Apple Watch 9 release date nears as listing pops up

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A September launch feels inevitable

Apple Watch Series 8 shown on wrist
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Barring the first generation (April 2015) and the Series 7 (October 2021), every Apple Watch has launched in September. And it appears that Apple will be repeating the pattern this year, with a new watchOS entry popping up in the Bluetooth product database just a few weeks before we expect the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 to launch alongside the iPhone 15.

The listing, first spotted by MacRumors, is extremely light on detail, only providing the product name, “WatchOS Profile Subsystem 2023.” All that the entry’s appearance really tells us is that the upcoming Apple Watches will use Bluetooth, which isn’t exactly breaking news given that’s how all smartwatches function.

But it does all but confirm that new Apple Watches will appear alongside the iPhone 15 series when it's likely to launch at next month’s Apple event. A date of September 12 has been mooted by leakers, though official invites are yet to go out. 

The idea is that less frequent updates could lead to more meaningful upgrades, rather than the incremental changes Apple has historically introduced from year to year. Though Gurman notes that the “deliberations haven’t gotten far” yet.

While Apple is reportedly planning big changes for next year’s tenth-anniversary Apple Watch X, this year’s wearables are likely to offer more of the same incremental changes. 

Alan Martin
Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.