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This week, Apple has received a fair amount of stick for a lack of innovation. The iPhone 16 is, according to many, nothing more than last year’s model with a new button and yet more ludicrously powered internal hardware that will never be taken advantage of by most users.
I have mixed feelings about the iPhone 16 event. Trust me, I would not want to be in charge of innovation at any of these big tech companies – what a horrendously thankless task it is these days. Regardless, I’ve said my piece on the update to AirPods Max and Apple’s decision not to do anything beyond adding USB-C charging and a refresh of the colour options. The absence of the H2 chip in those cans is utterly baffling. That wouldn’t have been innovation, it would just have been the right thing to do.
Thankfully, by that stage of the event, my attention had already been swung elsewhere.
Apple opened the Glow Time event with the unveiling of the Apple Watch Series 10, and it’s the most unlikely candidate to get me back into the world of Apple’s wearable.
An Apple Watch old-timer
I bought the first Apple Watch, just as I did the first iPad. And, just like the latter, the reception I received from friends and family was one of mild bewilderment.
A watch you have to charge every single night? Why would you want that?
Fast-forward nearly ten years and practically everyone is wearing an Apple Watch – or a suspiciously identical competitor. Just like that early iPad purchase, it seems I managed to get ahead of the pack.
I love the Apple Watch. I still think it’s the best wearable out there, solely because of the phone by which it’s supported and the ecosystem into which it is integrated. That’s how Apple ‘gets’ you. With hardware innovation waning (they’re not alone in that regard) software and services are the tools being used to raise customer lifetime value and satisfy shareholders. The Apple Watch is one of the biggest beneficiaries of that strategy.
It’s therefore curious that I haven’t missed my Apple Watch this year. Since January, I’ve been trying out a range of different watches and I’ve really enjoyed the process.
Something changed this week, and I’ll get onto what that is in a moment, but let’s first recap the flings I’ve had since ditching the Apple Watch Ultra earlier this year.
My post-Apple Watch flings
There are four watches I’ve really enjoyed wearing this year. The first is the one that spent the longest on my wrist – the Garmin MARQ Commander. Production and product release schedules this year have resulted in me not featuring it yet on my YouTube channel, but I can confirm that it was a joy to use (bar a rather worrying occasional bug which would freeze the watch interface entirely). Garmin remains the absolute best if you’re an active type, and demolishes the ‘Ultra’ wearables made by Apple and Samsung in terms of stamina and data collection.
Next up was the Huawei Watch Fit 3 which looks incredibly familiar – but behind that square frame lies Garmin-like battery life and Apple Watch-like performance. For £139. I’m not sure I’ve ever come across such incredible value for money in the wearable space.
My first experience of a OnePlus smartwatch took place a couple of months ago thanks to the Watch 2R. At £249 it’s not exactly a budget wearable, but it does sit comfortably within the Apple Watch SE bracket. Battery life is, once again, superb, and I’m a big fan of how the Watch 2R looks; its circular face reinforced how much I prefer that style of watch.
This list wouldn’t be complete without a respectful nod towards the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. This is the first Samsung smartwatch I’ve enjoyed using. Suggestions that it copies the Apple Watch Ultra are both ludicrous (they look nothing alike) and biblically boring. Samsung’s take on the ultra watch is just as marketing-led as Apple’s but I prefer the circular design (it’s nowhere as big in person as it appears in photos, either).
I’ve really enjoyed my time away from the Apple Watch this year, but I knew I’d return at some point. I just didn’t realise which version would catch my eye.
Enter the Apple Watch Series 10
This week, Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 10. It’s the lightest and thinnest Apple Watch ever made, and has the biggest display, too. In fact, it’s up to 30% bigger than previous generations of Apple Watch.
Yes, that means it’s also slightly bigger than the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Which is odd, but somehow satisfying.
I’m kinda done with ‘ultra’ watches for the time being. As capable as they are, they still fail to compete with real adventurer watches, purely because of the less-than-impressive battery life on offer.
This is why the standard Apple Watch makes so much sense. It makes even more sense now the Series 10 has arrived, because it looks like a brilliantly capable device. For instance, the aforementioned display size has been achieved with the first-ever wide-angle OLED display on an Apple Watch, which is 40% brighter when viewed at an angle. That sounds genuinely useful.
It’s also 10% thinner than the Series 9 – a feat that was achieved by reducing the size of several internal components including the SIP and speaker setup (which is now capable of playing back music and podcasts – finally). If you’re worried about the battery being shrunk too, it sounds like any space-saving there won’t impact battery life, because Apple is still quoting up to 18 hours for the Series 10.
On the subject of the battery, the charging speed has been cranked up, with 80% of battery life achievable from just a 30-minute blast.
The Series 10 looks very similar to the version it replaces, but I have a feeling that it’ll look and feel considerably different in person, thanks to that slender frame and huge display. The fact there’s a new Jet Black polished aluminium finish (the one I ordered, obviously) will aid that brand-new edition feeling.
Apple also devoted a significant chunk of the Series 10 announcement to the inclusion of sleep apnea detection, which is yet another example of them striving forward with genuinely helpful health features.
Wrapping up: what about the Apple Watch Ultra 2?
There was no Apple Watch Ultra update this year. I lie – there’s a new finish, called Satin Black. It looks lovely – as does the new titanium Milanese Loop band – but not lovely enough to tempt a purchase from yours truly, I’m afraid.
A new Apple Watch Ultra is needed at some stage. The fact we now have a regular Apple Watch with a larger display and a chip that is a generation ahead leaves the Apple Watch lineup feeling a little lopsided. My guess is we’ll see a far more interesting iteration for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 next year.
I may have become less interested in ultra watches for now, but that doesn’t mean I’ll take my eye off the Apple Watch Ultra in the future. I just want to dip my toes back into normal Apple Watch waters, and it looks like the Series 10 is the perfect excuse to do just that.
Stay tuned for a full review.
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