Apple Watch Ultra durability test
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With the launch of the Apple Watch lineup, the company became a major player in the wearables niche. The company is expected to maintain its lead and release the Apple Watch Series 9 later this year in response to newer wares by its rivals. Here's what is known and the exciting speculations about the upcoming smartwatch.

Apple Watch Series 9 release date speculations

While the company has not yet announced the Apple Watch 9 release date, Apple is known for running a release schedule for its smartwatches like clockwork. As seen below, all its previous watches were released in September.

  • Apple Watch Series 3: September 12, 2017
  • Apple Watch Series 4: September 12, 2018
  • Apple Watch Series 5: September 10, 2019
  • Apple Watch Series 6: September 15, 2020
  • Apple Watch Series 7: September 14, 2021
  • Apple Watch Series 8: September 7, 2022

Given this precedence, it will likely follow this trend when launching the Apple Watch Series 9. Macworld.com expects the upcoming smartwatch to be released on September 6 or 12.

Apple Watch Series 9 price speculation

Regarding pricing strategy, Apple has been consistent for U.S. buyers. Unfortunately, there have been price fluctuations for European markets, with U.K. buyers having to deal with the baseline model's price rising by £50, as shown below.

  • Apple Watch Series 4 – $399/£399
  • Apple Watch Series 5 – $399/£399
  • Apple Watch Series 6 – $399/£379
  • Apple Watch Series 7 – $399/£369
  • Apple Watch Series 8 – $399/£419

Macworld expects the Apple Watch Series 9 to have a price similar to the Series 8. This means the smartwatch will likely be offered for $399 in the U.S. and £419 in the U.K.

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Apple Watch Series 9 S9 chip

Most Apple Watch featured a new chip, as seen in the technical specifications. There is an S8 chip in Series 8, an S7 chip in Series 7, and an S6 chip in Series 6.

But what's interesting is that they're all essentially the same chip but given different names. The S7 and S8 chips were rebranded variants of the same CPU, whereas the S6 offered a 20% performance bump over the Series 5.

Many are hopeful that the S9 will somehow break this trend. Some hope the new chip sport a significant performance boost over its predecessor and features an integrated Neural Engine.

Dual-Frequency GPS

The Apple Watch Ultra improved its GPS to include the L5 band and the normal L1 band for quicker and more accurate location tracking, just like the iPhone 14 Pro. The extra band might come in helpful in crowded city areas where the normal Watch can struggle. Apple frequently introduces new features on higher-end models before bringing them down to lower-end versions, so possible that dual-frequency GPS could be coming to the Apple Watch Series 9.

MicroLED display

During the past few years, there have been many reports regarding Apple possibly employing MicroLED displays on various products, with the Apple Watch appearing to be the most likely candidate. After all, the Apple Watch had an OLED screen years before the iPhone did, so it stands to reason that Apple will also introduce its MicroLED screen on the Apple Watch.

MicroLED displays offer a host of advantages for gadgets. They are thinner, brighter, higher-res, and more efficient than OLED. The newest speculations claim that the first microLED watches won't be available until 2024; we're hoping for an earlier release.

5G

Even the most expensive Apple Watch Ultra only has 4G LTE, making Apple Watches one of the few Apple products that haven't received a 5G update. The Apple Watch is getting closer to being completely independent, so having the fastest connection possible makes sense.

Apple is now king of wearables

When it launched back in 2007, Fitbit once dominated the wearables sector. But the company soon met with other tech firms eager to get a share of the wearables market.

One of these newcomers is Apple, which launched the Apple Watch in April 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2017, Apple shipped 8 million smartwatches and 18 million units throughout that year. Apple has effectively dethroned Fitbit as the new king of wearables, Business Insider reported.