Apple Watch Series 7 vs. Apple Watch Series 8 Buyer's Guide: Should You Upgrade?
The Apple Watch Series 8 replaces the Apple Watch Series 7 in Apple's smartwatch lineup, but how different are the two successive smartwatch generations?
In 2021, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 7, including features like taller casing sizes with larger displays, slimmer bezels, improved durability, and faster charging technology. The Apple Watch Series 7 has now been discontinued by Apple, and as year-old models, prices at third-party resellers are falling. As such, some customers may be weighing up whether to upgrade to a Series 7 or a Series 8.
The Apple Watch Series 7 and Series 8 share the overwhelming majority of their features, so should you consider buying or sticking with the Series 7 to save money? This breakdown also serves as a way to see all the differences that the new Apple Watch brings to the table.
Differences
| Apple Watch Series 7 |
Apple Watch Series 8 |
| S7 chip |
S8 chip (Same CPU as S7) |
| Gyroscope and accelerometer |
More powerful gyroscope and high dynamic range accelerometer |
| - |
Crash Detection |
| Third-generation optical heart sensor, electrical heart sensor for ECG, and blood oxygen sensor |
Optical heart sensor, electrical heart sensor for ECG, blood oxygen sensor, and body temperature sensor |
| - |
Wrist temperature sensing during sleep |
| - |
Cycle tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates |
| Aluminum casing in Midnight, Starlight, PRODUCT(RED), Blue, or Green |
Aluminum casing in Midnight, Starlight, PRODUCT(RED), or Silver |
| Stainless Steel casing in Gold, Silver, or Graphite |
Stainless Steel casing in Gold, Silver, or Graphite |
| Titanium casing in Titanium or Space Black |
- |
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Apple Watch Series 8 is a very minor upgrade over the Series 7, with the body temperature sensor and Crash Detection being the only significant changes, meaning that it is difficult to recommend upgrading. Many Apple Watch Series 7 users will likely not be able to justify upgrading to the Series 8, but some customers coming from an older model could still have good reason to preference the latest models, namely those who do not have an iPhone 14 model with Crash Detection and women who want to take advantage of the cycle tracking features. The Apple Watch Series 8 is very similar to the Series 7, so customers who have an older Apple Watch model and are looking for an upgrade may prefer to look for a discounted Apple Watch Series 7.
Popular Stories
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature.
According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now.
According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles.
CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
Apple plans to mostly stop announcing new features more than a few months before they are ready to launch, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett. The pair of reporters revealed this noteworthy tidbit towards the bottom of a lengthy report about Apple's artificial intelligence shortcomings today.
This alleged change in strategy comes after Apple was forced to delay its more...
Apple has big plans to improve Siri over the next few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett report.
Some Apple executives are now reportedly pushing to turn Siri into a true ChatGPT competitor. A next-generation, chatbot version of Siri has reportedly made significant progress during testing over the past six months; some executives allegedly now see it as "on par" with recent...
