The Apple Watch Series 10 has been unveiled during Apple's September 9th event boasting a thinner and lighter design, larger screen, faster charging and a new sleep apnea detection feature. It is available for preorder starting today for $399 and will ship on September 20th.
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Apple Watch 10: price and availability
The Apple Watch 10 is available for preorder from September 9th with a starting price of $399 for the non-cellular model, the same as the Apple Watch 9 before it, and $499 for cellular. Apple expects it to be in stores and on users' wrists by September 20th.
Apple Watch 10: Design improvements
The Apple Watch Series 10 is 9.7mm thick, making it the thinnest Apple Watch ever. Coincidentally, or maybe not, that's the exact same thickness as the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7.
Compared to the Apple Watch 9, the new devices are 10% thinner and 10% lighter, a reduction that should make the Series 10 Apple's comfiest yet.
To reduce the device's footprint, engineers slightly shrunk down the processor, speaker and digital crown. However, Apple says this should have no negative impact and sound quality or watch performance.
The back of the Watch 10 has also been redesigned and now combines the watch's antennas into the metal housing for a sleeker construction.
The Series 10 also sports the line's largest display yet with 30% more screen real estate than the Series 9. Apple's first wide-angle OLED display is additionally 40% brighter than its predecessor, an improvement that is particularly noticeable when viewing it at an angle.
When using always-on mode, the Series 10 screen now updates every second rather than once a minute, making the device even more useful for timekeeping at a glance.
The Apple Watch 10 charges faster than its predecessor, too, thanks to a larger charging coil. Apple claims you can get it to 80% charged in just 30 minutes, which is pretty impressive. Battery life is still roughly 18 hours, though.
The standard aluminum case comes in three finishes including classic Silver, a rather sleek-looking Jet Black and Rose Gold.
Apple is also replacing the Series 9 stainless steel option with a grade 5 titanium Apple Watch 10 that's 20% lighter. This version also comes in three finishes: Natural, Gold, and my favorite, Dark Slate Grey. Updated titanium bracelets with matching finishes will be sold alongside these new options.
The titanium model also boasts a sapphire crystal screen with a new shimmering dial that changes when you observe it from different angles. Apple uses 95% recycled titanium for the case. And all the Apple Watch 10 devices are carbon neutral.
Apple Watch 10: Performance and feature upgrades
The Watch 10 sports Apple's latest S10 chip with a dedicated four-core neural engine for powering machine learning tasks like the double tap gesture, crash and fall detection, auto workout detection and Siri.
The new S10 chip also brings about improved background noise suppression when making phone calls from your Apple Watch 10. And now for the first time, users can play audio through the Apple Watch speaker, including music, podcasts and audiobooks.
A much-rumored sleep apnea detection tool also makes its debut on the Series 10. This complex disorder where a user's breathing repeatedly stops and starts while sleeping can increase your risk for heart-related conditions and stroke. If the device detects signs of the condition, users will receive an alert encouraging them to seek further medical analysis.
However, unlike the latest Samsung Galaxy Watches, Apple's sleep apnea detection is not yet FDA-approved.
The Series 10 ships running the latest watchOS 11 software which also brings about a ton of new functionality like the ability to pause your Activity Rings, use Apple's Check In safety feature, view pertinent health data within a new Vitals apps and access Apple's Translation app from the wrist with support for 20 languages.
Using machine learning, the device can also choose and curate the best images from your photo library to be used as a watch face and automatically add frequently used widgets to your Smart Stack.
Water resistance is still 50 meters but users get a new depth gauge and water temperature feature that's built with snorkelers in mind. The device also plays nicely with the Oceanic+ app.
Apple Watch 10: Outlook
The Apple Watch 10 looks like a tempting update over last year's model thanks to a design refresh that includes a thinner case and a larger, brighter screen. I also appreciate the new, useful sleep apnea detection tool and hope it receives clearance in the U.S. before the year's end.
New styling options are also nice to see; the Jet Black aluminum model looks particularly tempting, as do the extra-lightweight titanium options.
However, it's a bit frustrating to see the Apple Watch 10 boast the same 18 hours of battery life as the original model that debuted exactly ten years ago today. This is especially true when you realize that competitor models like the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 last for a whopping 48 hours between charges.
