Apple Watch Series 9 Review: Small Steps Forward

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From $399

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If you’ve seen Apple’s TV ad for the Watch Series 9, you’ll already know about its new Double Tap feature.

It’s the only feature Apple is shouting about, which means one of two things: there aren’t any other noteworthy reasons to buy a Series 9 or that this “Magic. At your Fingertips.” really is a game changer.

The truth is that the Series 9 isn’t an exciting update, but it does have a couple of significant improvements which the ads don’t talk about. And while Double Tap is a handy feature, it isn’t really new: you can use a variety of hand gestures if you own an Apple Watch 4 or newer… including the familiar-sounding Double Pinch which does basically the same thing.

None of this means you shouldn’t buy an Apple Watch 9, though.

Design & display

• 41mm and 45mm sizes
• Brightness up to 2000 nits
• New S9 chip
• Second-gen ultrawideband chip

With Apple’s smartwatch software now in its 10^th generation, there’s no way the company is going to radically redesign the Watch and have anything other than a rectangular screen. So it’s no surprise that the Series 9 looks identical to the Series 8, which was itself no different from the Series 7.

Over the years, the Watch’s screen has got larger, but it’s now at the point where Apple would have to build bigger devices, something no-one wants or needs.

The Watch 9 is twice as bright as the Series 8, which really does mean you can see the screen easily in bright sunshine

So this time around, higher brightness is order of the day. Not a little higher: the Watch 9 is twice as bright as the Series 8, which really does mean you can see the screen easily in bright sunshine.

Sadly, I saw precious little of it during my time testing the device, but on the few occasions when the clouds parted (and the rain ceased) the Watch 9 was always able to increase its brightness to compensate for the ambient conditions.

There’s improvement in the other direction, too: the new display can go as dim as 1 nit, which is handy when you want to check the time in the middle of the night.

In every other respect, the Watch Series 9’s design is unchanged. It has the same sensors, buttons and charger as before. Turning the digital crown allows you to scroll through menus, messages and gives the same great haptic feedback as ever.

It’s also a button, and there’s a Side Button above it which – in WatchOS 10 – brings up the Control Panel that you used to get to by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

There’s a built-in speaker that works well for phone calls, and hearing Siri, and microphones so you can talk to callers… and Siri.

As with its predecessors, the Watch 9 is water-resistant to 50m but it now has 64GB of storage, twice what the Series 8 had. That could be valuable if you like to store a lot of music and podcasts on it to listen without needing your iPhone.

Precision finding works brilliantly, and it’s a killer feature if you’re always losing your phone

Perhaps more useful, although only if you have an iPhone 15, is the second-gen ultrawideband chip which makes it much easier to find your phone. Now, you’ll see the distance to your phone, which direction to go and haptic feedback when you’re close. Instead of the iPhone beeping constantly, it rings once, then only when you’re nearby do you hear a final ding.

Precision finding works brilliantly, and it’s a killer feature if you’re always losing your phone.

Also, there’s the environmental aspect which could be easily overlooked. Now, you can choose a combination that’s carbon neutral: any aluminium case (which is 100% recycled) and any of the new Sport Loop straps.

Smart features & watchOS

• Big redesign for watchOS 10
• Rich notifications
• Phone calls on your wrist

Some smart watches feel pretty dumb, but the Apple Watch really is the benchmark for what these devices are capable of.

You’ll need other Apple devices to get the most out of it, with an iPhone being a mandatory requirement. It’s understandable, given the deep integration of watchOS and iOS, but it does mean an Apple Watch isn’t an option for those with Android phones.

Some smart watches feel pretty dumb, but the Apple Watch really is the benchmark for what these devices are capable of

As I mentioned already, watchOS has had a fairly big overhaul for version 10 and if you’re a long-time Watch user you’ll need a short while to get used to it.

The biggest change is the Smart Stack which is a series of cards that appear when you rotate the digital crown. You can customise what’s in the stack: it could be just about anything: a timer, your next calendar entry, fitness stats, weather forecast or something else. It’s great, especially as you can use Double Tap to show the stack and then move through it.

Smart Stack isn’t exclusive to the Series 9: it’s available on all Watches that can run watchOS 10.

Weirdly, Double Tap is exclusive, and Apple says it’s enabled by the new S9 chip. The S9, to talk about that briefly, is based on the same architecture as the iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic processor. It’s about 25% more power efficient than the S8 and has a new quad-core Neural Engine which is twice as fast at processing machine learning tasks. Its GPU is about 30% faster than the S8.

These are impressive numbers, no doubt, but right now it’s difficult to notice any benefit in day-to-day use. There are a couple of things, though. One is that certain Siri commands can now be processed on the Watch 9 instead of being sent to the cloud, and the other is that dictation is around 25% more accurate.

