At today’s “It’s Glowtime” event, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 10, featuring a refined design and bringing new capabilities to the smartwatch.
It’s the thinnest Apple Watch yet and offers the biggest, most advanced display of any Apple Watch. It also features new sleep apnea notifications; faster charging; water depth and temperature sensing; plus new health and fitness insights and intelligence in watchOS 11.
The Apple Watch Series 10 is available in both aluminum and titanium, in an array of colors and finishes. Jet black is a new polished aluminum finish that’s reflective and sleek, while new titanium cases — available in natural, gold, and slate — have a jewelry-like shine.
According to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating office, Apple Watch Series 10 is nearly 10% thinner than Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Series 9, while offering all the advanced capabilities users love, adding new features, and maintaining all-day 18-hour battery life. A metal back integrates the antenna into the housing of the device itself, combining the two layers into one. The back is matched in material, finish, and color to the rest of the case, making it appear like the device is made from a single piece of metal.
The new S10 SiP was engineered to achieve a thinner profile, and designed for performance, power efficiency, and intelligence, Williams says. He adds that the S10 SiP and built-in 4-core Neural Engine allow for intelligent features users rely on every day, including the double tap gesture, on-device Siri, dictation, and automatic workout detection; important safety features such as Crash Detection and Fall Detection; and the updated Smart Stack, the redesigned Photos face, and the Translate app in watchOS 11.
In addition to being thinner, Apple Watch Series 10 is also lighter: aluminum cases weigh up to 10% less than Series 9, and titanium cases weigh almost 20% less than stainless steel Series 9. The case also features more rounded corners and a wider aspect ratio, which contribute to a much larger display while only slightly growing the case to new 42mm and 46mm sizes.
Apple’s Largest, Most Advanced Wearable Display
The Apple Watch Series 10 features the biggest and most advanced display of any Apple Watch. Williams says the larger display offers up to 30% more active screen area than Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, and Series 6, and up to 9% more than Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Series 9.
The Apple Watch Series 10 is the first Apple product to offer a wide-angle OLED display, which optimizes each pixel to emit more light at wider angles. As a result, the display is up to 40% brighter than the Series 9 when viewed from an angle.
Apple Watch Series 10 features the biggest and most advanced display of any Apple Watch
Williams says the wide-angle OLED display is also more power efficient, enabling a faster refresh rate when Apple Watch is in always-on mode, going from once a minute to once a second. As a result, users can now see a ticking seconds hand without raising their wrist on select watch faces.
New watch faces in watchOS 11 are designed to take advantage of the bigger display and faster refresh rate on Apple Watch Series 10. The Flux watch face features a bold graphic design that fills the screen with color second by second. The Reflections watch face features a shimmering dial that reacts subtly to user movements, and is designed to complement the highly reflective quality of the new titanium cases.
Faster Charging
The new metal back integrates a larger and more efficient charging coil, making Series 10 the fastest-charging Apple Watch ever, so it is easier than ever to use Apple Watch throughout the day as well as overnight. Williams says that 15 minutes of charging provides up to eight hours of normal daily use, or eight minutes of charging powers up to eight hours of sleep tracking. Faster charging also means users can charge to 80% battery in about 30 minutes.
Sleep Apnea Notifications
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious condition where breathing stops momentarily during sleep. The condition, which is estimated to impact more than one billion people worldwide, goes undiagnosed in most cases, and if left untreated, can have important consequences on health. Building on the intelligent health features already available, Apple Watch now offers a feature to help identify signs of sleep apnea.
To detect sleep apnea, the smartwatch uses the accelerometer to monitor small movements at the wrist that are associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns, tracked by a new Apple Watch metric called Breathing Disturbances. While some breathing disturbances are normal, they are important to track as they can be used to help understand restfulness of sleep, and when occurring frequently over multiple nights, may be associated with sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea notifications come to Apple Watch.
The new sleep apnea algorithm analyzes breathing disturbance data so Apple Watch can notify the user if the data indicates signs of sleep apnea. The notification will include the time period when potential sleep apnea occurred, educational materials on the importance of seeking treatment, and a PDF providing three months of breathing disturbance data to reference during a conversation with a healthcare provider.
The sleep apnea notification feature is expected to receive marketing authorization from the FDA and other global health authorities soon. Sleep apnea notifications will be available in more than 150 countries and regions this month, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
Depth and Temperature Sensing for Water Activities, and the New Tides App
The Apple Watch boasts a swim-proof design that has a 50-meter water resistance rating, automatic stroke detection, and lap counting. Now watchOS 11 introduces Custom Workouts for pool swims. The Apple Watch Series 10 packs a new depth gauge and water temperature sensor.
