The Apple Watch will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2024. While the series has now established itself as a top smartwatch, the journey to this point has not been easy. How has Apple defined the concept and improved the product over the past decade? Masakazu Honda, a tech journalist and wearer of every Apple Watch, looks back on the perfection of Series 10, the culmination of 10 years of work.
Text by Masakazu Honda
It's been almost 10 years since the birth of the Apple Watch, which revolutionized the concept of "watches." At first glance, the newly released "Apple Watch Series 10" may not seem to be much different from the previous model.
However, Apple has looked back at its evolution so far and rebuilt it with the latest technology, setting a new starting point for the next decade. Apple itself has reinterpreted the Apple Watch as a product, making it a more attractive and indispensable tool, creating a new starting point for its new evolution.
Operating time is approximately 18 hours under normal use, and approximately 36 hours under power-saving mode. Aluminum or Ti case (46mm or 42mm long). Starting at 59,800 yen (tax included).
Over the past decade, Apple has expanded its smartwatches beyond just being a tool for managing exercise habits and health, and has even expanded into the field of diagnosing diseases in collaboration with medical institutions.At the same time, it has also expanded into devices to support athletes with the Apple Watch Ultra.
With the Apple Watch Series 10, further refinements to the design have resulted in a 1mm thinner case, and extremely detailed fitting adjustments have been made to accompany this design change. Furthermore, by strengthening AI processing capabilities, the company is laying the foundation for more proactive support for users. The newly added sleep apnea syndrome diagnosis function is the result of these various improvements and collaboration with health authorities around the world.
Before we get into the details of the new Apple Watch, let's take a moment to look back over the past decade and see where the Apple Watch Series 10 stands.
A decade of exploring unknown territory
Looking back 10 years ago, when the first Apple Watch was released, Apple itself was unsure how to develop the product and establish it in the market. You could say that it was a little bit off-target, but at the time it was a path that no one had yet blazed.
The Apple Watch Edition, which uses an 18K gold case, is an attempt to "imitate" a luxury wristwatch at great expense and effort, but the inherent lifespan of an electronic product is far removed from the timeless value of the case itself, making it an unbalanced model that simply doesn't justify the cost.
As it was their first product, they must have had a strong respect for the history of the watch industry. The link bracelet designed for the stainless steel model was made entirely by hand, and was finished with incredible precision and intricacy.
However, the main consumers who actively adopted the Apple Watch were, first and foremost, people who were conscious of their lifestyle habits, followed by casual sports and training. As the watch evolved to interact with health-conscious consumers, it eventually expanded from wellness to healthcare and medical fields, with the ambitious goal of protecting people's health and lives.
Furthermore, while product value has increased through advances in built-in processors, sensors, displays, and other components, it has also proven that even older models can continue to be used without significant loss of value through long-term updates.
Of course, it doesn't have the same functionality as the latest model, but in my opinion, if you have the Series 4 or Series 5 or later, you should be able to enjoy the world of the Apple Watch without any major shortcomings. To overturn the common sense that digital products become outdated quickly, it takes time to prove that.
But Apple is carrying out this mission with care.
Series 10 is the starting line for the next decade
Over the past few years, the Apple Watch has also been equipped with an engine for AI processing within the device called the Neural Engine, and the latest SiP (a package that combines the elements that realize the main functions, similar to the movement in a mechanical watch) is equipped with four newly designed processing cores.
The display size, viewing angle, and case thickness have all been changed, but looking at the long term, I think this change will be the biggest one as we move towards the next decade.
The Neural Engine creates a variety of value in various areas.
Although this was already realized last year, the recognition of the double-tap gesture, which involves lightly tapping your thumb and index finger together twice, is done using the Neural Engine, allowing you to experience faster and more accurate gesture recognition.
The response speed of the voice assistant Siri and voice recognition has also improved, and the accuracy of recognition has also improved when inputting text using voice recognition. The "Smart Stack" feature, which displays and shows the most appropriate information to the user based on the user's behavioral patterns and time of day, can be used on recent Apple Watches as well, but this one makes a difference with its higher power efficiency and intelligence.
It's a small thing, but the Neural Engine's improved inference capabilities are what allow the watch face to be appropriately laid out when you use your favorite photo as the watch face.
Furthermore, real-time voice translation is now possible even when you are not connected to the internet, and when you answer a call on your Apple Watch, it will also be able to isolate your voice and eliminate background noise.
