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Apple broke the internet this week by announcing a series of new products, some of which are their “most advanced” yet.
At an event from their headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Tuesday, September 9, the iPhone Air, Apple Watch Ultra 3, AirPods 3 and iPhone 17 Pro were unveiled.
Watch-wearers’ eyes will have lit up at everything Apple Watch Ultra 3 delivers, from greater health, fitness, safety, and connectivity features, to seamlessly shifting between a powerful sports watch and an elegant smartwatch.
The Ultra 3 boasts the most accurate GPS in a sports watch, and up to 42 hours of battery life – with up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. Notifications for signs of chronic high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, offer a ground-breaking new health insight, and sleep score helps users understand the quality of their sleep.
“Apple Watch Ultra is designed to take users from sports and adventure to the rest of their life, and help them stay active, healthy, connected, and safe” said Eugene Kim, Apple’s vice president of Apple Watch Hardware Engineering.
“Ultra 3 debuts innovative satellite communications offering users more safety and connectivity when they’re off the grid, plus longer battery life, 5G, powerful health insights, and all the advanced fitness features our users love.”
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has the largest screen of any Apple Watch ever, and is brighter when viewed from an angle. The watch is available in natural or black titanium.
Want to know more? Keep reading for all the titbits.
Ultra 3 can be pre-ordered from Friday, September 12, and will be fully available from Friday, September 19.
Feel like you’re always running low on juice? Scrambling for a socket? Hunting for a charger?
The watch delivers longer battery life, with up to 42 hours while you are training, racing, or simply going about your day. In Low Power Mode, it continues to offer up to 72 hours of battery life.
For continuous outdoor workout tracking, Apple Watch Ultra 3 now gets 20 hours of battery life in Low Power Mode with full GPS and heart rate readings. With fast charging, 15 minutes provides up to 12 hours of battery life.
Apple Watch users can take calls, send messages, and even get help with emergency services when their iPhone isn’t with them. When users are on the grid, Apple Watch Ultra 3 now offers 5G cellular capabilities, which provide better performance with greater throughput, so music, podcasts, and apps download faster.
To boost reception in areas with weak coverage, Apple Watch Ultra 3 also uses an advanced algorithm that simultaneously engages the two system antennas when needed, significantly increasing the signal strength.
Emergency SOS lets you text emergency services and notify emergency contacts with a few simple taps. If Ultra 3 detects a severe car crash or a hard fall, and you are unresponsive while off the grid, it automatically sends situation and location information to emergency services and emergency contacts, when in line of sight of a satellite.
Sadly, this clever tech is only for the US, Canada and Mexico for now. Fingers crossed Apple brings it to the UK soon.
Hypertension notifications can alert users if signs of chronic high blood pressure – or hypertension – are detected.
Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease, and impacts approximately 1.3 billion adults around the world. It is frequently undiagnosed because it often has no symptoms.
Hypertension notifications on Apple Watch use data from the optical heart sensor to analyse how a user’s blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart. The algorithm works passively in the background reviewing data over 30-day periods, and will notify users if it detects consistent signs of hypertension.
By simply wearing your Apple Watch, you can start making potentially lifesaving behavioural changes or start treatment to reduce your risk of serious, long-term health events.
The feature is expected to notify over one million people with undiagnosed hypertension within the first year.
Apple Watch allows users to track sleep, measure important health metrics during sleep like heart rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen, and respiratory rate, and even discover possible sleep apnoea.
And now, Apple Watch can help you understand the quality of your sleep with a new sleep score feature.
Apple Watch keeps track of factors like duration, bedtime consistency, how often a person wakes up, and how much time is spent in each sleep stage to deliver easy-to-understand metrics for a user’s overall sleep quality.
After each night, sleep score provides an overall score and classification in the Sleep app on Apple Watch, plus a clear breakdown of the most critical components, so users know what to prioritize to improve their sleep.
Ultra features Workout Buddy, a first-of-its-kind fitness experience powered by Apple Intelligence that analyses a user’s workout data and fitness history to deliver personalised, spoken motivation throughout their session.
What’s more, the new layout of the Workout app makes it easier to customise workouts and to add inspiration, users can set up music and podcasts right in the Workout app to automatically play when they start a workout.
Apple Music can now select the best music for a user’s workout based on the workout type and their personal tastes. The fitness side of things appeals to sportspeople of all disciplines, from swimmers and hikers to divers.
