During Apple’s It’s Glowtime event, the company announced the Apple Watch Series 10. With a thinner design and bigger displays, this device celebrates ten years of the original Apple Watch. Here’s everything we know about this product, including specs, release date, price, watchOS 11, and more.
Release date
The Apple Watch Series 10 was revealed on September 9, 2024. Pre-orders are already available, and it goes on sale on September 20.
Design: Thinner body, bigger display
Apple says the Apple Watch Series 10 is nearly 10% thinner than the Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Series 9. This wearable is also lighter, as the aluminum case weighs up to 10% less than Series 9 while offering larger 42mm and 46mm display sizes.
The larger display offers up to 30 percent more active screen area than Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, and Series 6, and up to 9 percent more than Apple Watch Series 7, Series 8, and Series 9. With that, Apple says it could improve readability and usability.
Apple Watch Series 10 is the first Apple product to offer an innovative wide-angle OLED display, which optimizes each pixel to emit more light at wider angles. As a result, the display is up to 40 percent brighter than Series 9 when viewed from an angle, making it easier to read at a glance.
In addition, the display is more power efficient and enables a faster refresh rate when the Apple Watch is in always-on mode, going from once a minute to once a second.
Colors
These are the colors of the new Apple Watch Series 10
Aluminum:
- Jet Black
- Rose gold
- Silver
Titanium:
- Natural
- Gold
- Slate
Apple Watch Series 10 new processor
Apple says the new S10 SiP was engineered for better performance, power efficiency, and intelligence (even though it’s non-related to the Apple Intelligence platform). It has a built-in 4-core Neural Engine for smart features, including the double tap gesture, on-device Siri, dictation, and automatic workout detection, and important safety features such as Crash Detection and Fall Detection. It even improved the updated Smart Stack, the redesigned Photos face, and the Translate app in watchOS 11.
There’s a new Sleep Apnea Detection sensor
Building on the intelligent health features already available to track key overnight metrics such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and wrist temperature, the Apple Watch now offers a feature to help identify signs of sleep apnea.
Studies reveal that sleep apnea is a potentially serious condition where breathing stops repeatedly during sleep. The condition, estimated to impact more than 1 billion people worldwide, is undiagnosed in most cases. If left untreated, sleep apnea can have important consequences on health, including an increased risk of hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiac issues.
To detect sleep apnea, Apple Watch uses the accelerometer to monitor small wrist movements associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns, tracked by a new Apple Watch metric called Breathing Disturbances. While some of these 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. Users can view their nightly Breathing Disturbances in the Health app, where they are classified as elevated or not elevated and can be viewed over a one-month, six-month, or one-year period.
The 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 US, the EU, and Japan.
Other Apple Watch sensors
Apple Watch Series 10 also features these sensors:
- ECG app
- Cycle Tracking app with retrospective ovulation estimates3
- Heart Rate app
- High and low heart rate notifications
- Irregular rhythm notifications
- Mindfulness app with state of mind tracking
- Noise app
- Sleep app including sleep stages
- Temperature sensing
- Emergency SOS
- International emergency calling
- Fall Detection
- Crash Detection
- High-g accelerometer
- Second-generation ultrawideband chip
Depth and Tide apps come to the Apple Watch Series 10
Apple Watch Series 10 has a 50-meter water resistance rating, automatic stroke detection, and lap counting. new depth gauge and water temperature sensor make the Apple Watch Series 10 an even better companion when users are headed into the water.
The new depth gauge can measure down to 6 meters beneath the water’s surface, perfect 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 the Apple Watch has been submerged. The built-in Depth app is highly legible for easy underwater visibility, displaying the time, current depth, water temperature, duration underwater, and maximum depth — with the option to automatically activate as soon as the Apple Watch is submerged. Water temperature is also displayed in workout metrics during Pool Swim and Open Water Swim workouts.
To help users plan and enjoy open water activities and stay aware of changing conditions, 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.
Blood oxygen sensor controversy
In early 2024, Apple had to halt Apple Watch Series 9 sales and release a model without blood oxygen measurement in the US due to a patent infringement. With Series 10, Apple continues to face drawbacks, and the new wearable isn’t capable of using this feature as it hasn’t come up with a solution to avoid infringing Massimo’s patents.
The same is worth it for the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Battery and connectivity
Even though the Apple Watch Series 10 is thinner than its predecessor, Apple managed to include the same “all-day” 18-hour battery. However, it features better charging speeds.
A new metal back features a larger and more efficient coil, which provides up to eight hours of normal daily use after 15 minutes of charge. Eight minutes of charging powers up to eight hours of sleep tracking. Faster charging also means users can charge to 80 percent battery in about 30 minutes.
One interesting tidbit about the new Apple Watch Series 10 is that Apple hasn’t added the red antenna circle to the Digital Crown; it has integrated the feature inside the watch itself.
watchOS 11 powers Apple Watch Series 10
With watchOS 10, Apple completely revamped the Apple Watch experience by redesigning its apps for larger displays. There were new Smart Stack widgets, a revamped Control Center, and so much more. For watchOS 11, Apple is polishing the Apple Watch system with more Smart Stack features, new Watch Faces, and new health-related features.
Price
The Apple Watch Series 10 costs the same as the previous models, but Apple has replaced stainless steel with titanium.
- Aluminum, 42mm, GPS: $399
- Aluminum, 42mm, GPS + Cellular: $499
- Aluminum, 46mm, GPS: $429
- Aluminum, 46m, GPS + Cellular: $529
- Titanium, 42mm, GPS + Cellular: $699
- Titanium, 46mm, GPS + Cellular: $749
However, if you want a stainless steel model, the Apple Watch Hermès is available at this finish starting from $1,249.
What about the Apple Watch X?
Before Apple released the Apple Watch Series 9, there were a few rumors about a possible Apple Watch X. Although it didn’t make sense at the time since 2023 would mark nine years after the first Apple Watch was released, Cupertino could have introduced an X version instead of Apple Watch Series 10.
The rumor started most likely thanks to the iPhone X, which marked the tenth anniversary of the iPhone. With this release, Apple reshaped what an iPhone looked like and elevated it to a higher level. That said, the X confused several people, who called this model by its letter and not the Roman number 10.
While the Apple Watch X brand looks cool, the company didn’t follow this strategy.
