The company is expected to showcase a number of new products at a two-hour event.
A decade after introducing its first smartwatch, Apple is making the Apple Watch thinner and packing it with more health features, as it looks to drive a new wave of sales for the world’s most popular timepiece.
On Monday, the company unveiled the Apple Watch Series 10, which has rounder corners and a larger, brighter display that comes in a 10 percent thinner design. It can also alert people about whether their breathing has stopped overnight, so that they can speak with their doctor about the issue. It is the most significant change to the original watch since its introduction.
Though the Apple Watch was initially slow to win over customers, the device has become popular enough to make Apple the world’s biggest watchmaker. Its timepieces have become a reliable contributor to the company’s overall business, and combined with its wireless AirPods earbuds account for about a tenth of its annual sales.
In addition to announcing those changes to the Apple Watch Series 10, the company said that the Apple Watch Ultra, a larger watch designed for athletes and adventure sports enthusiasts, will include a new black finish. The Apple Watch Series 10 starts at $399, while the Ultra starts at $799.
The new Apple Watches, which were unveiled in a prerecorded video at the company’s futuristic Silicon Valley campus, opened an event that is expected to culminate with the introduction of the company’s first artificially intelligent iPhone.
The new phones arrive at a pivotal time for Apple and the broader tech industry. Apple’s business has sputtered in recent years as iPhone users have held onto their phones for longer. It has made a major bet by realigning its engineering teams to work on artificial intelligence in hopes that the technology, which can answer questions, create images and write software code, will persuade people to buy new devices.