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.
What is the difference between series 4 and 5
- Thread starter Zellio
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
always on screen. the screen dims and only refreshes about once per second when dimmed.
compass.
32gb vs. 16gb internal storage.
titanium and cermaic added as material options.
that's it. it does have a new chip but that chip serves to only use less power and control the new screen tech so that battery life and speed remain the same as the Series 4 even though the screen is always on a bit.
More storage is great with the addition of podcasts on the watch.
Also stuff like Pandora caching offline stations. Not as useful for folks who always have their phone, but as a runner who leaves my phone the improved watch storage is a nice plus.
Yeah, it's still going to use more battery + there are times where you don't want to draw attention to the watch, like when you're traveling and walking around somewhere touristy with pickpockets around, or sitting in a dark theater, etc.
Last edited:
I would assume that theater mode would turn off the always on display.
No. It's just not being billed as faster. It likely is just more energy-efficient and designed to manage the new display technology.
I want to let change from 40mm to 44mm, so I’m upgrading from S4 to S5 just for that. If I already had 44mm S4 I probably wouldn’t upgrade, seems like the watch has finally entered a phase where you don’t need yearly upgrades anymore, the S4 is already awesome.
Right, The watch is reaching a point where some of the upgrades really are not necessary for others to purchase a new Apple Watch every year. I mean, an ‘always on display is nice, but I’m not seeing why Apple couldn’t have implemented that in the Series 4. That said, smart watches are generally probably too expensive for someone to upgrade every single year, but they really don’t need to be upgraded every year, because they still technically accomplish all the same tasks for the most part. The big things that are coming for the Apple Watch will be more health orientated features, that’s something to keep watch for. (<— Pun intended.
)I read yesterday from someone at the event, they asked one of the apple employees doing the demo, and they said that you are able to turn off the always on feature
Now comes the obvious question, given that you can turn off the Always On, what effect would that have on battery life. Need someone to test..
So little, that apple just took the 4, slapped a 5 on it, and declared victory.
besides, you know, a completely new screen layer/display tech that makes it always on.
Apple Watch is still in the cycle where they are trying to get first-time buyers. Selling the Series 3 for $199 may be the biggest news.Right, The watch is reaching a point where some of the upgrades really are not necessary for others to purchase a new Apple Watch every year. I mean, an ‘always on display is nice, but I’m not seeing why Apple couldn’t have implemented that in the Series 4. That said, smart watches are generally probably too expensive for someone to upgrade every single year, but they really don’t need to be upgraded every year, because they still technically accomplish all the same tasks for the most part. The big things that are coming for the Apple Watch will be more health orientated features, that’s something to keep watch for. (<— Pun intended.
The next “major” changes are likely sleep tracking, and the ability to use the Watch independently (but Apple may withhold the latter to promote iPhone sales).
The Series 5 does have a "new" S5 CPU, but it is almost assuredly just a process shrink of the S4 CPU (10nm to 7nm?) to use less power (to improve battery life) and take up less space on the SiP (which probably helped find space to increase the storage from 16GB to 32GB).
In terms of performance, there appears to be no difference between the S4/Series 4 and S5/Series 5.
That Apple is touting, at least. We really don't know, but the takeaway is don't necessarily expect a boost in performance.
Will we get any more information through tear downs or apps that might share specs?
Pretty much unless the always on display is a big deal. Next year I'm hoping for improved battery life and sleep tracking. "fingers crossed".
If the S5 CPU was more powerful than the S4, I imagine Apple would have called that out in the hopes it would incentivize more Series 3 and 4 owners to upgrade. Instead, they quoted the same performance advantage over the Series 3 S3 CPU that the S4 CPU has.
There are no real benchmarks for the S-series of CPUs, but there have been some who have run synthetic graphics and web benchmarks so I imagine we'll see some for the Series 5 soon enough. The process shrink alone might improve performance a bit, but I'm still thinking it won't be appreciably better than the Series 4.
Tear downs will happen from ifixit once the watch is actually released. All the internals will be exposed, Performance test(s) release once the embargo lifts.