Apple Watch 9 vs Apple Watch 7

Apple Watch series was released in September 2023. Apple Watch 7 was released in September 2021.

If you are looking to upgrade from Apple Watch 7 to Apple Watch 9, this comparison study captures all the major differences between the Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch 7.

Smartwatch features covered in this post

Main differences

Apple Watch 9 uses the S9 chip based 64-bit dual-core processor. Apple Watch 7 is based on the S7 processor chip.
Apple Watch 9 offers a peak brightness of 2000 nits. Apple Watch 7 can go up to a peak brightness of 1000 nits.
Apple Watch 9 includes the crash detection feature. Apple Watch 7 does not have the crash detection feature.
Apple Watch 9 offers a storage of 64 GB and Apple Watch 7 has a storage of 32 GB.
Apple Watch 9 offers aluminum and stainless steel cases. Apple Watch 7 offers aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium watch cases.
Apple Watch 9 features a double tap feature for the first time.
Apple Watch 9 includes a temperature sensor; Apple Watch 7 lacks a temperature sensor.

We look at these differences in detail below.

Chip

Apple Watch 9 uses 64-bit dual-core S9 chip. The S9 chip was released in 2023. It supersedes the 8th generation S8 chip.

S9 chip is based on the Apple A15 SoC. S7 chip is based on the Apple A13 platform.
S9 chip also features a 4-core neural engine to assist in Artificial intelligence tasks and Machine language processing.
The S9 chip offers 64 GB storage in comparison to S7 chip’s 32 GB storage.

Display

Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch 7 use the Always-on-Retina display. The sizes of both watches are identical. So, the display resolution remains unchanged between Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch 7.

Apple Watch 9 can go up to a peak brightness of 2000 nits and Apple Watch 7 can achieve a peak brightness of 1000 nits.

Both, Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch 7 feature Ion-X display glass for aluminum case. For steel case, the Apple Watch 9 features a Sapphire display glass. Apple Watch 7 features a Sapphire display glass for the stainless steel and titanium smartwatch cases.

Double Tap feature

Apple Watch 9 includes the double tap feature.

The S9 chip in the Apple Watch 9 is compatible with the double tap feature. The S8 chip cannot support the double-tap feature.

The double-tap feature is a gesture action feature. You can tap your index finger and thumb together twice to answer a call, reply to a message, see and scroll through your Smart Stack, and more.

The double-tap feature can be turned on or off. You can also open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch, go to Settings > Gestures, then tap Double Tap.

Crash detection

Apple Watch 9 includes the crash detection feature.

Crash Detection is designed to detect severe car crashes – such as front-impact, side-impact and rear-end collisions, and rollovers – involving saloons, minivans, SUVs, pick-ups and other passenger cars.

When a severe car crash is detected, an alarm will sound and an alert will be displayed on your iPhone or Apple Watch. If you’re unable to respond, your device automatically calls emergency services after a 20-second delay.

Apple Watch 7 lacks the crash detection feature.

Temperature Sensor

Apple Watch 9 includes a temperature sensor.

To establish your temperature baseline, wear your Apple Watch to bed with Sleep Tracking turned on. You can track nightly changes in your wrist temperature, which can provide insight into your well-being.

You can choose to turn off the temperature sensor through the watch interface.

Apple Watch 7 lacks the temperature tracking sensor.

Final thoughts

When you upgrade from the Apple Watch 7 to the Apple Watch 9, you get access to the following additional features:

Temperature sensor for wrist-based temperature tracking
Double tap feature
Crash detection feature
Better brightness levels

More Smartwatch Comparisons

You may like to read more smartwatch comparisons below: