Technologies

Apple Watch Series 9 Rumors: Will It Get a Blood Glucose Monitor?

The next Apple Watch is likely on the way. Here’s all the buzz about its release date, price and new features.

The iPhone 15 isn’t the only new device we’re expecting to see this year. The successor to the Apple Watch Series 8 is also likely to hit shelves in 2023. Apple is the king of smartwatches, and it’s been reigning supreme for years now despite a slow start. With 2023 underway, we’re looking forward to the next generation of the company’s iconic timepiece, the Apple Watch Series 9.

Over the years, Apple has made a steady stream of upgrades to the Apple Watch, adding an always-on display in 2019, blood oxygen monitoring in 2020, a bigger display in 2021 and temperature sensing in 2022.

This year, however, an incremental upgrade is more likely to materialize, considering Apple shook up its smartwatch lineup last year with the introduction of the luxurious Apple Watch Ultra and the second-gen Apple Watch SE. Currently, there are few rumors to run with for the Watch Series 9 (unlike for the iPhone 15 series), but we’ll be sure to update this article as we get a whiff of any credible buzz.

New sensors

The major new health feature expected to arrive on the Apple Watch is noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring, according to a Bloomberg report published in February. Currently, testing for blood glucose requires pricking the skin for blood. To test glucose levels without blood, Apple is said to be investigating an approach that involves using a silicon photonics chip for a measurement process called optical absorption spectroscopy. This technique shines light from a laser under the skin to determine the amount of glucose in the body, the report says. While major progress has reportedly been made in bringing this feature to life, the technology needs to be miniaturized to fit in a wearable device. If Apple pulls this off, it has the potential to make the Apple Watch essential in millions of diabetic households.

Apple Watch Series 8 with rainbow display on blue background — The Apple Watch Series 8 adds a temperature sensor. But how it performs over time is still TBD.

Scott Stein/CNET

MicroLED display?

The Apple Watch received an OLED screen years before the iPhone, and now the rumor mill suggests the Apple Watch could adopt another display upgrade before Apple’s smartphones. According to a Bloomberg report, MicroLED displays produced in house are set to appear on the next Apple Watch Ultra model, which could arrive in 2024 at the earliest. Previous rumors had pointed to 2023 as the year for a MicroLED Apple Watch. This represents yet another effort by Apple to reduce its reliance on external tech partners – in this case Samsung and LG – as it strives to build more components on its own.

Not to be confused with Mini-LED, MicroLED is touted as the next major leap forward for display tech from OLED. It gets its name from the millions of teeny tiny pixels that create the image directly. The main hurdle facing mass adoption is getting those pixels (and screens) small enough. MicroLED is brighter than OLED with similarly perfect black levels and no danger of burn-in.

Release date and price

Apple has released a new generation of the Apple Watch every year since its debut. This year, unless the company breaks tradition, the Apple Watch Series 9 will likely arrive in the fall of 2023 alongside the iPhone 15 series.

There are no leaks either on the starting price of the Apple Watch Series 9. However, the price has remained the same for several years now, at least in the US, and we expect prices to remain the same in 2023. The Apple Watch Series 8 starts at $399.

What we expect

We expect the Apple Watch Series 9 to have everything the Watch Series 8 has. Those features include an always-on display and various size options and finishes. We also expect the Watch Series 9 to receive an upgraded processor (probably the S9) and support for the next software version, WatchOS 10. Hopefully we’ll see an improvement in battery life too, which the Watch 8 didn’t receive.

Technologies

ChatGPT Has a New Language Translation Option for You

It’s like Google Translate, but ChatGPT.

OpenAI is putting Google Translate on notice: It now has a dedicated ChatGPT Translate webpage that can convert writing in 50 languages. At first glance it looks like a basic text-to-text translator that resembles Google Translate and other simple language translation tools on the web. But scrolling down the page reveals more about OpenAI’s ambitions for Translate.

You’ll come across a line that mentions adding voice or an image (for instance, a photo of a sign) to get a translation, although the page doesn’t indicate when those capabilities will become available.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

OpenAI’s breakout of Translate comes as its chief competitor, Google, is aggressively deploying AI to support features like live translations using headphones and new language learning tools. In 2024, Google added 110 languages to its translations.

Language translation is a hot field for artificial intelligence in general. At CES 2026 last week, for instance, CNET’s Macy Meyer tried out a phone-sized device and companion headphones that let her carry on a live conversation with a Polish speaker even though she doesn’t speak Polish herself.

The skills that ChatGPT Translate currently provides are things you can already do in the chatbot itself. In fact, once you translate text on the webpage, ChatGPT offers a set of sample prompts as one-click buttons for what you can do with that text, such as «translate this and make it sound more fluent» or «translate this as if you’re explaining it to a child.»

Selecting one of those prompts takes you to a ChatGPT conversation where options like image uploads are readily available.

OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Technologies

Don’t Miss the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 While It’s $400 Off

A Galaxy Z Fold 7 is $50 cheaper on Amazon than at Samsung right now.

Who knew that foldable phones would be so popular again? If you’re looking for a foldable iPhone, you’re gonna need to wait until later this year. If you’re on the hunt for the best foldable phone you can get your hands on right now, you need to take a look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Normally $2,000, right now at both Amazon and Samsung, you can get a decent amount off that hefty price tag.

Amazon is dropping the silver version of Samsung’s foldable phone to $1,600. That’s an impressive $400 discount. If you prefer to shop at Samsung directly, you’ll end up paying $50 more as all colors of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 are down to $1,650. Neither of these are record-low prices, but Amazon is close enough at just $43 more.

Samsung’s unique foldable phones had an awkward adolescence, but after getting her hands on the new lineup, CNET reviewer Abrar Al-Heet confirms that the latest Z Fold 7 «just feels right.» For one, it’s incredibly sleek at just 8.9mm thick when closed or 4.2mm thick when open, which is so thin you may even forget that it’s foldable.

Despite weighing just 215 grams, this foldable features some serious hardware. It has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch interior display with a fluid 120Hz refresh rate. It’s equipped with a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 12GB of RAM to support tons of helpful AI features and functions, and comes with Android 16 and Samsung One UI 8 right out of the box.

The camera system is also pretty impressive, boasting a 200-megapixel rear camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide shooting and a 10-megapixel front camera on both the cover and interior screens. Plus, it’s equipped with a 4,400-mAh battery for all-day use.

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Why this deal matters

With an unbelievably sleek design and cutting-edge hardware, the impressive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is our favorite foldable phone on the market. But it also comes with a staggering $2,000 price tag, and if you’re hoping to get your hands on one, this $400 discount is a way to save and help cushion the blow of its considerable cost. Just be sure to get your order in soon, as we doubt this deal will remain live for long.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 15, #949

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Jan. 15, #949

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a fun purple category that expects you to find two words hidden in four separate clue words. It’s tricky, but intriguing. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: For planting things.

Green group hint: Not going anywhere.

Blue group hint: Little pieces of something.

Purple group hint: Combine two names.