For techies, that means easier to use apps on the watch. For those just looking for the basics, a slightly bigger display means punchier pictures and text. Whether these improvements are enough to make the Series 7 smartwatch a must-have for you depends on your needs.

What’s new with Apple Watch?

The new Retina display on the Apple Watch Series 7 is the major upgrade this time around.

The display’s border is also 40 per cent thinner than on the Series 6, allowing your watch face or app to encompass that space.

Apple boasts that the display is also 70 per cent brighter indoors than its previous model, making it easier to read.

With a larger display, I found the password function’s slightly larger keys easier to tap accurately. In the gym and on walks, I could more easily read the various data displayed: calories, heart rate, distance.

Some new watch faces make use of this additional real estate: the Modular Duo face, a one-stop data hub which can include time and other readouts such as temperature, weather forecast, market trends, your activity, and heart rate; and the Contour face, with numbers pushed to the edge of the display – the appropriate hour grows as it approaches.

In addition to those two Series 7 exclusive watch faces, there’s a new World Time face for all watches capable of running Watch OS showing all the 24 time zones and other information you can customise.

The latest watch is tougher, too, Apple says, with a front crystal that’s 50 per cent thicker at its peak for better resistance to cracks, and is the first to be certified at the highest level of dust resistance. The watch is also rated for water resistance to 50 metres.

The new model comes with a fast charge USB-C cable, which charges the Series 7 watch 33 per cent faster than the previous model.

Series 7 touts its all-day battery, which holds a charge for 18 hours. Should you want to wear the watch while you sleep, you can charge it for eight minutes before you lie down to get you through the night.

You can opt for either the aluminium casing or the pricier stainless steel (US$699 and up) and titanium models (US$799 and up).

What else can Apple Watch Series 7 do?

The sensors – just as those in the Apple Watch Series 6 – will track your heart rate and blood oxygen levels, as well as take an electrocardiogram, which measures heart activity and can indicate whether you might have a low, high or irregular heart rhythm.

Wondering if you are getting enough sleep? The watch will track that, too, along with other measurements as you slumber.

You can now use a full keyboard on the Apple Watch and it has a new Scribble screen so you can draw letters for your text.

The watch also can detect if you have fallen thanks to its built-in accelerometer and gyroscope (fall detection is turned on automatically in users 55 or older). Should you fall, the watch will give you a one-touch option to call an ambulance. If you have fallen and don’t move for 60 seconds, an emergency call will be made automatically and your emergency contacts notified.

With last month’s release of Watch OS 8 (available for Apple Watch Series 3 and later), fall detection for cyclists and exercisers has been added, too.

Do you need the new Series 7 Watch?

If fitness is a big part of your life, a smartwatch can help with that: tracking heart rates, distances and times for your workouts.

However, if you own an Apple Watch released in the last three years – and are happy with it – there’s no pressure to upgrade now. (For the health features such as blood oxygen, ECG and fall detection, you need an Apple Watch Series 4, released in 2018, or newer.)

But if a new, larger display piques your interest, by all means consider it.

Through the holiday season, the Apple Watch Series 7 is likely to be the bestseller, says Neil Mawston, executive director for the research firm’s global wireless practice.

“A bigger screen, faster charging, more durable body, new case colours, and new wellness apps will make Apple Watch 7 a compelling Christmas gift for many,” he said.

But if you really want one, better order as soon as you can, Mawston says: “Component shortages, electricity shortages, shipping bottlenecks, and the spectre of unforeseen Covid-19 variants could make production of Watch 7 and other models uncertain or patchy at times.”