Apple Watch Series 2: GPS, new brighter display, more powerful and SWIMPROOF!

Apple Watch Series 2 is here and has a UK price from £369 and a UK release date of 16 September - the same day as the iPhone 7 goes on sale.

Naturally Apple Watch Series 2 will have watchOS 3 - check out our guide to all the new watchOS 3 features.

It has GPS with fitness tracking, new brighter display, it's 50 per cent more powerful (with a dual-core processor) and it's SWIMPROOF! This is a game-changer as we hate taking ours off in the shower.

Apple has included the GPS chip so you can run without your iPhone should you wish to. Apple Watch is now a proper fitness watch.

Apple Watch Series 2 records distance, pace and speed for workouts such as walking, running or cycling. You're able to record runs and then send a map to your iPhone. The demo had slow and fast colors to indicate your speed. For swimmers, Apple developed all-new algorithms after hundreds of hours of research for two new workout options, pool and open water.

A new GPU has been added, which delivers up to two-times-greater graphics performance.

There's also a new second-generation display with 1000nits of brightness so it can be read in in direct sunlight.

There are also new Apple Watch Hermès styles and colours including the Double Buckle Cuff in Swift and Epsom calfskin leather. Pretty darn trendy. The 38 mm Single Tour is £1,149; 42 mm Single Tour is £1,199; 38 mm Double Tour is $1299 (US); 42 mm Single Tour Deployment Buckle is £1,399; and 38 mm Double Buckle Cuff is £1,549.

There'll be a new finish which is ceramic. Aluminum, stainless steel and gold willstill be available.

Apple Watch Series 1 (that's the original Apple Watch) will be available in gold, rose gold, silver or space grey aluminium cases paired with a Sport Band and starts at £269.

Apple Watch Series 2 will be available in gold, rose gold, silver or space grey aluminium, or silver or space black stainless steel cases paired with a wide variety of bands starting at £369; and the new ceramic Apple Watch Edition starts at £1,249.

Apple Watch Nike+ is a special Apple Watch Series 2 specifically designed for runners. There's a silicon band and, like the Hermes Edition, special watch faces with easy access to the running app.

Apple Watch Nike+ also includes exclusive Siri commands and deep integration with the new Nike+ Run Club app which is designed to give you the motivation to go for a run. There are also coaching plans that adapt to your schedule and progress, and guidance from coaches and athletes.

Apple Watch 2 will be available on 16 September, with pre-orders available on 9 September.

Apple Watch Nike+ Edition will be available from late October.

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Here's everything we thought we knew up to this point.

The Apple Watch was the highest-profile gadget launch of 2015 - and was T3's own Gadget of the Year. But more than a year after it first went on sale across the world, thoughts are turning towards what Apple might be planning as an encore.

So what can we expect from the new Apple Watch 2?

At times the Apple Watch felt very much like a first-generation device - one that the company was still working out the kinks from - and we're now hearing plenty of rumours about what the next generation edition might have in store.

As you might expect, there's been no official word from Apple about a potential Apple Watch 2 - though we might find out more at this week's Apple Event. Not that that stops us from speculating, of course...

What is the Apple Watch 2?

As the name suggests, it's the follow-up to last year's original Apple Watch, duh...

Although we're not sure if Apple will bother added the numeral to the end - it does with its iPhones but doesn't with other devices like the Apple TV.

Recent rumours are suggesting this will be the Apple Watch S, an incremental update, rather than a brand new, redesigned Apple Watch 2.

Of course, there's the software upgrade route too, and Apple has already pushed out several watchOS updates to users as well as making more comprehensive tools available to developers - watchOS 3 is arriving for the original Apple Watch in August.

• Apple watchOS 3: has Apple nailed it this time?

When will we see it?

We're also not sure whether Apple wants to push out a new version of the smartwatch as early as 2016, which would follow the strategy it uses for its phones and tablets - do people want to upgrade their watch every year?

If it is arriving before Christmas, most rumours point to September 2016 as the time for the second edition to arrive. We didn't see it appear at Apple's March event (although the original timepiece got a price drop) or at WWDC 2016 and there's plenty of talk that the device will finally show up at the launch event for the iPhone 7 handsets.

As well as confirming that date, the most recent insider gossip points towards the Apple Watch being up to 40 percent thinner than its predecessor. Hopefully it won't need new Apple Watch bands as there are plenty of existing ones.

What do we think we know about it?

Most of what we think we know about the Apple Watch 2 has come from 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman: his predictions are usually on the money so it's worth paying attention to what he has to say.

- Gurman thinks a FaceTime video camera will be one of the Watch 2's upgrades, enabling you to make video and audio calls right from your wrist.

There's also talk of improved Wi-Fi capabilities for the Apple Watch 2, reducing its dependency on the iPhone and meaning you could download iMessage texts, emails and other types of content straight from the web without having to go through a connected handset first.

- Apple will apparently introduce a new Find My Watch feature as well, though it will use Wi-Fi triangulation rather than GPS to locate your wearable.

- Gurman says Apple will be "keeping, or slightly improving" the wearable's battery life with the next edition - apparently the company has done some market research and found that most people are happy having to charge their watches every night.

If you think differently, don't hold your breath for any huge battery life improvements in the near future, although one report says the screen is going to be a little thinner to make room for a slightly larger battery. Other than that, no major design changes are expected.

- Of course Apple Watch 2 will also arrive with watchOS 3 on board.

- New models, or at least new straps, are likely to be on the cards as well (Apple recently unveiled some new straps at the same time as launching the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro).

- Another recent rumour suggests a more advanced display is on the cards, which might push the price up as well.

Why it's likely to happen

As massively successful as Apple is, the company is still under pressure from its shareholders to stay on the top of its game - and that makes a swift follow-up to the 2015 Apple Watch more likely.

If it becomes clear that only a small percentage of iPhone owners have invested in a matching smartwatch then Apple might use a 2.0 release this year to tempt more of those users into a purchase.

In other words, an Apple Watch 2 launch might snag some of the people who are sat on the fence about the new device, while potentially upsetting Apple fans who've already shelled out £8,000 or more on a wearable that has very quickly gone out of date.

Interestingly, 9to5Mac says new editions at different price points are also being mooted to appeal to as many people as possible.

A new launch around 18 months after the first one is Apple's best chance of pulling in more buyers, though existing users are unlikely to upgrade after such a short timeframe.

Why it's not likely to happen

It seems a safe bet than Apple will eventually release a Watch 2, because even if sales of the first one turn out to be uninspiring, they won't give up after a single attempt.

The question is, when will the next one appear? We've already mentioned that users are unlikely to start upgrading their watches as often as their phones, and that may delay a new device.

Now that the much improved watchOS 3 has arrived, developers can take advantage of the Taptic Engine, Digital Crown, accelerometer, heart rate sensor, speaker and microphone. App code has to run on the watch itself, improving response times, and there are new watch faces too: all of this might be enough of an upgrade for existing users for Apple to push back a new hardware launch.

What makes Apple's intentions so hard to predict is the fact that this is a completely new product category - we're still not really sure how users are taking to smartwatches or how often they want to upgrade them (LG has been busiest when it comes to pushing out Android Wear watches, but they're not strictly speaking upgrades).

• Liked this? Why not read our guide to the iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Mini, or Apple's rivals in 2016