At its eye-popping, transitions filled digital event, Apple unveiled its all-new smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 6. It also launched a new model called the Apple Watch SE, offering some of the most important features in a more affordable price tag. With that, the company also introduced a brand new service called Apple Fitness+, a premium health training subscription program.
The new Apple Watch Series 6 continues the design and form factor as the previous-gen models but refines the experience further with a variety of new additions both in the hardware and software departments. Now the highlight feature of the new Series 6 includes the ability to measure blood oxygen which is done by using red and infrared lights. It is powered by the new S6 chipset based on the A13 Bionic which is the same as the iPhone 11-series. The new chip is said to offer up to 20-percent better performance, which seems like a proper upgrade ever since the Series 4. There is also a new real-time altimeter that should be great for hikers.
The Series 6 is said to be more power-efficient than before and comes with a brighter always-on display, which also allows users to control more features on the watch without fully waking it up. Apple will offer a bunch of premium finishes for the casing along with a new blue colour option alongside the special Product Red edition. This one comes in an all-red casing and strap. Of course, there will be a new Nike edition, and various colours and finishes to choose from. There are a tonne of new watch faces including new stripes options, profession based-faces, a timezone based-face, and even one where you can put your own Memoji. The Apple Watch Series 6 will come with the new watchOS 7 that Apple showcased at WWDC earlier this year.
Prices start at $399 (~Rs 29,500) for the 40mm model while the cellular or LTE version starts at $499 (~Rs 37,000). Customers in the US can order starting today while shipping begins September 18. India pricing and availability should arrive soon.
Apple also introduced a new feature to make the Apple Watch accessible to a wider audience. With Family Setup, parents can control and manage an Apple Watch for their child cause you know giving them iPad and iPhones was not enough. Anyway, this is actually not a bad feature as it allows one to use an Apple Watch without having an iPhone of their own. This could also work very well if you have someone elderly at your home. Parents or caretakers can have full control over who the user can call or message and can also set up location alerts and a do not disturb mode for when their child is at school. The Family Setup feature will require a cellular variant of the Apple Watch and will be rolled out in the coming days.
The Apple Watch SE lives up to its name by offering a cheap price tag. It is essentially an improved version of the Apple Watch Series 3 and shares some of the features of the new Apple Watch Series 6. It seems to make use of the Series 4 design and according to Apple, the new Watch SE comes with a built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, and always-on altimeter, and one will be able to track your sleep along with hand-washing detection so you can properly wash your hands. While it uses the same chipset as the Series 5, you don’t get features like the ECG monitor, neither is there a mention of an always-on display, but there is a cellular model that can be used to make emergency calls with the SOS feature. This SE will also support the new Family Setup feature.
There will be a bunch of colour and strap options to choose from. The new Apple Watch SE will come with the latest watchOS 7 update with a starting price of $199 (~Rs 14,500) making it a solid competitor for the likes of Samsung, Fitbit, and a variety of other affordable smartwatch makers.
Notably, Apple will not be offering a charging adapter with either of its new smartwatch offerings in an attempt to increase its efforts to reduce waste. Owners will only get the charging cable with the dock.
Lastly, Apple announced a new service for avid Apple Watch fitness users called Fitness+. The new subscription service offers a variety of workout sessions along with additional fitness tracking features. Pricing starts at $9.99 (~Rs 735) per month or $79.99 (~Rs 5,900) per year. Stay tuned for the offical India pricing of the new Apple Watch Series , Apple Watch SE and the new Fitness+ services.
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