Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 expected this week: faster chips, health upgrades

Apple is widely expected to show off the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at its September 9 event, alongside the new iPhones, if recent leaks and reports hold up. The headline changes are said to be faster chips, new health features, and a round of improvements tied to watchOS 27.

Assuming those leaks are right, this looks less like a big visual reset and more like the kind of update current Apple Watch owners actually notice day to day: moving past the S10 chip to an S11 or S12 package, snappier apps, better battery efficiency, a smarter Siri, a new Readiness app, and more detailed strength tracking that covers sets, reps, and weight.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 could end up being the more interesting of the two on the hardware side, with reports pointing to a lot more sensors and an upgraded optical heart-rate sensor. There’s also a chance it gets a new high-blood-pressure alert system if FDA review wraps up in time, building on the hypertension notifications Apple added in watchOS 26.

As for the design, the rumors are all over the place. Still, you probably shouldn’t go into this week expecting a dramatically different watch, even with talk of a possible Apple Watch Ultra 4 redesign, 128GB of storage, the return of a ceramic option, and Touch ID now seeming less and less likely.

If you already wear an Apple Watch, those performance and health upgrades may be enough to make the new models worth picking up , even if they don’t look very different at a glance.

Apple should fill in the rest on September 9. If the reports are right, both watches will then roll out through the company’s usual retail channels.