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I am going to wait and see if the 5G makes a difference. I use my cellular connection daily for walks without my phone and streaming music. Where I am, the signal is weak in places. This may not help any which is why I will wait and see. I have the Ultra 1 currently so I am otherwise without need to update and this may not be a valid reason.

That was one of the updates I was looking forward to (also have an Ultra and do daily walks/runs without my phone). But in Canada no 5G love for watches from our carriers 🥹
 
I agree. The Series 5 bringing AOD was a huge change (in my opinion anyway).




Just looking back, seems like this will be 3rd year with similar performance / same CPU, and prior to Series 9, the 6-7-8 SiPs were also very similar performance wise. Maybe they're onto this 3 year cycle for performance improvements?
Agree - I upgraded from my Series 3 to a Series 5 specifically for the AOD. Post Series 5 there wasn't anything that really drove me to upgrade until the Series 5 battery was getting pretty weak and wasn't going to get software updates any more...

Yes, 3 year cycle for the CPU update in the Apple Watch seems to be the norm now (and ditto for the design). Chip and design cycle is offset so there is a new chip (1st year), new design (2nd year) and minimal changes (3rd year, which is where we are now for the standard watch).
 
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Between this near non-update and the Ultra 2 going for 2 years before receiving an update, makes me wonder if the Watch really needs to be on an annual refresh cycle.
Glass got better, battery got bigger. The Series 11 is better than the 10, so as long as they're moving enough units to justify the cost of changing the tooling, it's nice they made the improvements available.

Just because Apple's on an annual refresh cycle doesn't mean customers need to be. I'm certainly not.
 
Between this near non-update and the Ultra 2 going for 2 years before receiving an update, makes me wonder if the Watch really needs to be on an annual refresh cycle.
Why not? I’d rather get the little changes every year and get whatever’s the latest every 3-4 years rather than timing my purchase with longer release cycles.
 
It's a fair comment - it really isn't worth upgrading if you have last year's model. Then again, I very much doubt very many Apple Watch owners upgrade every year anyway.

Take me. I have a Series 4 (yes, you did read that correctly) so I'll be upgrading this year to either a titanium Series 11 or an Ultra 3. And the upgrade for me will massive!

Here in the UK they're both exactly the same price so the cost won't be a deciding factor. For me it'll be down primarily to the size and whether the chunkier Ultra 3 will be suitable for me. I've held off from ordering anything for the time being until I can get to an Apple Store to try them out.
 
Worth noting that it could be a very worthwhile investment for 9-and-older users. Two men in my family are placing orders due to the hypertension detection.
Far cheaper to buy an actual BP monitor. Good ones are $50 nowadays. And you'll actually get accurate readings instead of an AI guessing at your BP.

In fact this release reminded me to double check with my Omron. 117/77 so not bad! It even has bluetooth so it syncs with my phone
 
Their marketing is insidious. Hypertension notification and sleep score should've been announced at WWDC since they're software features, avaible on existing hardware. But they held off announcing them until the reveal of new hardware to trick people into thinking they need the new watches to get them. Despicable.
I mean, a little bit, but thinking like this is what’s gonna get Apple to stop doing this. I applaud them for thinking of the public health in this instance. If the hardware can do it, and it can save lives, then they put people above shareholders. What other company does that ever? So I can forgive being marginally misleading especially since they said right after that older watches would get it.
 
The 5G may (or may not) be a big deal. With apple removing the cellular specs from their website, it's impossible to tell, but carriers have bought up a lot of new cellular bands in the recent past that the current Apple Watches (through Series 10 & Ultra 2) dont make use of. The transition to a new cellular modem will hopefully rectify that (Band 71 for T Mobile, not sure of the specifics on other carriers). For T Mo, 71 is the one that they use for much of their rural coverage, so if this is included in the new chipset (which is seems crazy to think that it wouldn't be), users will likely see better cellular coverage. Better coverage usually results in better battery life (especially if they went with a RedCap modem).

