New Apple Watch Series 9 improves Siri processing, iPhone-finding, and more

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If you were hoping for a radical new Apple Watch design or a plethora of new features, 2023 won't be your year. That said, the Apple Watch Series 9—which was just announced in Apple's September livestream—brings some welcome, if modest, tweaks to the popular wearable.

The most notable of these is the inclusion of the new S9 chip, which promises improved performance—but more importantly, better battery life. It promises 60 percent more transistors in its CPU than the Series 8 and 30 percent more in its GPU. Perhaps most importantly, its neural engine offers big boosts to on-device processing for Siri requests, including 25 percent faster voice dictation.

(credit: Apple)

Apple Watch Series 9

• $399 Aluminum at Apple
• $699 Steel at Apple
• 249 Hermes Edition at Apple

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Using your Apple Watch to find your iPhone gets a bit easier, too, with the Series 9 incorporating Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) to show you the distance and direction to your phone, rather than simply having your phone make a loud ping noise.

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