The advantage of AI inference processing is its ability to aggregate a variety of different pieces of information and draw the most appropriate, plausible conclusion from it. To provide the user with the appropriate information from the diverse information collected on the wrist and to make sense of the user's vague gestures and instructions, the evolution of the Neural Engine is essential, and will likely be the foundation that supports evolution over the next decade.
Sleep apnea syndrome diagnostics to be offered in Japan almost simultaneously with the US FDA
There is another area where the Neural Engine is being used: the sleep apnea syndrome detection function. In the past, Apple has equipped the Apple Watch with medical-related functions, such as blood oxygen level detection, atrial fibrillation detection, and electrocardiogram measurement. However, in the past, similar functions were developed far ahead of the US, and it took time to obtain approval from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan.
However, this time, there was smooth cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in advance, and the drug became available in Japan at almost the same time as it was approved in the United States.
This function analyzes data from the accelerometer in real time and detects breathing pattern disturbances with high accuracy. This is an effective way to use AI processing, aggregating various information and inferring the state of the patient. A new 4-core Neural Engine is used to realize this function.
The new diagnostic feature will issue a warning to patients with moderate or severe sleep apnea, warning them that they may have sleep apnea, and even generating a report showing the data supporting that warning to a doctor.
This condition, in which breathing stops during sleep, is said to be the starting point for various illnesses, including diabetes. However, it is estimated that there are 900 million patients in Japan alone, and more than 80% of them have never actually received medical treatment. This means that most people either do not know whether they have sleep apnea syndrome or are not sure, so they do not go to the hospital.
Apple is working with various medical teams and research organizations to understand how vital data from the Apple Watch can be used to improve people's health.
As a fundamental capability for this, the Neural Engine will undoubtedly become even more important in the future.
The biggest design update since Series 3
If you go to Apple's webpage, you'll see a section highlighting the 1mm thinner case, and it's certainly noticeable, but it's made possible by smaller improvements to the overall fit.
The link where the strap is attached has been repositioned closer to the back case, reducing the gap between the wrist and the strap, resulting in a better fit.
This improvement is not, in fact, achieved in any easy way.
To achieve this design change, Apple has changed the back cover so that the antenna is embedded into the pig, as if it were part of the phone's body, rather than being made into a separate cover. The central sensor is made of the same material, but it is surrounded by aluminum, and the pig is surrounded by plastic.
This design is similar to the part where the metal housing of the iPhone is joined. The reason it is like this is because an antenna and communication function are embedded here in a smart way.
It's interesting to see how much the fit has actually changed, and the aspect ratio has been slightly widened, making the overall screen size larger than that of the Apple Watch Ultra. The display is now more visible and easier to operate with your fingers.
I would definitely recommend checking this out in store, but it's not a bad starting point for the new decade.
Applying what we have learned in the past 10 years to the next 10 years
At the beginning, I wrote in a way that seemed to criticize Apple for using an 18K gold case for its flagship model, but they have learned a lot since then.
During this time, Apple tried offering ceramic cases, but ultimately chose to abandon the stainless steel case in favor of a titanium case. While the stainless steel case model was still available last year, this year's new model replaces the stainless steel with a more lustrous titanium finish and a DLC coating.
Although it doesn't achieve the perfect mirror finish of stainless steel, the company likely shifted the focus of its higher-end models to titanium, taking into consideration its texture and lightness, as well as the fact that it is often used for fitness activities. To coincide with this, the color of the stainless steel strap has been changed to match the color of the titanium case model.
The Milanese Loop (which has been improved with a more sporty look, such as a locking mechanism) developed for the Apple Watch Ultra is made of DLC titanium and is available as an optional purchase. However, the Link Bracelet is not made of titanium due to processing issues.
For consumers who simply want a glossy finish case, there is a Jet Black model available, which has a glossy finish on an aluminum case.
Jet Black is the same name used when the iPhone 7 was announced, but the finish is completely different.
After being polished with a chemical polish using silica nanoparticles, the surface is micro-perforated, which creates tiny holes in the surface, then dyed to a deep black finish, followed by a multi-stage anodizing process and finally a DLC coating.
It's not something that can be compared to stainless steel, but if you can get such a glossy finish on an aluminum case, there are bound to be many people who would say this is the better choice. It goes without saying that it's also overwhelmingly lighter.
Additionally, the collaboration with Hermès continues, with new additions including Torsade and Twill Jump Attelage, as well as the first metal band, Grand H.
There are other highlights of the Apple Watch Series 10, such as the ability to dive up to 6m and the ability to measure depth for snorkeling. What kind of era will the Apple Watch, which has pioneered the history of smartwatches, open up in the next new decade? What will we witness in the future?
I look forward to a more refined future in the next decade.
