Hands-on with the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 (Updated)
Note: This article was first published on 14 September 2023 and was republished on 20 September 2023 was updated with further findings after having spent a few days with the watches.
Alongside the new iPhone 15 Proand iPhone 15, Apple also announced the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9. As anticipated, these watches are mostly iterative updates, but I managed to try them on for a bit and here’s what I found.
Visually, they look identical to their predecessors. The Apple Watch Series 9 is still available in both aluminium and stainless steel, while the Apple Watch Ultra 2 still sports a rugged titanium case.
And after spending a couple of days with the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, I can confirm that the new watches do feel appreciably faster than their predecessors. The difference isn’t night and day, but the new watches feel more responsive and animations, in particular, appear to be smoother.
The most notable improvement, however, is Siri. Because of the new S9 SiP, the most common Siri requests can now be executed on-device. Since requests no longer need to go to the cloud, they cannot be slowed down by poor Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity. This works reliably and I found myself using Siri more to do things like start a countdown timer or workout.
@hwztech A quick demo of the Double Tap gesture that’s coming with the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. #hwz #hwzsg #apple #wonderlust #applewatchseries9 #applewatchultra2 #doubletap #smartwatches ♬ original sound – HardwareZone< PrevPage 1 of 1 – Hands-on with the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 (Updated)Page 1 of 1 – Hands-on with the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 (Updated)Page 1 of 1 Page 1 of 1 – Hands-on with the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 (Updated)Next >