Expectations are building for what could be a major update with watchOS 10. And now it looks like a valuable upgrade may come with the hardware of Apple Watch 9 to offer a potentially major performance improvement.
There have been a few different chunks of Apple Watch hardware releases that feature a renamed but identical or nearly identical SiP (system in package). The most recent of these has been Apple Watch 6 through 8 – plus Ultra.
As I previously wrote “Apple used the same 64-bit dual-core processor in the Series 7 that launched in the Series 6, but with the updated S7 name. Now, the Apple Watch Ultra and Series 8 come with the S8 SiP 64-bit dual-core processor. It appears to be roughly the same as the S7 and S6 performance-wise as Apple didn’t share any claims of performance advancements during its keynote or on its website.”
Now it looks like Apple Watch 9 could arrive with the first performance upgrade chip-wise since 2020. As pointed out by MacRumors, Mark Gurman shared on his Power On Discord channel that Apple Watch Series 9 will be powered by a “new processor.” And when someone “asked whether the chip would be based on the A15 chip, he said that he believed that would be the case.”
For context, Apple’s A15 Bionic which arrived with the iPhone 13 lineup features a 6-core CPU, 16-core neural engine, 15 billion transistors, and more.
It’s unclear for now how much different the Apple Watch Series 9 chip would be compared to the A15 it’s being based on, but it sounds like the performance upgrade has the potential to be big.
Along with a faster and more responsive watch, the new chip will likely be more efficient which could improve Apple Watch battery life.
Previously, Mark said he believes that watchOS 10 which will arrive this fall will introduce a “fairly extensive upgrade — with notable changes to the user interface.”
Check out this concept from Parker Ortolani for how that could look:
Are you excited about what more powerful and capable hardware might enable on the next-gen Apple Watch alongside a revamped watchOS 10? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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