Apple introduced Apple Watch Series 4 on Wednesday during its “Gather Round” media event. The new smart watch models come in 40 mm and 44 mm sizes instead of 38 mm and 42 mm, and include new watch faces with more detailed complications.
Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams called Apple Watch “the intelligent guardian for your health.”
Apple Watch Series 4 New Features
The new watch faces include a slew of new complications, along with several animated faces such as Breathe, fire, and water.
The display is 30% larger, and the watch body is thinner overall. The built-in speaker is 50% louder, and the microphone is now on the opposite side of the case from the speaker.
The S4 chip includes a 64-bit dual-core processor that offers up to double performance compared to previous models. It also includes a new gyroscope that offers twice the dynamic range and can detect falls. Once a fall is detected, Apple Watch can send an alert to your emergency contact and call emergency services for you.
The updated heart rate sensors can now give alerts for low heart rate, irregular heart rate, and track electrocardiogram data. Apple says this is the first over-the-counter device that offers ECG tracking.
The ECG feature also has FDA clearance, as do the alerts. Williams says those features will be available this year.
The new models sport the same 18-hour battery life as previous models, and activity tracking is less power hungry.
Apple Watch Series 4 Models and Pricing
The new Apple Watch models come in Space Gray, silver, and gold with aluminum Sport cases or stainless steel. Special edition Nike and Hermés models are available, too.
Apple Watch Series 4 includes built-in heart rate sensor, GPS, barometric altimeter, accelerometer, Bluetooth, and Siri voice responses. It also supports all existing Apple Watch bands, so you don’t have to give up your current collection.
Apple Watch Series 4 ships with watchOS 5 pre-installed. Pricing starts at US$399 with GPS, and $499 for GPS plus Cellular. Apple Watch Series 3 base price is dropping to $279.
Apple Watch Series 4 is available for pre-order this Friday, September 14. Deliveries and in store purchases start on September 21st.
A thinner watch body is good, some of my dress shirts have comparatively tight cuffs. The 1.73″ will be nice, but I was fine with the 1.65″