Every new Apple Watch has its own chipset, and with continuous improvements to performance and efficiency, the device has become increasingly independent from its companion iPhone. However, ever since the Series 6, changes in those areas have been severely impacted by availability of new chip “architectures”.

For the first time in a few years, Apple Watch may finally be blessed with this change.

The new chip

At present, the Series 8, SE 2 and Ultra’s “S8” chip is built on a 7 nm process, and Series 9 is rumored to be run on a 4 nm chip. Nanometers (nm) are a general indicator of how powerful or small a chip is, and fewer numbers mean more improvements. In comparison, current iPhones use 4-5 nanometer chips.

With this in mind, Series 9 may receive a performance upgrade that some of its predecessors never had.

Everything else

In terms of other changes, the watch may remain physically identical to its predecessor, with new features unlikely except for a new chip and the redesigned watchOS 10.