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Good.

It always amused me when Apple would unveil a BRAND NEW WATCH CPU that was basically the previous cpu with an extra bit attached to handle the few new features.

At least they’re being honest with this. Same CPU, just added bits in!
 
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“This is our most powerful Apple Watches ever”
Not entirely wrong.

Hey, this saved buyers some money unless they're looking for 5G connectivity, dual-band Wi-Fi, more gestures, extra fast charging, etc.
 
Is that official? The only reason I'd consider upgrading is to get the hypertension feature. Sleep score is a nice to have and the satellite connectivity is just not I'd likely benefit from.
It’s on the RC change log
 
This further supports my thought that the big battery increase isn't a bigger battery (at least not much at all), since power saver mode only gets 2 extra hours, so the normal mode doesn't have a more efficient chip, so instead normal mode probably just disables more things so its more like power save mode.
 
If the chip is the same as last year’s watch, how did they improve battery life? Did they fit a larger battery?
If you look closely, while it's 6 hours longer, that's just in normal mode. Power save mode only goes from 36 to 38 hours. Meaning normal mode is most likely just tweaked do less so its more like power save mode. So looks like this upgrade maybe more just sleight of hand than material improvements.
 
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wrist flick was s9
Not according to Apple.
SCR-20250909-orlr.png
 
Apple is really scrambling for those pennies. I know that recalibrating the lasers that laser the S11 imprint cost 0.01 ct initially for the first million devices before break even.
 
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I'm ready to upgrade my Series 4; I see the price of a refurbished Series 10 went up by $10 overnight (perhaps bc the 11 is perceived as underwhelming). That said, is it worth saving ~$120 if I'll keep the watch for at least 5-6 years, and the scratch resistance has real value to me? I am considering the 11 for these reasons.
 
It's been a feature for 2 years already? It was the standout feature they sold the series 9 on
No it's not, you are missleading it with Double tap gesture. Wrist flick is a watchOS 26 new feature. But you are right, it's on series 9 too, so it's an error on apple side still
 
If you look closely, while it's 6 hours longer, that's just in normal mode. Power save mode only goes from 36 to 38 hours. Meaning normal mode is most likely just tweaked do less so its more like power save mode. So looks like this upgrade maybe more just sleight of hand than material improvements.
But if that were the case, those tweaks would also affect the older model
 
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