I'm not saying this is for sure going to happen, but it is very plausible and for those users (people who use cellular in areas with weaker cellular coverage) the 11 may well be a worthwhile upgrade from the 10.

I have my fingers crossed and will be keeping an eye on the reviews. If they show improved cellular coverage, I will be upgrading from my 10.
 
^This. Unless you've broken it or completely spent the battery, a four- to five-year interval on watch upgrades seems the sweet spot.
I have the s10 and dropped it scratching a lot of the side of the glass just two weeks before S11 launch. Now I’m torn as the scratches bug me but trade in is now zero more or less and the new s11 is barely any different.
 
Far cheaper to buy an actual BP monitor. Good ones are $50 nowadays. And you'll actually get accurate readings instead of an AI guessing at your BP.

In fact this release reminded me to double check with my Omron. 117/77 so not bad! It even has bluetooth so it syncs with my phone
I’ve never seen one. Is it like a ring or something that you just happen to be wearing every day and not think about?
 
LOL. Me sitting here with a AW 9 and was planning on getting this year's upgrade. I actually do want the slimmer form factor, but the upgrade from 9 to 10 seemed too minor. Now I've got almost no additional reason to upgrade, but my AW 9 is a year older with a year more of battery degradation (still fine, but also slightly more likely to run out of juice during the day since I wear it at night for sleep tracking, so need to find a moment to recharge it during each day).
 
LOL. Me sitting here with a AW 9 and was planning on getting this year's upgrade. I actually do want the slimmer form factor, but the upgrade from 9 to 10 seemed too minor. Now I've got almost no additional reason to upgrade, but my AW 9 is a year older with a year more of battery degradation (still fine, but also slightly more likely to run out of juice during the day since I wear it at night for sleep tracking, so need to find a moment to recharge it during each day).

This is the part that sucks - these devices do degrade annually, but you never really know when you should replace them because the next year's upgrade may be major, or it may be nothing. I never bought into the "Apple should upgrade x device only every two or three years," but it can make sense when thinking about this kind of stuff
 
Worth noting that it could be a very worthwhile investment for 9-and-older users. Two men in my family are placing orders due to the hypertension detection.
Series 9 and up support hypertension detection.

I honestly feel like I hit the jackpot upgrading when I did two years ago. If the new updates are going to be this small and incremental from here on out, I’ll be hanging on to my S9 for a very long time.
 
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I think the annual upgrades make sense from Apple's perspective, although from a consumer pserpsecitve most users are better served upgrading less often. I was happy with my Series 7 until I got a sweet deal on a 10. The 10 is much nicer, and the performance is better and the battery lasts way longer (even thought the 7 had a brand new battery). I don't plan to upgrade very frequently, but if Apple only made upgrades every 2 or 3 years, how many people would actually buy a watch in year 2 or 3? Everyone would wait until the new watch came out the next year & you'd cause some really lumpy sales figures. If you buy a watch that is upgraded annually, it doesn't really matter if it's the 9 or 10 or 11. You'll buy whatever the new model is, and then upgrade in 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5 years) when you need a new one. It's gotta make planning and budgeting, and hiring, and everything else so much simpler to have an annual release cadence, even if the YoY upgrades aren't always super impressive.
 
Series 9 and up support hypertension detection.

I honestly feel like I hit the jackpot upgrading when I did two years ago. If the new updates are going to be this small and incremental from here on out, I’ll be hanging on to my S9 for a very long time.
In retrospect, Series 9 does seem to be the sweet spot right now. That was good timing.
 
Their marketing is insidious. Hypertension notification and sleep score should've been announced at WWDC since they're software features, avaible on existing hardware. But they held off announcing them until the reveal of new hardware to trick people into thinking they need the new watches to get them. Despicable.
Totally disagree, they could’ve held those features back from the older hardware, that would’ve been far worse (though still not “despicable,” cmon now)
 
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