Apple has announced its newest versions of the Apple Watch - complete with new features and a fitness class subscription service.
The Apple Watch Series 6 - being called the "most advanced Apple Watch ever" - contains a new health sensor which can measure blood oxygen levels in 15 seconds.
It is joined by the new “affordable” Apple Watch SE, which will start at £269 and contains many of the core features of the flagship Series 6, which will start at £379.
The US company has increasingly marketed the Watch as a health and fitness device, earlier this year announcing that sleep tracking and a prompt around hand washing would also be introduced to the device this year.
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Speaking during a virtual event to announce the products, Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams called the Series 6 the “most advanced Apple Watch ever” having taken “another big leap forward”, adding that the SE combined the “features customers love” at a lower price, saying it meant there was now an Apple Watch “for everyone”.
The technology giant also confirmed it was to launch a new exercise subscription service called Fitness+, which is powered by the Apple Watch.
The service, which will cost £9.99 a month, will enable users to stream fitness classes with professional trainers on their iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, with their exercise metrics automatically tracked by their Apple Watch while also being shown on-screen.
The service will be linked with Apple Music, the tech giant’s music streaming service, to provide playlists for each workout.
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A range of workouts, including walks and runs on a treadmill, yoga and HIIT sessions will be available when the service launches later in the year and will be seen as a direct competitor to platforms such as Peloton, which has had success with its own exercise bike and linked subscription service of associated workout classes.
The new subscription service joins a growing number of similar products offered by Apple, which has increasingly turned to its services business in recent years as a key revenue source as hardware sales slowed.
As part of that expansion, a new bundle of all its subscription services known as Apple One was announced, which at the top tier will include access to iCloud storage, Apple Music, TV+, Arcade, News+ and Fitness+ for £29.95 a month.
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