Apple has launched the second version of its Apple Watch, hoping to cement its position as one of the world’s leading watch brands.
The company revealed the new version of the wearable after bragging about how it was the number two watch brand in 2015, overtaking every traditional watchmaker apart from Rolex.
Though the new version of the wearable – referred to as “series 2” – looks almost identical to the existing one, inside it has been hugely upgraded. The Watch is now up 50 per cent faster than the existing one, and has become waterproof.
That waterproofing lets it get submerged up to 50 meters, Apple’s Jeff Williams said. To do that, Apple had to develop a new speaker that was able to cast out the water using vibrations once its wearer had done swimming.
The announcement came alongside the launch of the iPhone 7, which is also waterproof.
The company also said that it had improved thescreen so that it was the brightest of any Apple product ever made. That was a way of making it more visible in sunlight, it said.
It also include GPS, so that people can track their runs without taking their iPhone along with them.
Nike launched a version of the Watch at the same event. That model comes with a special Nike strap and pre-loaded with the sport brand’s software.
Apple also relaunched the Apple Watch Edition, the super-expensive, gold version of the watch. It’s now much cheaper, and made out of ceramic – retailing at only around £1,300, it’s about a tenth as expensive as the old, gold one.
