What do you make of the AW 9 vs. the AW 7 or 8? Are you going to upgrade — and why?

[Saturn007]

I see that the Apple sloganeering department highlights

“Smarter, Brighter, Mightier”.​

But can it leap tall buildings at a single bound? 😁

Seriously, what do you all make of the differences between the 9 and the 7 or 8?

Are there any hidden upgrades in the sensors or algorithms — say, for heart rate or ECG? Which generation are they now using? Any improvements in sleep tracking? Or, temperature measuring?

How much smarter, brighter, and mightier is the 9?

Who plans on upgrading — even from an 5 or 6, but especially from a 7 or 8 — and why?

 

[xDKP]

Seems like minor upgrade but a bit under the hood with chipsets etc.

 

[nburwell]

Definitely a minor upgrade for us with the S8. I plan on keeping my watch for another year and see what the S10 brings.

 

[DSTOFEL]

Have the S7 SS. S8 was a very minor update. S9 is, in my eyes, a very minor upgrade also. Keeping the S7 until a design change.

Apple seems to be on a pattern: AW3 (new chip), AW4 (new design, same chip), AW5 (same design, minor update), AW6 (same design, new chip), AW7 (new design, same chip), AW8 (same design, minor update), AW9 (same design, new chip). So, AW10 (New design, same chip).

I’m holding out for the AW10 with a fresh new design!

 

[upnorth85]

The compare function on the Apple website will not allow you to compare Apple Watch 9 with series 8 or 7 etc. Not much difference, that is why they are not allowing comparing with previous series watches. Bye Apple. See you next year.

 

[the future]

After getting an Ultra, it was painfully obvious to me that the regular Series display was just too dim in bright sunlight. So 2000 nits is the biggest upgrade, and the new CPU will keep the S9 much longer current / OS-updateable than earlier versions. Bonus is the double-air-tap; very curious how useful that will be IRL. My guess is very.

 

[the future]

The compare function on the Apple website will not allow you to compare Apple Watch 9 with series 8 or 7 etc. Not much difference, that is why they are not allowing comparing with previous series watches. Bye Apple. See you next year.

You just don‘t know what you‘re talking about. The „compare“ pages are always only for models that they currently sell. And they just don‘t sell the S7/S8 anymore. But you can still find all their tech specs elsewhere on the Apple site.

 

[Howard2k]

Get ready for the next wave of "it's the same watch as last year".

It's a decent upgrade IMO, but I won't be replacing my S8. Close but no cigar. Some things that I really wanted but were not included:

* Larger usable screen area on the Ultra, or a smaller physical device (i.e., shrink the bezels)
* Longer battery life on either S9 or Ultra 2 (I realize that the Ultra 2 low power mode is now 72 hours vs 60 hours)



I like the on device Siri processing, happy to see that. That's unexpected, but not enough.
3,000 NITs on the Ultra, 2,000 NITS on the S9, also nice to see.
Updated sensors can't be a bad thing, if that happened. I'm not sure that it did, Apple still says Third Gen.
Double Tap looks cool.
Second Gen UW chip looks like a good new feature for those with a compatible based phone.
64GB of storage. Total meh for me on that one, I have 24GB free out of 32GB right now. I'm not hurting for space. But maybe for topographical offline maps that could be huge?

Overall I think it's a decent refresh, but as an S8 user I'm probably not the target anyway.

 

[Monkswhiskers]

After getting an Ultra, it was painfully obvious to me that the regular Series display was just too dim in bright sunlight. So 2000 nits is the biggest upgrade, and the new CPU will keep the S9 much longer current / OS-updateable than earlier versions. Bonus is the double-air-tap; very curious how useful that will be IRL. My guess is very.

I tested both in bright sunlight next to each other and found the difference negligable personally. The biggest difference was when glancing quickly down at the flat screen on the ultra it was much easier to take in the info vs the series’ curved edges which reflected the light and took an extra second for my eyes to process.

 

[Nxybagr]

I currently have the series 5 with a battery capacity of 77%. Can’t decide if I should pay the £95 for battery service or if I should bite the bullet and get the series 9. I was hoping to wait until they got glucose monitoring on the watch before upgrading. Any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[the future]

I currently have the series 5 with a battery capacity of 77%. Can’t decide if I should pay the £95 for battery service or if I should bite the bullet and get the series 9. I was hoping to wait until they got glucose monitoring on the watch before upgrading. Any thoughts would be appreciated

I‘m sure your S5 will be unuseable long before we get glucose monitoring. End of the decade seems to be the most reasonable guess for that.

 

[Cirlonde]

And what about from S6 to S9? Is that likely to be a more noticeable jump? I don't have any complaints at the moment...but I'm terribly tempted by the new pink color, even though I really wish I wasn't!

