Apple (AAPL) on Wednesday debuted its latest Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 4 and AirPods 5 as part of its annual fall event.
The $399 Apple Watch Series 12 and $799 Apple Watch Ultra 4 get improved heart rate-tracking sensors that take heart rate readings every 5 seconds and track heart rate variability.
The company said it tested the new tracking sensor against competing trackers and a chest strap, and found it to be the most accurate.
Apple is also announcing a new readiness feature in the Apple Watch or Fitness app, similar to those seen in products from Oura and Fitbit. The feature, the company says, analyses your recent activity, vitals, and sleep to provide you with a daily score that indicates whether you should rest, pace yourself, or work out as usual.
A new longevity tab can tell you how well you’re performing across a variety of categories, including sleep, movement, heart health, and more, compared to clinical guidance.
The watches also get new sound recognition features that can identify things like sirens, a baby crying, alarms, doorbells, and more, and alert you if it hears them and you don’t.
A new Live Rewind feature can transcribe anything someone said around you in the last 15 seconds, allowing you to save the transcript to your notes, as well.
There’s also a new feature called Siri Recaps that can provide high-level notes on what people said throughout the day.
The company, however, says that there are no actual audio recordings and that the raw audio used for processing is inaccessible to anyone, including Apple. The company also says that it doesn’t attribute anything to speakers.
Apple also revealed its latest AirPods. The AirPods 5 get a new acoustic architecture that the company says improves overall sound and advanced noise cancelation (ANC), which Apple says is now 50% better than the AirPods 4.
The AirPods 5 also get Siri AI via a connected iPhone. You can ask the assistant questions you’d normally ask your iPhone and get answers right away. There’s also real-time translation that can quickly translate what someone is saying to you.
Battery life is rated at 4 hours with ANC enabled. The earbuds cost $129.
A higher-end version of the AirPods 5 gets on tip volume controls, an additional hour of battery life with ANC, and a wireless charging case will cost $149.
Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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