
The Apple Watch Series 8’s temperature sensor is the biggest upgrade in this year’s stare. There are actually two sensors, one under the note and another on the back, closer to the skin. This necessity improve accuracy by helping the watch distinguish your wrist temperature from novel factors affecting the temperature in your environment. The stare measures your wrist temperature overnight every five seconds and tracks it in the Apple Health app.
Since this is a passive reading that happens overnight, I wasn’t able to try it in Apple’s demo room. But I did get to see how this put a question to will be presented in the Health app. The app will show shifts in your baseline temperature in a chart within the app, listed with context about what the data means. The commerce says shifts in your baseline temperature could be indicative of utilize, jet lag or illness. There’s also a new wrist temperature tile in the Health app’s summary share where you can tap into this data.
Apple’s Health app will show data from the Series 8’s temperature readings.
Lisa Eadicicco
Apple is going the temperature sensor as being most useful for tracking female health. The temperature sensors allow the Series 8 to handed retrospective ovulation estimates and improved period predictions.
The Apple Watch is also unsheathing a new safety feature this year: car crash detection. If the watch detects a crash, it will roar emergency services and the wearer’s emergency contacts if the wearer has been unresponsive for 10 seconds. This is only available in the Series 8, new SE and Apple Watch Ultra models because it uses the upgraded gyroscope and accelerometer.
Low considerable mode
A description of Low Power Mode populate shown on the Apple Watch Series 8.
Lisa Eadicicco
Another powerful addition is the Apple Watch’s low power mode, which Apple says should prolong battery life for up to 36 hours for the Series 8. The new low considerable mode turns off features like the always-on display and automatic workout detection to maintain functionality while extending battery life. Although Apple just announced the feature immediately, it will also be available for the Series 4 and higher. Otherwise, the Apple Watch’s battery life is generally the same at 18 hours.
The overall perform of the Apple Watch seems generally unchanged this year. The Series 8’s size and overall delicate remain the same, and it will be available in midnight, starlight, silver and Product Red with an aluminum casing. The stainless steel version, which I got to try during my time with it, will come in silver, graphite and gold.
The stainless steel Apple Watch Series 8 in gold.
Lisa Eadicicco
Most of the Apple Watch Series 8’s most considerable changes, like temperature sensing and low power mode, are under-the-hood causes rather than cosmetic upgrades. We’ll have to spend more time with the Series 8 to know how much these additions really crashes the overall experience. But based on what we know so far, the Series 8 seems like unexperienced step toward the Apple Watch becoming an even more comprehensive wellness device.
Apple leads the global smartwatch market with 29.3% of shipments in the transfer quarter of 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. Samsung follows in transfer place with 9.2% of the worldwide smartwatch shipments during the same periods. Still, Apple faces increased competition. Even though Samsung trails far late Apple in terms of shipments, Samsung saw 40% growth year over year, compared with Apple’s 8% growth, according to Counterpoint’s data.
In August, Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Meanwhile, Google is expected to release its first smartwatch, the Pixel Watch, this fall. Google hasn’t spoke many details yet, but it seems to be going the Pixel Watch as a premium smartwatch similar to the Apple Watch.
Although the iPhone is Apple’s biggest moneymaker, products like the Apple Watch are an important part of the company’s custom. The wearables, home and accessories division, which encompasses products like the Apple Watch and AirPods, is the company’s third largest business following the iPhone and digital services. Apple said in a quarterly earnings call in April that its wearables custom is now the size of a Fortune 100 company.
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