The new Apple Watch 8 and Apple Watch SE were less surprising when they were introduced. They share too many similarities with their respective predecessors. In one point, however, Apple is now adjusting and correcting the information. Are smartwatches now better than expected? The situation outside of the USA remains unclear.

Apple

So far, only the new Apple Watch Ultra seemed to support the current Bluetooth 5.3 protocol. But now Apple is correcting the information on its own website and is also talking about the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch SE from the version number 5.3 and not from 5.0 as before (source: MacRumors).

Apple Watch 8 and SE support Bluetooth 5.3

However, the reference to the older Bluetooth version still appears in some places on the website, so what is correct? The colleagues from MacRumors asked Apple and received a positive answer. In fact, Apple Watch 8 and Apple Watch SE now also support version 5.3. However, according to MacRumors, this confirmation initially refers to the USA. The external situation remains unclear, because Apple still speaks of version 5.0 on the German website and, for example, also in Great Britain. A mistake or are customers outside the USA worse off? We can hardly imagine. As soon as this becomes clear, we will update the article.

What does the Apple Watch 8 have to offer? A look at the video reveals more:

Apple Watch Series 8 trailer

Worth knowing: Bluetooth 5.3 can also be found in the Apple Watch Ultra and not least in all four models of the new iPhone 14. In general, the new Bluetooth version includes various improvements, for example and in theory also LE Audio. However, there is currently no evidence that Apple has already implemented this feature. But in the future this step could of course still be done via update.

Little new in smartwatches

As already mentioned, apart from that, relatively little has changed in the two smart watches compared to their predecessors. Even the “new” chip (S8) doesn’t really differ from the S7 or even the S6 from previous years. As a result, anyone who bought an Apple Watch in the last two or three years does not necessarily have to upgrade.