
The “Watch Series” lineup has always been home to Apple’s most premium smartwatches. But no more. The new Apple Watch Series 8 is actually a mid-tier offering company now, while the flagship crown goes to the Apple Watch Ultra which costs almost twice as much as this guy. That in no way means the Watch Series 8 is any less impressive though. In fact, it can still go toe to toe with any other premium Android smartwatch like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 series, for instance. And in this post, I’ll be going through the official specs, features, availability, and expected price in Nepal of the new Apple Watch Series 8.
Apple Watch Series 8 Overview:
Design and Display
For the most part, the Apple Watch Series 8 isn’t that different from last year’s Apple Watch Series 7. Be it design, display, or even battery life, these two smartwatches are pretty much the same. You’re looking at a squarish chassis in either 41 or 45mm aluminum or stainless steel cases.
Unfortunately, unlike its predecessor, the Apple Watch Series 8 isn’t available with a titanium casing. Apple has also discontinued the Blue and Green aluminum options for a new Silver one here. It is also WR50 certified, which means the Watch Series 8 can survive as deep as 50 meters underwater. This watch is also IP6X dust resistant.
Anyway, there’s no change in the display department this time. It’s got the same 1.61 or 1.77″ curved Retina LTPO OLED screen with always-on display support. The aluminum variant gets an Ion-X glass display whereas the stainless steel models are protected by a tougher sapphire crystal glass. It can achieve 1000 nits of peak brightness as well.
You might also be interested in:
- iPhone 14 with A15 Bionic, 12MP dual cameras goes official
- AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) announced with H2 chip, personalized Spatial Audio
- iPhone 14 Plus launched with improved cameras, satellite connectivity
- iPhone 14 Pro, Pro Max go official with Dynamic Island, newer cameras
Performance
Powering the Apple Watch Series 8 is the new S8 chip. This dual-core processor is apparently 20% faster than the Apple S7 chip on the Watch Series 7. It also has the W3 wireless and the U1 ultra wideband chip—the latter of which is missing on the cheaper Apple Watch SE (2nd generation).
One of the most notable upgrades you’d find on the Apple Watch Series 8 is its support for car crash detection. This hardware-enabled feature uses the built-in gyroscope, high dynamic range accelerometer, barometer, GPS, microphone, and Apple’s advanced sensor-fusion algorithm. And once the watch senses that you’ve been in a car crash, it can automatically notify the emergency services and your emergency contact with your current location info.
Apple Watch Series 8 runs on watchOS 9 out-of-the-box. It brings a handful of new features like international roaming, better sleep tracking with Sleep Stages, AFib history, revamped Compass app, and the new Medications app. But all these features are coming to older Apple Watches as well. More specifically, the Apple Watch Series 4 or newer models.
Say hello to the new temperature sensor
Among the few additions to the Apple Watch Series 8 is the new temperature sensor. There are actually two temperature sensors here—one on the back of the watch and one just underneath the display. With this, the watch can give a deeper insight into your sleep cycles by analyzing the overall body temperature throughout the night. According to Apple, it can detect temperature changes as low as 0.1°C.
Besides sleep, these temperature sensors also play a big role in curating and predicting women’s menstrual cycles. And with this, the Apple Watch Series 8 can also offer an estimate of when you likely ovulated. Apple confirms that all these data stay encrypted on your device although you can choose to share them with your healthcare provider.
Other than this, the Apple Watch Series 8 can take your ECG readings, blood oxygen, and stress levels too. In terms of fitness tracking, it can record everything from walking, running, swimming, cycling, squats, swimming, and also multisport workouts. That means the watch can automatically detect and switch between different kinds of workouts like running, biking, and swimming to help you prepare for triathlons. As always, Apple is also throwing in three months of Apple Fitness+ subscription on the purchase of any new Apple Watch.
Battery
Sadly, there’s no upgrade as far as battery life is concerned here. You can expect the same 18 hours of endurance on the Apple Watch Series 8, which Apple calls “all-day battery life”. At least the watchOS 9 platform now enables the “Low Power” mode which can extend the battery life by double to 36 hours! But do note that enabling this mode disables always-on display, automatic workout detection, and a few alerts. And since it supports fast charging, the Watch Series 8 can fill up from 0 to 80% in just 45 minutes. Or 75 minutes for a full charge.
Apple Watch Series 8 Specifications:
- Dimensions (H x W x L):
- 41mm: 41 x 35 x 10.7mm
- 45mm: 45 x 38 x 10.7mm
- Weight:
- 41mm: 32 gm (Aluminum) | 42.3 gm (Stainless Steel)
- 45mm: 38.8 gm (Aluminum) | 51.5 gm (Stainless Steel)
- Display: Always-on Retina LTPO OLED panel, Up to 1000 nits brightness, Ion-X glass (Aluminum) / Sapphire crystal (Stainless Steel)
- 41mm: 1.61″, 352 x 430 pixels
- 45mm: 1.77″, 396 x 484 pixels
- Design: Aluminum / Stainless Steel case, Digital Crown with haptic feedback
- Water Resistance Level: WR50 (Up to 50 meters), IP6X dust resistant
- Sensors: 3rd generation optical heart rate, Electrical heart rate, High-G accelerometer, Temperature, Gyroscope, Ambient light, Always-on altimeter
- Processor: Apple S8 chip (dual-core), W3 wireless chip, U1 chip
- Storage: 32GB (GPS and GPS + Cellular)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, Dual-band WiFi (2.4/5GHz)
- Built-in GPS: Yes (L1), Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou
- Audio: Yes (with speaker and microphone)
- Battery: Up to 18 hours (or 36 hours under Low Power mode)
- Charging: USB-C fast magnetic charging cable
Apple Watch Series 8 Price in Nepal
Thankfully, Apple hasn’t introduced a price hike coming from Series 7 to Series 8. As such, it costs USD 399 and USD 429 for the 41mm and 45mm GPS models. Or USD 100 more for the respective cellular variant. We expect the price of the Apple Watch Series 8 in Nepal to start at NPR 75,000 when it launches here.
Apple Watch Series 8 | Price in the US | Price in Nepal (Expected) |
41mm (GPS) | USD 399 | NPR 75,000 |
45mm (GPS) | USD 429 | NPR 80,000 |
- Meanwhile, check out our picks for the best budget smartwatches of 2022