The Apple Watch Series 10 has arrived, announced at the iPhone 16 "Glowtime" event on September 9, and it looks in some respects like the best Apple Watch yet.
Having already seen the watchOS 11 announcement at WWDC 2024, we had a pretty good idea of what direction the latest Apple Watch is heading in, and Series 10 didn't disappoint. With the biggest, widest display on an Apple Watch yet, new S10 chipset, a slimmer, lighter body, and new health and fitness features, there's plenty to dive into here.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next Apple Watch
- When is it out? September 20
- How much will it cost? $399 / £TBC / AU$649
Apple Watch Series 10: Release date and price
The Apple Watch 10 was revealed at the Apple event on September 9, and will be released on September 20. We know the wearable starts at $399, with international pricing TBC. This is around the same as an Apple Watch Series 9 41mm model.
However, it wasn't mentioned in the presentation what sizes the Apple Watch Series 10 will arrive in, or how much that bigger screen will cost. We weren't even given a size in milimeters for the giant new screen, which was the Series 10's biggest design change.
Apple Watch Series 10: Design and screen
We’ve had quite a few Apple Watch Series 10 changes, first up that screen. Still unknown on exact size, we do know it's bigger than the Ultra's 49mm screen, comprised of Sapphire glass, and and is an "under-the-front crystal" wide-angle OLED with 30% more screen space than your average Apple Watch Series 6.
It's allegedly easier to type messages, pause workouts, and is 40% brighter when viewed at an angle compared to previous generations. It's also extremely power-efficient, and always-on display mode now updates once a second instead of once a minute.
The new Flux face is designed to work perfectly with this new design, but there's plenty more going on in terms of design than just this big, bright new screen. New polished aluminum finishes including Jet Black, Rose Gold and Silver Aluminum have been polished to ensure maximum shine. The aluminum usage is 10% lighter than previous generations too, while the body itself is also the thinnest Apple Watch ever at 9.7mm.
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The speaker system has also been re-engineered, with a 30% smaller speaker outputting the same amount of acoustic power as the old speaker. For the first time, you can play media out loud - who needs AirPods, eh?
The premium stainless steel models have been replaced with titanium, in Natural, Gold and Slate Gray. The titanium models are said to be carbon neutral, comprised of 95% recycled titanium and created with 100% renewable energy.
Apple Watch Series 10: Features
The flagship health feature this year was the new Breathing Disturbances metric. Available in the Health app, Breathing Disturbances analyses the last 30 days of sleep tracking to identify instances of moderate-to-consistent sleep apnea. Apple claims millions of people are living with undiagnosed sleep apnea, and this feature could help. It's awaiting FCC certification, a stamp of quality previously awarded to its AFib features.
Otherwise, Ultra-exclusive workout apps like Depth for diving, Tides and the third-party Oceanic+ app are coming to the mainline Apple Watch Series 10. While not suitable for deep-sea scuba, the Series 10 is now ideal for snorkeling, while the new Tides app can help predict and improve conditions for fishing, surfing, snorkeling and more.
The new S10 chipset offers machine learning to identify patterns associated with trips, slips and falls, improve voice calls, and the Apple Watch now gets the iPhone's Translate app thanks to the improved smarts. Apple was hesitant to refer to the capabilities as "AI-powered", though.
