Apple Watch Series 9 vs 8 and earlier | Technology

Apple Watch Series 9 is the latest version of the world’s most popular wearable. While much remains the same between Series 9 and its predecessors, there are a number of upgrades. Whether you’re thinking about upgrading your own watch or trying to figure out a gift, follow along for Apple Watch Series 9 vs 8.

Apple Watch Series 9 vs 8 and earlier

Processor, GPU, Neural Engine, storage

Last year, Apple used the S8 64-bit dual-core processor in the Series 8 which wasn’t that different from the S7 or S6 in the previous Apple Watches.

But with Series 9, Apple says the S9 SiP brings notable improvements across the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine.

Apple didn’t give a specific measure of how much faster the CPU of the S9 is compared to S8, but it features 5.6 billion transistors – up 60% from S8.

For the S9 GPU, Apple says it’s 30% faster than the S8 and the Neural Engine is twice as fast.

Two more benefits if you’re coming from any of the older Apple Watch models are a jump in storage to 64GB and the ultra wideband gen 2 chip with Series 9.

Case and display

Apple Watch Series 9 keeps on with the same sizes that launched with Apple Watch Series 7. That’s 45 and 41mm cases and a larger display that’s 20% bigger than Series 4-6/SE and 50% larger than Series 3.

The main (only?) difference with the Series 9 Apple Watch display is brightness has doubled from 1,000 to 2,000 nits….