Everything you need to know about the Apple Watch Series 7

Though the spotlight of today’s Apple event was mostly on the iPhone 13 lineup, we were still excited to see the announcement of the new Apple Watch Series 7. Aside from an updated design and display, it’s mostly business as usual in terms of features, though it’s still a decent improvement on what we called the best smartwatch on the market.

Let’s get into what’s new this generation.

There aren’t any massive surprises when it comes to the pricing of the Series 7 – in fact, it costs the same as last year’s Series 6 at launch. Here’s the basic price breakdown.

As for the release date, we don’t have anything concrete just yet. Only “later this fall” (spring for us), so we’d expect an October or November release.

It’s not quite the drastic redesign many were expecting, but Series 7 has still received a welcome (if minor) update. The comfortable curves remain, but the display now has 40% thinner borders, which means a 20% increase in screen area. Additionally, both sizes are now 1mm larger, making them 41mm and 45mm.

It’s the most durable Apple Watch to date, with IP6X dust resistance, a stronger crystal screen and the same WR50 water resistance in previous numbers.

The Series 7 is made from 100% recycled materials and is available in five new aluminium colours. As usual, there are also stainless steel and titanium variants, which can cost up to a few hundred dollars more than the base aluminium model.

You’ll also be happy to know that your old Apple Watch bands will still be compatible with the Series 7.

Aside from the display, the Series 7 is a mostly incremental update, with just a few new major additions. These include fall detection during workouts, respiratory heart rate tracking during sleep, cycling updates, a new UI optimised for the larger screen, including a full keyboard with QuickPath for easy typing.

As expected, the Series 7 features the same battery life as the Series 6 – 18 hours, or about 48 with the always-on display turned off.

Interestingly, the charging experience has had a boost – A 33% boost to be exact. In practice, Apple says that a 45-minute charge is enough to bring the Series 7 from 0 to 80%.