The new depth gauge can measure down to 6 meters beneath the water’s surface, which is handy for snorkeling and shallow diving, or playing in the pool, lake, or ocean. Additionally, the new water temperature sensor measures the temperature of the water once Apple Watch has been submerged.
The built-in Depth app is designed to be highly legible for easy underwater visibility, displaying the time, current depth, water temperature, duration under water, and maximum depth — with the option to automatically activate as soon as Apple Watch is submerged. Water temperature is also displayed in workout metrics during Pool Swim and Open Water Swim workouts.
A new depth gauge, water temperature sensor, and Tides app are designed to make the Apple Watch Series 10 an even better companion when users are headed into the water.
watchOS 11 introduces a new Tides app. Users can access seven rolling days of forecasted tidal information for coastlines and surf spots around the globe, including information on high and low tides, rising and falling tides, tide height and direction, and sunrise and sunset, all plotted against a timeline. Users can also view beaches near their location on a convenient map, and new complications show current tide information for their favorite spots or closest beaches at a glance.
The Oceanic+ app is now available for Apple Watch Series 10, with new features for snorkeling. Developed in partnership with Huish Outdoors, the app allows users to find popular snorkeling locations nearby; view information on conditions provided by the snorkeling community; and during a snorkeling session, see depth, water temperature, and more in a single view.
Audio Playback Through Speakers and Voice Isolation for Calls
Audio can now be played back through the built-in speaker on Apple Watch Series 10. Just like with phone calls, users can listen to audio from a range of apps — including Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books, and third-party apps — right from their Apple Watch.
Apple Watch Series 10 also uses a new voice isolation neural network running on the 4-core Neural Engine to suppress background noise during phone or FaceTime audio calls.
New Aluminum Finishes and Polished Titanium
For the first time, Apple Watch is available in a polished aluminum finish, jet black, with a glossy, reflective shine. The Apple Watch Series 10 also comes in an updated rose gold aluminum, along with brushed silver aluminum.
Available in both aluminum and titanium, Apple Watch Series 10 comes in an array of colors and finishes.
Additionally, Apple Watch Series 10 is available in an aerospace-grade polished titanium that replaces the stainless steel of previous generations. The new grade 5 titanium cases offer a reflective, jewelry-like finish, while being almost 20% lighter than Apple Watch Series 9 in stainless steel. The titanium cases come in three colors: natural, gold, and slate.
Carbon neutral
According to Apple, last year the Apple Watch became Apple’s first carbon neutral product by reducing carbon emissions across the three biggest sources — materials, electricity, and transportation — and using high-quality carbon credits from nature-based projects to offset the small amount of emissions remaining. With the introduction of Apple Watch Series 10, made with 100% recycled aluminum or 95 percent recycled titanium in the case, customers now can choose a carbon neutral option of any Apple Watch in any material.
Lineup
- The Apple Watch Series 10 is available in 42mm and 46mm sizes in the new jet black, the new rose gold, and a silver aluminum case, as well as new titanium in natural, gold, and slate.
- Any Apple Watch Series 10 with a Sport Loop band, Braided Solo Loop, or updated Milanese Loop is carbon neutral.
- Apple Watch Hermès is available in 42mm and 46mm sizes in silver titanium designed to match the stainless steel of previous generations.
Bands
The Milanese Loop and Link Bracelet bands have been updated to perfectly color-match the new titanium cases of Apple Watch Series 10. A new collection of Hermès bands is also available.
Pricing and Availability
- Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UAE, the U.K., the U.S., and more than 49 other countries and regions can pre-order Apple Watch Series 10 today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 20.
- Apple Watch Series 10 starts at US$399.
- Apple Watch SE is available starting at $249 (U.S.).
- New Apple Watch bands will be available to order today from apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 20.
- watchOS 11 will be available for Apple Watch Series 6 or later on Monday, September 16, and requires iPhone Xs or later running iOS 18. Not all features are available on all devices and in all regions.
- Older Apple Watch bands, including 41mm and 45mm sizes, will be compatible with the new 42mm and 46mm cases, and all new 42mm and 46mm bands will be compatible with older Apple Watch models.
- Three months of Apple Fitness+ and Apple Music are included for customers who purchase Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Ultra 2, or a new Apple Watch Series 6 or later.
- AppleCare+ for Apple Watch provides service and support. This includes unlimited incidents of accidental damage, battery service coverage, and priority support from the people who know Apple Watch best.
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