Apple today held its annual event where it would launch its next iPhone, but first, the company announced a brand new Apple Watch. The first model was announced two years ago and launched a year and a half ago, so it"s about time.
As you might expect, the device will launch with watchOS 3. The new software includes new apps such as Breathe and SOS, as well as a new Dock and Control Center. The OS was announced back in June, so we won"t go too deep into it, but it"s a big update and it"s worth checking out.
As you can see from the image above, the device itself looks exactly the same as the previous model. To be fair, Apple almost never does a redesign on an iteration of a model that was an all-new design.
Apple Watch Series 2 contains a feature that was at the top of many users" lists: GPS. You can finally track your runs and use apps that require GPS without having your iPhone with you.
The new dual-core S2 processor promises to be 50% faster, with a GPU that"s twice as fast. The screen promises to be twice as bright as well, coming in at 1000 nits. As Apple said, "That"s a lot of nits."
There are also some changes to the models being offered. Like last year, there will be an aluminum and a stainless steel model (no mention of gold), but the company has also added a material that it claims to have been working on for some time, ceramic.
Also like last year, Apple is partnering with Hermès to offer similar variants of the device, but it will also be partnering with Nike for what"s called the Apple Watch Nike Plus.
Interestingly, the company seems to have ditched its Sport, Watch, and Edition branding, instead calling everything Apple Watch. Because of this, we really don"t know anything about the Series 2 pricing beyond that it starts at $369, which is likely for the aluminum model. The company did confirm, however, that the Nike model will also start at $369.
Apple will also continue to sell the original Apple Watch for $269, but it does contain a pleasant surprise. It will swap out the old S1 chipset for the new S2, meaning that you"re not missing a whole lot if you opt to save a hundred dollars.