Apple Watch tracks sleep apnoea, AirPods as hearing aids & an idea of disruption

Alongside the AirPods Pro 2 and the Apple Watch Series 10, is the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the absolutely gorgeous titanium black colour, two new versions of the AirPods 4 and a long-overdue update for the AirPods Max headphones. An interesting observation—the Apple Watch Series 10 screen is larger than the Apple Watch Ultra 2. With the Watch Series 10 (this is priced at ₹46,900 onwards), Apple’s been able to tick off two important things from their checklist. That is, screen size and thickness. Despite retaining the 42mm and 46mm sizes from before (ballpark, to 41mm and 45mm), the Series 10’s screen is as much as 30% more than the immediately previous generations.

At the same time, to bring down the thickness of the watch from 10.7mm to 9.7mm may seem like just 1mm, but HT can confirm that when worn on the wrist, that thinner profile is more noticeable than we had expected. Apple has switched to a wide-angle OLED display, which is also brighter than the Series 9, allowing for better visibility irrespective of how you are looking at the Watch screen (think about it, rarely do you look straight on at a smartwatch). Apple also confirms that the always-on mode will now refresh every second, a significant change from a minute in previous watches.

Apple hasn’t changed the core design elements of the Apple Watch Series 10, which means existing band accessories will work seamlessly, while you’ll have a tough time choosing from the plethora of band options alongside the aluminium and titanium finishes.

Health and wearables: A step forward, awaiting competition’s response

The Sleep apnoea monitoring and detection is the biggest health tracking update for this generation of the Apple Watch. The way this works is, the accelerometer on device will detect breathing patterns and notice any disturbances. The Watch will need 15-nights worth of sleep data, which will be the baseline for detection. This uses machine learning that’s relying on research data set—it has helped that Apple is an active participant in health research over the years.

Apple tells HT that they’re awaiting the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, which they expect to receive within this calendar month. The plan is to enable this with a WatchOS update, in more than 150 countries. It is interesting that Apple has not limited this to the latest Watch generation. In fact, this update will be available too for the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch 2 Ultra.

The AirPods Pro 2 (this carries a sticker price of ₹24,900) is taking a three-step approach towards helping individuals with hearing loss—prevention, awareness and assistance. Apple quotes their hearing study, in collaboration with the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the World Health Organization, that one in three people are regularly exposed to loud environmental noise levels that can impact their hearing. The AirPods Pro 2 ear tips have been designed to passively reduce ambient loud noises, while the earbuds’ H2 chip can actively reduce louder, more intermittent noise at 48,000 times per second. There is also a new multiband high dynamic range algorithm, specifically for loud sounds at live events such as concerts.

The next step is an on-board testing mechanism, a personalised hearing test that’ll analyse any signs of hearing loss based on the frequencies a user says they heard, and which ones they didn’t hear. HT couldn’t experience this test post the keynote because individual devices aren’t yet available, but we will in a detailed review of the AirPods Pro 2. If hearing loss is detected at this stage, the AirPods Pro 2 can become a hearing aid.

This too requires the FDA approvals as well as regulatory clearance in some other parts of the world. Apple expects this process to be completed soon, post which the hearing loss monitoring and management options will roll out. It is not clear whether this will just be an AirPods Pro 2 specific firmware update, or a broader iOS update that’ll also be required at the time.

New AirPods and a gorgeous Watch Ultra: Pristine form, and function

“The best-fitting AirPods ever”, Apple simply says. It may so be true, something I’ll be able to attest to once we have the AirPods 4 (Priced at ₹12,900) for review. But there is little left to chance, with Apple taking data from as many as 50 million individual data points such as ear shape (they say, they’ve used 3D photogrammetry and laser topography for this) to redesign the earbuds. There is a new acoustic architecture with a low-distortion driver, and high dynamic range amplifier, as well as the new H2 audio processing chip on which Personalised Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking has been built.

The AirPods 4 will also be available in a second variant, this one with active noise cancellation (this is priced at ₹17,900). This will be the first time Apple is adding ANC to an open-ear design. Interestingly enough, this specific AirPods 4 option also has the wireless charging support for the case, and apart from any Qi certified charger, even the Apple Watch charger will work as well.

It has been four years since the AirPods Max headphones first rolled out into the limelight. Since that time, they’ve been left ignored. However, a refresh was due this year, also because the Lightning port left it as an outlier. The AirPods Max continue to be called AirPods Max (and now cost 59,900), except the changes are now a USB-C port and five colour options (those are midnight, starlight, blue, orange, and purple).

Though there isn’t exactly a generational step forward for the Watch Ultra 2, there is now a new titanium black colour option, which joins the silver-esque natural titanium. It is immediately clear that this colourway will appeal to the those who wish for their smartwatch to tick off the lifestyle elements too. A bunch of similarly colour finished bands too, of which the Milanese loop stands out. There is of course also an Ocean Band and a trail loop.