Apple Watch Series 6: New wearable announced, with updated colours and blood oxygen sensors

(Apple)

The Apple Watch Series 6 has been revealed, with a host of new features.

It brings a selection of new colours, in a gold stainless steel finish, a “graphite” colour as well as blue and red aluminium ones.

The new Apple Watch also has a pulse oximeter, which can measure the amount of oxygen pumping around the body. That feature – which is present in competitors’ smartwatches such as those from Garmin and Fitbit – can help understand general health, as well as potentially alerting people to respiratory infections such as Covid-19.

As well as adding the new sensor, Apple will collaborate with health researchers to launch new studies, including one that will aim to understand whether blood oxygen measurements can be used to fight the coronavirus crisis.

The new Watch also includes a new “S6” processor that will allow it to work more quickly, Apple said.

And it will also have a more visible screen, as well as an always-on altimeter that will measure how high up people are, for tracking activities such as hikes.

The Watch will cost $399 in the US, the company said. But it will also release a new, cheaper version – called the Apple Watch SE – that will include some of those features but a slower process and other changes.

Apple also said that the new Watch will also bring a host of updates to the watch faces that come with the watch. They include tools such as Memoji faces on the watch, and one that measures how quickly the wearer is travelling, it said.

Other software features include a new tool called “Family Setup”, which allows watches to be set up without using a phone, for children or other people who might not have access to their own iPhone. Instead, it will be managed by a parent, for instance, who can give their child an Apple Watch that will have its own phone number and can be tracked.

That marks the first time that an Apple Watch can be used independently of an iPhone, which has been required to use the wearable at all. It will be available on the Series 4 or later.

The company also revealed a new kind of watch band, named the “solo loop”, which doesn’t have any clasp or buckle. Instead, it just goes straight around the wrist, and can be bought in a number of different sizes to ensure it fits, as well as colours.

The announcements were made by Apple’s chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, as part of Apple’s online “Time Flies” event.