Local processing means Siri can set reminders, timers and other things that don’t require information from the internet (such as asking how tall is the Empire State building). This is handy for times when you don’t have a connection, and should also speed up the responses. They varied in my in my tests, being very quick on occasion and on others, Siri telling me “I didn’t get that, can you repeat?”.

Getting back to Double Tap, it’s hard to understand why it requires the S9 processor because older Apple Watches seem perfectly capable of recognising when you tap your thumb and forefinger together. In fact, there are lots of accessibility settings that allow you to use older Watches one-handed.

It’s also strange that Apple has taken this AssistiveTouch feature, which has been available since 2021, and effectively made it the hero feature of the Series 9 when there are other upgrades to talk about.

Health & fitness tracking

• ECG and heart rate monitoring
• Blood Oxygen monitoring
• Sleep tracking

The Series 9, like all Apple Watch models, isn’t just great for being an extension of your phone. It’s also a top-notch fitness monitor.

The Series 9 doesn’t have any new sensors, but it doesn’t really need any. It can measure your heart rate, blood oxygen, perform an ECG, track your sleep and – for half the population – track your monthly cycle.

It’s accurate, too. I tested the heart rate sensor against some proper medical equipment and it was spot on, recording a maximum heart rate for an indoor cycle session at 157bpm, only 1bpm different from the medical kit.

The Watch Series 9 can track loads of different workouts, and display all the relevant data while you swim, run, cycle or do HIIT training.

When cycling, that data can be shown on your iPhone and now, with watchOS 10, you can pair Bluetooth accessories such as cadence sensors and power meters to get even more information.

The Watch can also pair with gym equipment by default when you hold it near the contactless reader.

But you don’t have to be a fitness fanatic to benefit. The Watch Series 9’s Activity Rings track your daily movement, exercise and how often you stand, which can be a good motivator for everyone to be more active. And if you have friends with an Apple Watch, you can choose to share your activity data with them and try and beat them each day.

Similarly, the Series 9 can come in handy if you have a hard fall or are involved in a car crash as it can call emergency services (so long as it has a cellular connection, or a Wi-Fi connection to your iPhone).

It will also notify you of high and low heart rates, irregular heart rhythms (although not of heart attacks) and when sound levels are potentially damaging to your hearing.

Unavailable at the time of review was a potentially very helpful feature which will enable you to ask Siri for health data. You’ll be able to say things like “Siri, how much did I sleep last night” to get a verbal summary or “Siri, I just took my medicine” to quickly and easily log medications.

Battery life & charging

Though Apple says battery life is the same as before, I found it lasted longer than the claimed 18 hours when using the always-on display. Often, it could get through a day and a half, allowing me to wear it to bed to track my sleep without worrying it would run out and not wake me with its gentle tapping in the morning – another of the Watch’s handy features.

Yet another thoughtful feature is the ‘Charge before bed’ reminder which notifies you well before your set bedtime that you might want to pop it on charge to ensure there is enough power to last to the morning.

The wireless charging puck hasn’t changed, the only difference if you’re upgrading from an older Apple Watch being that it now has a USB-C connector. Apple no longer supplies a charger in the box, but any USB-C phone charger will do and will recharge the Series 9’s empty battery in about an hour and a quarter.

Price & availability

The Series 9 starts at $399 / £399 for a 41mm aluminium case. You have a choice of the new pink finish, or Midnight (black), Starlight (a warm-looking silver), silver and Product RED.

You can buy a Watch 9 directly from Apple, but we’ve also put together a whole guide to the best Apple Watch 9 deals.

If you prefer a larger screen, the 45mm is an extra $30 / £30. Then you can upgrade to the cellular version (which you’d need to pair with an appropriate data plan) for $100 / £100 extra. Remember, though, you can also buy a cellular watch on contract from mobile operators with little to no upfront cost.

Alternatively, you can have a stainless steel case in gold, silver or graphite for $699 / £699, plus $50 / £50 if you want the 45mm version. A stainless steel strap is another $50 / £50 on top. All stainless steel models have are GPS + cellular.

For alternatives, read our roundup of the best smartwatches.

Should I buy the Apple Watch Series 9?

Just as with the iPhone 15, the Series 9 will appeal most to those that haven’t upgraded for a few years as the cumulative upgrades will be much more noticeable.

Features such as the always-on screen make a big difference, not to mention the fact that the screen is both larger (a higher screen-to-body ratio), higher resolution and brighter than, say, a Series 5’s.

But if you own a newer Apple Watch that’s working fine, there aren’t a great deal of incentives to upgrade unless, again, you really want the always-on screen, the best possible performance and, well, Double Tap.

Ultimately, the Series 9 isn’t a particularly exciting release from Apple but it’s still one of the absolute best smart watches out there, and the powerful processor means it should be one of the most future-proof, too.