AW Ultra is a great companion for a regular Series watch. And these watches only get about $100 trade in value anyway, so keeping your Series 6 could be a good idea
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 Reviews: Small Steps Forward
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
AW Ultra is a great companion for a regular Series watch. And these watches only get about $100 trade in value anyway, so keeping your Series 6 could be a good idea
My series 4 still feels snappy on watchOS 10. Considering the upgrade if the price drops sometime early next year.
Looks like a skip year.
I fear many people upgrading this year will hate not getting the anniversary edition next year...
I fear many people upgrading this year will hate not getting the anniversary edition next year...
Interesting... I was about to buy a U2 and trade in my S7 LTE. Now I think I'll at least wait for that first round of discounts that come towards the US holiday season. Thanks MR.
EDIT: Or... Perhaps I'll wait for a black U3!
EDIT: Or... Perhaps I'll wait for a black U3!
Last edited:
Wait a minute. Compared to the Apple Watch series 8, the series 9 is just a small step forward and buyers will only see iterative upgrades therefore it likely isn't worth upgrading, but when it comes to the iPhone 15, it's a "major upgrade"... offering a "significant update" to the iPhone 14??? 🤣
I appreciate the small steps forward, but in general some of the recent news regarding the iPhone pro show apple artificially restricting some good features to certain models without any real reason... I can understand certain processor, memory heavy or sensor specific features not coming to newer models.. but battery management and health features...
Their software lags far behind the quality of their hardware.
Maybe they should just skip this rigid release schedule and just release when ready. A yearly release cycle for a watch is getting a little absurd.
Id rather have a watch come out every 2 to 3 years that has vastly better specs than this drip of incremental hardware enhancements.
Their software lags far behind the quality of their hardware.
Maybe they should just skip this rigid release schedule and just release when ready. A yearly release cycle for a watch is getting a little absurd.
Id rather have a watch come out every 2 to 3 years that has vastly better specs than this drip of incremental hardware enhancements.
My Series 6 battery is down to 77% max charge. Looking forward to upgrading to the Series 9. Brand new battery and new color (Starlight w/ Clay Braided Solo Loop). Display enhancements and new features are the icing on the cake.
Totally worth the upgrade for me due to the on-device Siri processing. I use Siri the most on my Apple Watch for reminders, timers, the basics and nothing is more frustrating than it just not working the first time, or it being really slow and having to babysit it until it goes through or not. Schrödinger's Siri.
Part of that was, of course, due to AT&T's crappy network here where you can have full bars of "5G" and receive zero data. Solving that issue by dumping AT&T this cycle.
Regardless, I'll be in timer and reminder setting heaven
Part of that was, of course, due to AT&T's crappy network here where you can have full bars of "5G" and receive zero data. Solving that issue by dumping AT&T this cycle.
Regardless, I'll be in timer and reminder setting heaven
I am waiting for mine to finally drop below 80% so I can get it replaced and cancel AppleCare+ but it just not happening! Forever at 80
This has been a thing forever with Apple, how is it recent and why have you expected anything else? Many other companies do it too, sadly. It's partly how they entice sales, especially in the era of electronic hardware plateauing.
Not saying it's right, the Apple 2030 enviormental BS comes through as so tone deaf due to limiting repair and these sort of things, but it's expected.
Wait for 2024... the ability to see seconds on your watch is limited to the Ultra model 
I’ve got an s6, I checked its battery health for the first time ever this morning, it’s 91%😯. No idea how it’s still that high, given I’ve made no effort to preserve it beyond optimised charging. All that means is that if a relative wants it once my s9 arrives, can probably get away without getting its battery replaced before giving it to them.
I’m looking forward to the upgrade
I’m looking forward to the upgrade
I have an AW 4 and ordered a 9. I think my watch saw me order it because ever since the os 10 upgrade it's lasted half a day.
I find it very bizarre that we're all of a sudden acting like the Series 8 didn't have exactly 3 new features, and one of them is irrelevant to 99.9% of people (Bluetooth 5.3), at least there is a feature here that doesn't require you to be grievously injured this year...
Because the same chip was re-used four years in a row, and some of us don’t mind efficiency improvements leading to longer battery life.
Last edited:
Also on the space black stainless steel (series 5). I bit the bullet and upgraded this year, but had to buy Hermes to keep the space black.
On-device Siri processing and improved dictation accuracy are just about the only reason it needed increased processing power
I have to tell Siri to open my garage door 3 times before it takes when coming back from a walk. I usually start trying from 3 houses away. Last time I reached my house and used the keypad after the third time Siri informed me that the garage door was closed instead of opening it for me.
AFAIK the Hermes Series 8 and Series 9 (maybe even Series 7) Space Black DLC Apple Watch is not the same true black that the original DLC Space Black Stainless Steel was through I believe Series 6.
I truly can't tell where the casing ends and the screen begins when the screen is off.
I’ve been using double tap on my Apple Watch Ultra since day one last year. I don’t know why they keep promoting this when it’s already been there.
The new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will begin arriving to customers and launch in stores on Friday. Ahead of time, select media outlets and YouTube channels have shared the first reviews of the watches.
Key new features for both Apple Watch models include brighter displays, up to a 30% faster S9 chip, a "Double Tap" gesture for interacting with the watches without touching the screen, an increased 64GB of internal storage, and more.
Many reviews agree that the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are iterative upgrades that likely aren't worth upgrading to from a Series 8 or the original Ultra.
The Verge's Victoria Song on upgrading to the Series 9 or Ultra 2:CNBC's Kif Leswing on Double Tap:CNET's Lexy Savvides said the Apple Watch Ultra 2's brighter display with up to 3,000 nits peak brightness benefits the flashlight feature:MobileSyrup's Patrick O'Rourke on the S9 chip:Videos
Article Link: Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 Reviews: Small Steps Forward
And for sure, Apple keeps moving forward half steps while everyone else is sprinting.
It’s getting tiring. The iPhone 15 is really the iPhone 14S.
Three Apple Watches. These are the people keeping Apple in business lol