Apple Watch Series 9 Review

Performance Comparison

In our quest to identify the best smartwatch among the many options available, we conducted extensive research and meticulously chose the most promising products for our hands-on testing. The Apple Watch Series 9 stood out as a great option after going through our rigorous performance evaluations and tests across four distinct metrics.

Smart Function

The primary reason to own a smartwatch is for its smart functions and features that help improve our efficiency and productivity. Teh Apple Watch Series 9 does it by providing a convenient alternative to using other devices like a laptop or phone, and scored well in our smart function testing for its high level of performance, and robust capabilities.

We awarded points to each model based on the availability and the quality of proprietary apps, third party apps, our experience making phone calls, texting, and the GPS display. The Apple Watch Series 9, due in no small part to intuitive Apple apps, and a huge third-party app marketplace, scored exceptionally well in the test metric.

The biggest change between the Series 8 and the Apple Watch Series 9 concerning features and functionality is the upgrade to the S9 64‑bit dual‑core processor which can handle the growing rigors of the Watch 10 OS. The chip is the first advance in performance over the last couple of generations of the watch. This model also now supports the double tap gesture, for ease and convenience.

The updated processing power also handles Siri with on‑device processing, when not connected to a phone or in a place with a bad network. On-device processing is noticeably slower than off-device processing of the Siri service, but it is a great alternative when not tethered to a phone.

Phone call quality is essentially unchanged from previous models, which is fine, because the Apple Watch Series 9 offers some of the best quality calls, with crystal clear sound and no noticeable distortion. It is also intuitive, and easy to make and receive calls. Combined with speech-to-text, and a tiny but useful keyboard, this model will drastically reduce the need to pull out your phone.

Lastly, we found the GPS and mapping quality of the phone to be excellent, although it is a battery hog, and the watch supports NFC for convenience like Apple Pay. It is also worth noting that our test model is not a cellular model, and the testing for phone calls was done through tethering to an iPhone. While Apple's proprietary Apple Watch, Health, and Fitness apps are great as they are, more premium features are available on a subscription basis, but add to the cost of ownership..

Health

The Apple Watch Series 9 stands out as one of the better wearable fitness devices for a wide range of fitness tracking capabilities, accurate GPS, and advanced sensor suite. Nearly all modern smartwatches are capable of some degree of health monitoring or fitness tracking, but the Series 9, is one of the better options out there, and scored well in our health metric, weighted to thirty percent of each model's overall score.

Our test team members put the Apple Watch Series 9 to the test by performing repeated tests that included measured running paths, and additional dedicated heart monitoring and GPS tracking equipment to validate health sensors and data accuracy. We validated heart rate data at over 99 percent, and a nearly 100 percent GPS distance measuring accuracy.

While all of the sensing and tracking was generally within a close level of accuracy, we did find that the step counter accuracy was less impressive than the majority of other smartwatches tested, at 97 percent accurate. Additionally, the Apple Watch Series 9 did poorly with treadmill walking accuracy. However, the watch does have a feature called Gymkit, which allows you to directly connect with compatible gym equipment to help collect and rectify data straight off the machine. Unfortunately, companies like Peleton may be phasing out Gymkit as they are directing users to install their One-Tap tracking app onto Apple watches in place of Gymkit.

The Apple Watch Series 9 was fairly average when compared to other smartwatches we tested in regard to workout types and quality. While this model offers a large selection of workouts, more than eighty, the workouts lack activity-specific metrics or features and for great workout tracking data and metrics, you will probably rely heavily on third-party apps to fill the void. Then again, the smartwatch is a smartwatch first, very competent health tracker second.

Battery Life

Our battery life test metric evaluated the run time of the Apple Watch Series 9's 308 mAh battery under different real-world use cases, and it scored well for solid battery performance, and the ability to quick charge to 50%.

Apple states up to 18 hours with normal use, and 36 hours in low power mode, which conserves battery by disabling the always-on display and limiting the background sensor readings, but we devised our own tests that more realistically measure typical use with and without the GPS activated, as GPS radios are rather massive battery hogs.

The Apple Watch Series 9's 308 mAh battery recharges faster than any other model we tested, requiring only sixty-one minutes to reach a full charge, so you'll spend less time with it off of your wrist and more time enjoying its functionality. Our team extrapolated that using it without GPS, you can expect a battery life of 55.6 hours, which is more than adequate to last a couple of days of a busy schedule. Even with GPS activated, you still get a solid 11.1 hours of battery life, ensuring it keeps up with your active lifestyle without interruption.

Display

With Apple's history of incredible device displays it is unsurprising that the Apple Watch Series 9 is one of the most impressive displays on the market today. Displays are becoming more and more exceptional, across a large majority of the top smartwatches, yet the Series 9 still managed to outshine others in our display test metric at ten percent of its final score.

The Apple Watch Series 9 offers the same 326-pixel per-inch OLED resolution, and Ion‑X front glass for aluminum models, that the Series 8 used. Our test model was an aluminum model with the Ion‑X front glass and not the sapphire front crystal used in stainless steel models. While the glass option for aluminum models and resolutions stayed the same, the Series 9 offers greater brightness when compared to the Series 8.

Our measurements didn't record the manufacturer's claimed *up to 2000 nits brightness, but compared to all other models our team tested, the Apple Watch Series 9 was the second brightest display, second to one other Apple model. The Ion‑X glass itself provides ample protection from scratches and abrasion, achieving a 7.5 rating in our in-house Mohs hardness testing. For comparison, that strength places it behind sapphire crystal, but ahead of Corning Gorilla Glass.

Should you buy the Apple Watch Series 9?

There are limited options if you are trying to find a better smartwatch than the Apple Watch Series 9. Most smartwatches can not claim as impressive a suite of proprietary Apple apps, as robust a marketplace of third-party apps, as good a GPS and mapping experience, fitness tracking, an intuitive user experience, beautiful display, strong speech-to-text, NFC support for things like Apple Pay, and the list of features and accolades goes on and on. Our team thought that the Series 9 was the best model for most people, especially for those who already use an iPhone, and we strongly recommend it, but a lack of Android support is a deal breaker for those who use an Android based phone.

What other Smartwatches should you consider?

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the only model our team tested that outshined the Apple Watch Series 9 literally with its larger and brighter OLED display protected by the even more scratch-resistant Sapphire Crystal glass, but also with its greater battery life that nearly doubles your runtime before a recharge. However, those improvements cost nearly twice as much as the Series 9 making it less attainable for everyone. Android users who want a high-quality smartwatch will not be disappointed with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, which performed similarly to Series 9, earning it a nearly identical score. Samsung Galaxy phone users will also be able to take advantage of Samsung-specific features, in addition to the standard Android operating system inter-functionality.