Garmin Forerunner 970 / Apple Watch Series 9 (45 mm, GPS, aluminium)

Garmin Forerunner 970: 47 mm · 010-02969-xx (colour options)

Apple Watch Series 9 (45 mm, GPS, aluminium): 45 mm aluminium case, GPS model; Pink, Midnight, Starlight, Silver and (PRODUCT)RED. The 41 mm, GPS + Cellular and stainless steel (sapphire crystal) versions differ in size and materials.

Specification	Garmin Forerunner 970	Apple Watch Series 9 (45 mm, GPS, aluminium)
Release year	2025	2023
Announcement and sale	Announced 15 May 2025; on Garmin.com from 21 May 2025 Garmin	—
Part numbers	010-02969-00, 010-02969-01, 010-02969-02 The numbers correspond to colour options; the US page does not map each number to a colour. The page image belongs to 010-02969-01, Whitestone case with Whitestone/Amp Yellow band. Garmin	—
Case	47 mm; titanium bezel Garmin	—
Lens	Sapphire crystal The Forerunner 965 used Gorilla Glass 3 DX; sapphire is more scratch-resistant. Garmin	—
Display	AMOLED touchscreen; five-button design Garmin calls it its brightest AMOLED yet but publishes no nit figure. Touch and buttons can be used together. Garmin	Always-On Retina LTPO OLED; up to 2000 nits, as low as 1 nit; 326 ppi LTPO is a panel technology that can lower the refresh rate dramatically, letting the display stay dimly on when the wrist is down. The 1-nit minimum avoids glare in a dark room. Apple
Flashlight	Built-in LED flashlight; adjustable brightness, strobe and red light Red light disturbs night vision less in the dark. Garmin	—
Speaker and microphone	Built-in; call handling with a compatible phone and voice commands Garmin	—
Health sensors	Wrist-based heart rate (PPG); ECG app; skin temperature The ECG app screens for signs of atrial fibrillation; it is for adults 22 and over and is not available in every region. Garmin	Electrical heart sensor, third-generation optical heart sensor, temperature sensing The electrical sensor is for ECG recordings; the optical sensor measures pulse with light. Temperature sensing tracks overnight changes in wrist temperature. Apple
Running metrics	Running tolerance; running economy and step speed loss (with HRM 600) Running tolerance suggests a weekly maximum distance. Running economy and step speed loss need the separately sold HRM 600 chest strap. Garmin	—
Battery type	Rechargeable built-in lithium-ion Garmin	—
Battery (smartwatch)	Up to 15 days With activity tracking, notifications and wrist heart rate; Garmin notes active features affect the result. Garmin	—
Battery (GNSS)	GPS only 26 hours; Auto Select 23 hours; All systems + multi-band 21 hours With music the figures are 14, 13 and 12 hours. Multi-band uses several satellite frequencies to improve accuracy in cities and valleys at the cost of more power. Garmin	—
Storage	Up to 32 GB media storage Used for music and maps; this is not RAM. Garmin	64 GB Apple
Water rating	Swim, 5 ATM Withstands pressure equivalent to 50 m depth; it is not a dive watch. Garmin	—
Operating temperature	-20 °C to 60 °C; charging 0–45 °C Garmin	—
Wireless frequencies	2.4 GHz (17 dBm maximum); 13.56 MHz NFC 13.56 MHz is the NFC band used for contactless payments. Garmin	—
Maps	Built-in maps Garmin	—
Chip	—	S9 SiP; 64-bit dual-core processor, 4-core Neural Engine Apple
Controls	—	Digital Crown with haptic feedback, side button, double tap gesture Double tap lets you answer notifications or calls by tapping the thumb and index finger of the watch hand together twice, without touching the screen. Apple
Blood Oxygen (US)	—	On watches sold in the US without the feature, a redesigned version arrives with iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1; the reading is calculated on iPhone The watch collects sensor data, the paired iPhone calculates the value and shows it in the Health app. Watches bought outside the US are not affected. Apple
Other sensors	—	Compass, always-on altimeter, high-g accelerometer, high dynamic range gyroscope, ambient light sensor Apple
Location	—	L1 GPS, GNSS, Galileo and BeiDou It is a single-frequency (L1) receiver; drift in cities can be more likely than with dual-frequency watches. Apple
Wireless	—	Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Bluetooth 5.3, second-generation Ultra Wideband Ultra Wideband lets you locate an iPhone 15-family phone with Precision Finding showing direction and distance; availability varies by region. Apple
Battery and charging	—	Up to 18 hours normal use, up to 36 hours in Low Power Mode; fast charge to about 80% in 45 minutes Fast charging requires Apple’s fast-charging cable and a suitable adapter. Apple
Durability	—	50 m water resistant (ISO 22810:2010); IP6X dust resistant; Ion-X front glass Suitable for swimming. Ion-X is the strengthened glass used on aluminium cases; steel cases use sapphire crystal. Apple
Size and weight	—	45 × 38 × 10.7 mm; 38.7 g; fits 140–245 mm wrists Apple
Compatibility	—	iPhone XS or later with iOS 17 or later It cannot be used with Android phones. Apple