A new video surfaced on the web Monday, ostensibly showing the Apple Watch booting up to the Clock face in a little more than sixty seconds, or twice as long as the iPhone’s average startup time of about thirty seconds, depending on the model.
The clip, first shared by 9to5Mac, was recorded inside an Apple Store by an enthusiast and should be taken with a grain of salt because it shows an in-store unit which runs demo software that may or may not be exactly the same as the actual shipping Watch OS.
Here it is.
If anything, the clip gives us a solid indication of the power of Apple’s in-house designed chip for the Watch, called the S1, that combines many subsystems onto a single chip.
A report back in January claimed the S1 processor inside the Apple Watch would bring A5-like performance to the device, helping refresh its display at a silky smooth sixty frames per second. Of course, we won’t know for sure until first Watches land in customers’ hands this Friday, at which point we expect iFixit’s repair experts to perform their ritual teardown dance.
It’s a bit strange that booting the Watch would take longer than starting up the iPhone 4s, which also runs the A5 chip. The difference in boot times between A5-driven iPhones and Apple’s wearable gizmo might indicate that the S1 inside the Watch is running at a lower clock frequency to help extend the battery life.
Another thing to consider: the Watches showcased in Apple Stores are running demo software, likely affecting boot times.
Source: 9to5Mac