Apple has officially unveiled the Apple Watch Series 4. Following months of rumors, today is the day we officially get to see the device in all of its glory.
Falling in line with the previous speculation, the new Apple Watch has significantly reduced the size of its bezels and now accommodates a 35% on the smaller model, while the larger one has seen a 32% increase in screen size. The design also confirms what we saw a couple of weeks ago, with a slightly redesigned rotating crown and side button, as well as a new microphone placement.
The new rotating crown now offers haptic feedback for scrolling through lists, so it"s easier to get to specific items. As for the microphone, it"s been moved to the side so that it"s further from the watch"s speaker, which is now much louder than before. The new Apple Watch is built with wax ceramic and sapphire glass, which should make for better signal reception.
Thanks to the larger display, there"s a new watch face that features up to eight complications that can be customized. You can also add specific people or time zones to the watch face. There are also a few new features, such as a watch faces to help you take a deep breath, or the ability to manage your calorie intake.
As far as specs go, the Apple Watch series 4 is powered by a new 64-bit dual-core chipset that should offer twice as much performance as previous iterations. Also inside the new model are improved accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, which can now detect when the user falls. Thanks to this ability, it can also call emergency services when a fall is detected unless the user tells it not to do so.
The watch will also notify you when it detects that your heart rate is too low or that there"s an irregular pattern compared to your usual values. But what"s really about its heart rate-sensing capabilities is the all-new electrical heart rate sensor that can even perform an electrocardiogram using the watch alone. This technology has been approved by the FDA, and it makes it the first electrocardiogram you can get over-the-counter and take home.
Despite all the new sensors, bigger displays, and more powerful processors, the Apple Watch maintain its estimated battery life of 18 hours, so you won"t have to worry about it lasting through a day, but it will also not take you much further.
The Apple Watch series 4 will be available for pre-order this Friday, and you"ll be able to get it starting next Friday, September 21. It will come in Silver, Gold, Space Gray, Polished Space Black, and a new Gold Stainless color.
The Bluetooth/GPS model will start at $399, while the version with cellular connectivity will run you $499. With the launch of the new models, the series 3 models will drop to a starting price of $279 starting today. Apple also announced that watchOS 5 will start rolling out to supported devices on September 17.