Apple Watch Series 2 vs Apple Watch Series 9

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Watch Series 2 compared with Watch Series 9

	AppleWatch Series 2	AppleWatch Series 9
Overview
Released
Released	September 2016	September 2023
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	38 mm or 42 mm	41 mm or 45 mm
Panel
Panel	OLED	LTPO OLED
Peak brightness
Peak brightness	1,000 nits	2,000 nits (better)
Always-on display
Always-on display	No	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Second-generation Retina OLED with Force Touch; 272 x 340 pixels (38mm) or 312 x 390 pixels (42mm); display sleeps between wrist raises (Wareable)	Always-On Retina LTPO OLED display, edge to edge; 326 ppi; up to 2,000 nits maximum and 1 nit minimum brightness
Screen protection
Screen protection	Ion-X glass on aluminium; sapphire crystal on stainless steel and ceramic	Ion-X front glass (aluminium cases); sapphire front crystal (stainless steel cases)
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	Yes
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	Yes
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	No	Yes
Sleep apnoea alerts
Sleep apnoea alerts	No	Yes
High blood pressure alerts
High blood pressure alerts	No	Yes
Body composition
Body composition	No	No
Fall detection
Fall detection	No	Yes
Crash detection
Crash detection	No	Yes
GPS
GPS	Single-band	Single-band
Water resistance
Water resistance	50 m	50 m
Sensors
Sensors	Optical heart-rate sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope and ambient light sensor	Electrical heart sensor; third-generation optical heart sensor; temperature sensing; compass; always-on altimeter; high-g accelerometer; high dynamic range gyroscope; ambient light sensor
Health features
Health features	Heart-rate tracking, Activity rings and Breathe app; activity sharing and wheelchair workouts in watchOS 3	ECG app; Blood Oxygen app; sleep apnoea notifications and hypertension notifications (added in later watchOS updates); irregular rhythm notifications; high and low heart rate notifications; sleep stages; Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates; Medications; Mindfulness; Noise
Fitness features
Fitness features	GPS and GLONASS for distance, pace and route recording without an iPhone; pool and open-water swimming workouts count laps, average lap pace and stroke type	Custom interval workouts; Heart Rate Zones; Race Route; stride length, ground contact time and vertical oscillation; automatic track detection; multisport workouts; Backtrack; pool and open-water swimming with SWOLF and automatic stroke detection; cycling Functional Threshold Power, power zones and cadence with Bluetooth accessories; GymKit
Safety features
Safety features	–	Emergency SOS; international emergency calling; Crash Detection; Fall Detection
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 18 hours	Up to 18 hours
In low-power mode
In low-power mode	–	Up to 36 hours
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	Yes
Works with
Works with	iPhone	iPhone
Chip
Chip	S2	S9
Storage
Storage	–	64 GB
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Charging
Charging	Magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter; Edition includes a Magnetic Charging Dock	Fast charging to 80% in about 45 minutes
Connectivity
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n at 2.4GHz; Bluetooth 4.0; requires iPhone 5 or later with iOS 10 at launch	L1 GPS, GNSS, Galileo and BeiDou; 4G LTE and UMTS (GPS + Cellular models); Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n); Bluetooth 5.3; second-generation Ultra Wideband chip with Precision Finding for iPhone 15 and later; Apple Pay
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	28.2 g (better)	31.9 g
Software
Software	watchOS	watchOS
Case materials
Case materials	Aluminium, stainless steel or white ceramic case; 50 m rating under ISO 22810:2010 for shallow-water swimming, not scuba diving or high-velocity water	Aluminium or stainless steel case; water resistant to 50 m (swimproof); IP6X dust resistant
Size
Size	Aluminium 38mm 38.6 x 33.3 x 11.4 mm, 28.2 g and 42mm 42.5 x 36.4 x 11.4 mm, 34.2 g; steel uses the same dimensions at 41.9 g and 52.4 g; ceramic 38mm 39.2 x 34.0 x 11.8 mm, 39.6 g and 42mm 42.6 x 36.5 x 11.4 mm, 45.6 g; weights exclude bands	41mm is 41 x 35 x 10.7 mm, 31.9 g (aluminium, GPS), 32.1 g (aluminium, GPS + Cellular) or 42.3 g (stainless steel); 45mm is 45 x 38 x 10.7 mm, 38.7 g (aluminium, GPS), 39.0 g (aluminium, GPS + Cellular) or 51.5 g (stainless steel); lightest is the 41mm aluminium GPS
Bands
Bands	Sport or Woven Nylon for aluminium; Sport, steel or leather for stainless steel; Nike Sport Band for Nike+; Hermès leather plus an additional Sport Band; Sport Band for Edition. Hermès launched 23 September 2016, Nike+ was scheduled for late October	Fits 130–200 mm wrists (41mm) or 140–245 mm wrists (45mm)
Colours
Colours	Gold, Rose Gold, Silver or Space Grey aluminium; Silver or Space Black stainless steel; White ceramic	Aluminium in Pink, Midnight, Starlight, Silver and (PRODUCT)RED; stainless steel in Gold, Silver and Graphite
In the box
In the box	Watch and band, magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter; Edition adds Magnetic Charging Dock; Hermès adds Sport Band	Apple Watch Series 9, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m)