The major highlights of tech giant Apple Inc's 'Far Out' 2022 event in its Cupertino-based headquarters were not the iPhone 14 Pro series that has its own market, but relatively younger products - Apple Watch and AirPods - where Apple sees immense growth potential both in terms of innovation and expansion.
Apple Watch Ultra
This year, the new edition of the Apple Watch lineup is Apple Watch Ultra, which focuses on features built for endurance, exploration, and adventure i.e. it's inspired by explorers, adventurers, and athletes. The Apple Watch Ultra is designed for new and extreme environments.
“Apple Watch Ultra is a versatile tool that empowers users to push their boundaries with adventure, endurance, and exploration,” says Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer.
The Ultra, comes with an enhanced battery life of up to 36-60 hours, depending upon your setting. The Wayfinder watch face comes with a larger display to include a compass built into the dial, with space for up to eight complications.
The Ultra brings in three new bands — Trail Loop, Alpine Loop, and Ocean Band. It has three built-in microphones to improve sound quality in voice calls during challenging windy environments, which can be quite useful for endurance athletes and adventurers.
Apple claims the Ultra delivers the “most-accurate GPS” of any Apple Watch to date, providing information about precise distance, pace, and route data. Its Backtrack feature can use GPS data to create a path showing where the user has been, which is useful if they get lost or disoriented and need help retracing their steps.
Also, the Ultra is also the only Apple Watch that can show six metrics at once.
The Apple Watch Ultra is priced at ₹89,900. Customers in India and other 40 countries including the U.S. and U.K. can order Apple Watch Ultra today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 23.
Apple Watch Series 8 & Watch SE
Apple's newest offering in the watch category is the Series 8. With an 18-hour battery life, Apple Watch Series 8 offers health and safety features like the ECG app and fall detection, retrospective ovulation estimates, crash detection, and international roaming. Apple says temperature-sensing capabilities in Series 8 will give women insights into their health, designed with the same privacy protections as with all other health data. During a severe car crash, Apple Watch will check in with the user and dial emergency services, if they are unresponsive after a 10-second countdown.
The entry-level Apple Watch SE also offers many upgrades. Firstly, it delivers the core Apple Watch experience and offers activity tracking, high and low heart rate notifications, emergency SOS, and a new crash detection feature. Like Series 8, the SE also can detect a car crash during an accident.
Apple Watch Series 8 starts at ₹45,900 and Apple Watch SE starts at ₹29,900. Both are available to order in India from today, with availability beginning Friday, September 16.
In terms of privacy, Apple says when a user’s iPhone is locked with a passcode, all health and fitness data in the health app — other than medical ID — is encrypted. "Apple does not have the key to decrypt the data and therefore cannot read it."
AirPods Pro
The second generation of AirPods Pro comes with features to change the volume with just a swipe of your finger. The new H2 chip-powered device has active noise cancellation and transparency modes. It also claims to offer longer battery life, a new charging case and additional ear-tip size.
Priced at ₹26,900, AirPods Pro (2nd generation) can be ordered online or from the Apple Store app starting Friday, September 9, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 23.
