Apple announces new smartwatches that will come without power adapters

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Apple rolled out a new virtual fitness service and a bundle of all its subscriptions, Apple One, focusing a holiday-season product launch on services that cater to customers working at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apple's chief operating officer Jeff Williams introduces Apple Watch Series 6 and the revolutionary Blood Oxygen app and sensor during the company's virtual event. PHOTO: APPLE

SINGAPORE - Apple unveiled its latest smartwatches with Apple Watch Series 6 and an entry-level Apple Watch SE during the company's virtual event on Tuesday in the US (Sept 15).

The Apple Watch Series 6 (from $599) does not look much different from previous generations. But it uses a faster S6 processor and is able to measure blood oxygen levels, in addition to the heart rate monitor and electrocardiogram sensors of its predecessors.

The new smartwatch also comes with an always-on altimeter to provide real-time elevation and now also comes in new colours of blue and red.

The Apple Watch SE (from $419) is basically Series 5 being rebranded, as it has all the features, including the S5 processor, found in last year's model.

Both new smartwatches will be available on Sep 18 running the new watchOS 7 operating system that adds native sleep tracking and hand-washing monitoring. But the new smartwatches will come without USB power adapters in the box. This is part of Apple's effort to reduce wastage and save the environment.

At the same time, Apple announced two new tablets with the eighth-generation iPad (from $499) and the fourth-generation iPad Air (from $879).

The new iPad Air looks like an iPad Pro and comes with a larger 10.9-inch display, new 12-megapixel rear camera but with a Touch ID sensor on its top button.

The biggest surprise though is Apple's new A14 Bionic processor being used in the iPad Air. This A14 Bionic processor is likely to be used by the upcoming new iPhones, that are expectedly missing from this morning's announcement due to manufacturing delays caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

While the 10.2-inch iPad will be available this Friday, the new iPad Air will only be available next month. This probably indicates that the new iPhones are expected to arrive next month as well.

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