Business
(VIDEO) Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 to Get Only Minor Upgrades, Report Says Ahead of Sept Launch
KEY POINTS
Excellent, comprehensive corroboration. Writing the article now.104 characters — good fit. Now writing the full article.## Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 to Get Only Minor Upgrades This Year, Report Says Ahead of Sept Launch
Apple’s next generation of smartwatches will bring only modest, incremental upgrades this year, with the most noticeable change likely to be the return of a ceramic case option rather than any significant redesign, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman published Sunday.
Gurman, who has closely tracked Apple’s product plans for years, reiterated in his report that the upcoming Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 will receive what he described as “fairly minor upgrades,” a characterization he had previously offered earlier this month. The devices are expected to be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple’s first foldable iPhone at the company’s Sept. 9 event.
According to Gurman, Apple has been testing both white and dark gray ceramic case configurations for the Apple Watch Series 12, a material last offered on the high-end Apple Watch Series 3 back in 2017. Ceramic has a longer history in Apple’s smartwatch lineup dating back even further, with the company first introducing a ceramic Apple Watch Edition alongside the Series 2 in September 2016. That original ceramic model, made from a compressed zirconia and alumina powder polished with a diamond slurry and marketed as being four times as hard as stainless steel, replaced Apple’s original gold Edition watch and brought the line’s price down from several thousand dollars to a comparatively modest 1,249 dollars. Apple brought the white ceramic finish back again for the Series 5 in 2019, alongside a newly introduced titanium option, before discontinuing the ceramic material entirely when the Series 6 launched in 2020. It has remained absent from Apple’s lineup for six years since, becoming a sought-after finish among collectors on the resale market in the meantime.
Beyond the ceramic option, Gurman reported that Apple plans to launch numerous new band colors and configurations alongside this year’s watches. He also described a new feature Apple is reportedly testing that would have the Watch’s heart-rate sensor continuously collect data, rather than measuring at random intervals or only during exercise, alongside potential updates to Apple’s fitness and health software aimed at surfacing additional wellness-related metrics.
On the performance side, multiple outlets covering Gurman’s reporting, including MacRumors and MacObserver, said this year’s watches are expected to finally move beyond the S10 chip found in the current Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3, which itself was effectively unchanged from the S9 chip Apple introduced back in 2023. A new chip, widely expected to be called the S11, would mark the first meaningful performance improvement for Apple’s smartwatch lineup in several years, according to MacRumors’ analysis of the report.
Gurman also addressed rumors that had circulated earlier this year suggesting the Apple Watch Series 12 might introduce Touch ID or a redesigned band featuring an embedded health sensor. He said he does not expect either feature to materialize this year, telling readers he anticipates no major design changes compared with the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models. That assessment effectively rules out one of the more ambitious rumors that had generated attention earlier in the year, given that a fingerprint-based unlocking system would likely require more significant internal hardware changes than Apple appears to be planning for this generation.
According to Gurman’s earlier reporting in his “Power On” newsletter, cited by MacRumors, a more substantial redesign of the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra lines remains in development, with the ceramic case’s return positioned as either this year’s headline change or one that could instead be held back until 2027, alongside that broader redesign effort.
The timing of this week’s report, arriving just over a week before Apple’s official Sept. 9 unveiling, effectively closes the window for any last-minute surprises regarding this year’s Apple Watch lineup. As Mashable’s Stan Schroeder noted in his coverage of the report, surprises are unlikely this late in Apple’s product development cycle, meaning consumers should expect the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 to closely resemble their immediate predecessors in overall appearance when they are formally introduced alongside the rest of Apple’s fall lineup next month.
Apple’s next generation of smartwatches will bring only modest, incremental upgrades this year, with the most noticeable change likely to be the return of a ceramic case option rather than any significant redesign, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman published Sunday.
Gurman, who has closely tracked Apple’s product plans for years, reiterated in his report that the upcoming Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 will receive what he described as “fairly minor upgrades,” a characterization he had previously offered earlier this month. The devices are expected to be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple’s first foldable iPhone at the company’s Sept. 9 event.
According to Gurman, Apple has been testing both white and dark gray ceramic case configurations for the Apple Watch Series 12, a material last offered on the high-end Apple Watch Series 3 back in 2017. Ceramic has a longer history in Apple’s smartwatch lineup dating back even further, with the company first introducing a ceramic Apple Watch Edition alongside the Series 2 in September 2016. That original ceramic model, made from a compressed zirconia and alumina powder polished with a diamond slurry and marketed as being four times as hard as stainless steel, replaced Apple’s original gold Edition watch and brought the line’s price down from several thousand dollars to a comparatively modest 1,249 dollars. Apple brought the white ceramic finish back again for the Series 5 in 2019, alongside a newly introduced titanium option, before discontinuing the ceramic material entirely when the Series 6 launched in 2020. It has remained absent from Apple’s lineup for six years since, becoming a sought-after finish among collectors on the resale market in the meantime.
Beyond the ceramic option, Gurman reported that Apple plans to launch numerous new band colors and configurations alongside this year’s watches. He also described a new feature Apple is reportedly testing that would have the Watch’s heart-rate sensor continuously collect data, rather than measuring at random intervals or only during exercise, alongside potential updates to Apple’s fitness and health software aimed at surfacing additional wellness-related metrics.
On the performance side, multiple outlets covering Gurman’s reporting, including MacRumors and MacObserver, said this year’s watches are expected to finally move beyond the S10 chip found in the current Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3, which itself was effectively unchanged from the S9 chip Apple introduced back in 2023. A new chip, widely expected to be called the S11, would mark the first meaningful performance improvement for Apple’s smartwatch lineup in several years, according to MacRumors’ analysis of the report.
Gurman also addressed rumors that had circulated earlier this year suggesting the Apple Watch Series 12 might introduce Touch ID or a redesigned band featuring an embedded health sensor. He said he does not expect either feature to materialize this year, telling readers he anticipates no major design changes compared with the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models. That assessment effectively rules out one of the more ambitious rumors that had generated attention earlier in the year, given that a fingerprint-based unlocking system would likely require more significant internal hardware changes than Apple appears to be planning for this generation.
According to Gurman’s earlier reporting in his “Power On” newsletter, cited by MacRumors, a more substantial redesign of the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra lines remains in development, with the ceramic case’s return positioned as either this year’s headline change or one that could instead be held back until 2027, alongside that broader redesign effort.
The timing of this week’s report, arriving just over a week before Apple’s official Sept. 9 unveiling, effectively closes the window for any last-minute surprises regarding this year’s Apple Watch lineup. As Mashable’s Stan Schroeder noted in his coverage of the report, surprises are unlikely this late in Apple’s product development cycle, meaning consumers should expect the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 to closely resemble their immediate predecessors in overall appearance when they are formally introduced alongside the rest of Apple’s fall lineup next month.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login