 

[Blueline29]

I have a S8 now but am upgrading. Loving the pink case, and was so disappointed in the iPhone offerings that this is my solace. Lol.

 

[3Rock]

Upgrading my series 7 for The Apple Watch Ultra 2 simply because of the battery, and of course the 3000 nits brightness. After that I’ll keep this for a good while.

 

[NikkiAngel]

I have a S8 now but am upgrading. Loving the pink case, and was so disappointed in the iPhone offerings that this is my solace. Lol.

I’m upgrading too, for the pink case and I’m going to get he larger size. I can barely see my watch without my glasses or contacts so every little bit helps in size.

 

[4sallypat]

I currently have a FREE AW7 from Paceline VISA credit card (had to get my steps in to earn the freebie AW7).

So now upgrading to the AW9 with a $155 trade in credit for the AW7.

Not too bad considering the AW7 was free.

 

[ndouglas]

I’m very back and forth about it, I‘d like to upgrade for the on-device Siri as I often try to use it when my phone is too far away, so that would be a pretty cool upgrade. However it’s not like a huge thing by itself to upgrade for… I like the green color of my S7… perhaps most prominently, I dislike the high maintenance of the battery, but sadly only going for one of the Ultras will make any difference in that area.

Currently it looks like I’d get $155 trade-in… I’ll think about it for a while but at this point I’m leaning toward no… just not enough of anything really worthwhile to be upgrading for $280 or around there after the trade-in value.

Seems like people wanting blood glucose etc., are in the same boat as people wanting better battery life… 5, 10, who knows how many more years still!

 

[ndouglas]

I currently have a FREE AW7 from Paceline VISA credit card (had to get my steps in to earn the freebie AW7).

So now upgrading to the AW9 with a $155 trade in credit for the AW7.

Not too bad considering the AW7 was free.

View attachment 2260413

Nice! I wish I had an employer or credit card that offers that kind of free deal, but I’m glad to read about other people having that kind of perk through whatever venue. Winter blue band and the dark midnight is a good looking combo too!

 

[4sallypat]

Nice! I wish I had an employer or credit card that offers that kind of free deal, but I’m glad to read about other people having that kind of perk through whatever venue. Winter blue band and the dark midnight is a good looking combo too!

After I got the AW7 paid off by Paceline, the card company dropped the card and now it belongs to the issuing bank (Beneficial) who says they have the credit line intact but can't use the card, except to pay if off.

Sort of nice the bank didn't close everyone's account - the credit line is nice to keep the total LOC % down.

Shame Paceline did not succeed, but then after the pandemic, all fintech banks pretty much left town...

 

[tsupersonic]

It’s really not a worthwhile upgrade for Series 7/8 owners. As long as your battery life is good on S7/8, then you should keep it till the redesign. That’s my plan at least.

 

[jz0309]

I see that the Apple sloganeering department highlights

“Smarter, Brighter, Mightier”.​

But can it leap tall buildings at a single bound? 😁

Seriously, what do you all make of the differences between the 9 and the 7 or 8?

Are there any hidden upgrades in the sensors or algorithms — say, for heart rate or ECG? Which generation are they now using? Any improvements in sleep tracking? Or, temperature measuring?

How much smarter, brighter, and mightier is the 9?

Who plans on upgrading — even from an 5 or 6, but especially from a 7 or 8 — and why?

What do YOU have and what are YOUR plans?

 

[jz0309]

Trading in my Ultra for the Ultra2.
Why? Cause I want to, and I’m not upgrading my iPhone.

 

[watchthisspace]

And what about from S6 to S9? Is that likely to be a more noticeable jump? I don't have any complaints at the moment...but I'm terribly tempted by the new pink color, even though I really wish I wasn't!

I have a series 6 as well - nothing appeals to me.. I would prefer improvements to battery life. The watch doesn't feel slow for what I use it for.

 

[MadCar]

You just don‘t know what you‘re talking about. The „compare“ pages are always only for models that they currently sell. And they just don‘t sell the S7/S8 anymore. But you can still find all their tech specs elsewhere on the Apple site.

The compare all models page is literally right there at the top of the page - it just says all models and shows what each had all the way back to the Series 1 and everything else in-between.

No hidden, so on the talking about point... erm.

 

[srknpower]

Have the S7 SS. S8 was a very minor update. S9 is, in my eyes, a very minor upgrade also. Keeping the S7 until a design change.

Apple seems to be on a pattern: AW3 (new chip), AW4 (new design, same chip), AW5 (same design, minor update), AW6 (same design, new chip), AW7 (new design, same chip), AW8 (same design, minor update), AW9 (same design, new chip). So, AW10 (New design, same chip).

I’m holding out for the AW10 with a fresh new design!

Series 4 had a new chip and is the best update in Apple Watch history.