American tech giant Apple today unveiled Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, two new iPad models, and the first fitness experience built for Apple Watch that brings significant developments in health and wellness features to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
The Apple Watch Series 6 expands the health capabilities of previous Apple Watch models with a new feature that measures the oxygen saturation of the user’s blood, so they can better understand their overall fitness and wellness. Along with that, it also gets the next-generation always-on altimeter that provides real-time elevation all day long by using a new, more power-efficient barometric altimeter, along with GPS and nearby Wi-Fi networks. This feature allows for the detection of small elevation changes above ground level, up and down to the measurement of 1 foot, and can be shown as a new watch face complication or workout metric.
Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS) starts at $399 and Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS + Cellular) starts at $499.
The Apple Watch Series 6 is accompanied by the Apple watch SE, which packs the essential features of the Apple Watch into modern design customers love — all at a more affordable price. The largest and most advanced Retina display allows customers to easily see more details and the information that matters most, right on their wrist. Apple Watch SE features the same accelerometer, gyroscope, and always-on altimeter as Apple Watch Series 6, and with the latest motion sensors and microphone, it offers robust health and safety capabilities including fall detection, Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, and the Noise app. Apple Watch SE (GPS) starts at $279 and Apple Watch SE (GPS + Cellular) starts at $329.
Along with that, Apple also announced Family Setup in watchOS 7, bringing the communication, health, fitness, and safety features of Apple Watch to kids and older family members of the household who do not have an iPhone. For the first time, Apple Watch can be set up through a parent’s iPhone, so kids can connect with family and friends through phone calls and Messages, stay motivated with personalized Activity goals, and express their creativity through custom “Memoji”.
Apple Fitness+ intelligently incorporates metrics from Apple Watch for users to visualize right on their iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, offering a first-of-its-kind personalized workout experience. When a workout is selected and started on any of those devices, the correct workout type will automatically start on Apple Watch.
Coming to the iPad, Apple has introduced a brand-new chipset. The A12 Bionic chip introduces the Neural Engine for next-level machine learning capabilities, including people occlusion and motion tracking in augmented reality (AR) apps, enhanced photo editing, Siri performance, and more. The new iPad (8th generation) is available to order starting today on apple.com and in the Apple Store app in more than 25 countries and regions, including the US. iPad will be available beginning Friday, September 18, with a starting price of $329 (US) for the Wi-Fi model and $459 (US) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, and comes in silver, space gray, and gold finishes in 32GB and 128GB configurations.
The iPad Air, on the other hand, is now available in five gorgeous finishes — including rose gold, green, and sky blue — and features an all-screen design with a larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, camera, and audio upgrades, a new integrated Touch ID sensor in the top button, and the powerful A14 Bionic chip for a massive boost in performance.
Apart from the new gadget launches will all the advanced tech features, Apple will also offer its own subscription plan. Called the Apple One, it will offer customers Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud, and more in one simple plan. The Apple One Individual plan offers a savings of over $6 per month, while the Family plan offers a savings of over $8 per month, and the Premier plan offers a savings of over $25 per month. Savings are based on standard monthly pricing.