Apple has unveiled the Apple Watch 2 during a special event on 7 September, which also saw the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The new watch, which is in fact called Apple Watch Series 2, can be used in the water, has a brighter display and offers built-in GPS. Read on to find out more about the Apple Watch Series 2 including its release date, its price and the new Apple Watch features.
The Apple Watch 2 comes almost two years after the original Apple Watch was unveiled back in September 2014. In June, at WWDC 2016, there was lots of news about watchOS 3, which is also coming later this month and will be for the original Apple Watch as well as Apple’s new models.
Also see: Apple Watch buying guide 2016 | Apple Watch vs Apple Watch 2 | watchOS 3 release date
Apple Watch Series 2 release date: When is the Apple Watch 2 coming out?
The new Apple Watch Series 2 was announced on 7 September and will be available on 16 September, with orders starting on 9 September, just like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Click here to visit the Apple Watch Series 2 pre-order page and choose your model.
Apple Watch Series 2 price: How much does the Apple Watch 2 cost?
The Apple Watch Series 2 has a starting price of $369 (£369 in the UK). The new Ceramic Apple Watch Edition (shown below) starts at £1,249.
The original Apple Watch will be named the Apple Watch Series 1 and will feature a dual-core processor similar to the one found in the Series 2. Prices start from £269.
Apple Watch Series 2 Features: What are the new features on the Apple Watch Series 2?
On 7 September 2016, the Apple Watch Series 2 was announced to the world. It features the new watchOS 3, is water resistant up to 50m, has a built-in GPS and comes in a new Ceramic colour.
We like the inclusion of the in-built GPS as it will allow fitness lovers to better track their activities. At Apple’s event on 7 September, Nike made an appearance alongside the Apple Watch Series 2, where a new Nike-branded Apple Watch Series 2 will be also made available for sale – purely dedicated to those who are into fitness.
Alongside tracking abilities, the new Series 2 Watch will be water resistant up to 50m under water. This means swimmers will now be able to take their new Apple Watch Series 2 with them during swims. Despite the Watch Series 2 having a speaker, Apple has designed a mechanism to push water out from the watch’s speaker.
The new S2 dual-core processor found within the new Watch provides 50 percent better performance. In addition a new GPU has been added to double the graphical performance of the Apple Watch Series 2.
The Watch Series 2 is also a brighter display, with double the brightness of the original Apple Watch, the new Series 2 Watch has 1,000 nits and will be easier to see in sunny conditions.
Apple Watch Series 2 specs: Apple Watch Series 2 specifications
Below are the specifications of the new Apple Watch Series 2.
Apple Watch Series 2 specs (38/42mm)
- Colours: Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, Space Grey Aluminium case and Space Black, Silver Stainless Steel case and Ceramic
- S2 Dual-core processor
- GPS
- Height: 38.6/42.5mm
- Width: 33.3mm/36.4mm
- Depth: 11.4mm
- Case weight: 28.2/34.2g
- Retina display with Force Touch (2x brighter than original)
- Digital Crown
- Heart rate sensor
- WiFi 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Up to 18hrs battery life
- Water resistant IPX7 (swimming proof – water depth up to 50m)
In order to give you a comparison, here are the specs of the original Apple Watch (the Series 1 is identical to the below, but has a S1P dual-core processor and the new colour options – excluding the Ceramic edition)
Apple Watch specs (38/42mm)
- Colours: Stainless Steel, Space Black Stainless Steel
- Height: 38.6/42.5mm
- Width: 33.3mm/36.4mm
- Depth: 10.5mm
- Retina display with Force Touch
- Digital Crown
- Heart rate sensor
- WiFi 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Up to 18hrs battery life
- Water resistant IPX7 (splash proof)
Apple Watch Series 2 launch: How to re-live the 7 September launch event, and live blog
Apple sent out invitations to a press event on 7 September, starting at 6pm UK time.
Apple’s announcements took place in San Fransico, but if you were unable to make it you could watch it on Apple’s events page.
Based on previous events, the live stream is likely to use Apple’s HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) technology, which requires either an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with Safari running iOS 7 or later, or a Mac with Safari 6.0.5 or later running OS X 10.8.5 or later. Those with an Apple TV (second/third/fourth generation) can also stream the video via the dedicated Apple Events app. Windows users should be able to stream via Windows using Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
All the latest news and announcements from launch event in our liveblog, embedded below.