Sensors

The main addition to the Apple Watch Series 5 sensor array is a new compass that will augment the built-in GPS to provide accurate heading information, alongside your latitude, longitude, and elevation, the last of which is determined by the barometric sensor that Apple added a few years ago. It’s a nice touch, but not what we’d call a major upgrade unless you’re a serious outdoor enthusiast, since it simply augments the existing GPS, which can already provide directional information whenever you’re actually moving.

The health and motion sensors otherwise remain the same, however, which is to say that they’re nice upgrades over the Series 3 — a better accelerometer, and of course the electrical heart sensor that supports the ECG app — but otherwise no different from last year’s Series 4.