Apple’s ‚Surprise and Shine‘ event unveiled long-awaited devices including the iPhone 18 Pro and the long-anticipated iPhone Duo, but Apple Watches also had their time in the spotlight.
The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are the latest models to join Apple’s family of wearables, and both pack quite a punch on the features- and health-tracking front, thanks to the combination of the new Health Sensing System and deeper Apple Intelligence integration.
Of course every new Apple Watch offers improvements over the previous generation — the question is always whether it offers enough to make it worth the upgrade. To help you decide, I’ve compared the new Apple Watch Series 12 against its predecessor, the Apple Watch Series 11, so you can see all the changes side-by-side.
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Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Series 11: Specifications
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Apple Watch Series 11 |
Apple Watch Series 12 |
|---|---|---|
|
Price |
From $399 / £369 / AU$679 |
From $399 / $369 / AU$649 |
|
Dimensions |
42mm x 36mm x 9.7mm (42mm), 46mm x 39mm x 9.7mm (46mm) |
42mm x 37mm x 9.7mm (42mm), 46mm x 40mm x 9.7mm (46mm) |
|
Weight |
30.3g (42mm); 37.8g (46mm) |
32.2g (42mm); 39.5g (46mm) |
|
Case/Bezel |
Aluminum with a metal back or Titanium (100% recycled) |
Aluminum, Titanium or Ceramic |
|
Display |
Always-on Retina LTPO3 display Wide-angle OLED at 374 by 446 (42mm) 416 by 496 (46mm). Ion-X scratch-resistant |
Always‑On Retina display with wide‑angle OLEDs and LTPO3 at 374 by 446 (42mm) 416 by 496 (46mm) |
|
GPS |
L1 GPS, GNSS, Galileo, and BeiDou |
Precision L1 GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou) |
|
Battery Life |
24 hours, 38 hours in Low Power Mode |
24 hours, 38 hours in Low Power Mode |
|
Connection |
Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, second-generation ultra-wideband chip, and 5G (Optional) |
Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, Second‑generation Ultra Wideband chip, and 5G (optional) |
|
Water Resistance |
IP6X |
IP6X |
Design
We weren’t expecting a visual overhaul with the Apple Watch Series 12, and nor did we get one.
The new model packs the same digital crown and side button that you’ll find on most Apple Watch models, and size-wise the only difference is that the Series 12 is 1mm wider; if you can spot that in real life, you have sharper eyes than I do.
However, there are some design changes worth talking about. The key one is that as well as being available in Aluminium and Titanium, as the Watch 11 is, there’s also now a Ceramic version — the first since the Series 5.
The Ceramic Watch 12 comes in two colors, Pearl White and Night Blue, while the Aluminum model is available in Space Gray, Black, Light Gold and the stunning new Dark Bronze shade, perfect for both casual and smart wear. The Titanium versions come in Radiant Gold and Natural.
Sticking with the Apple Watch 11? Then your choices are between Space Gray, Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver for Aluminum, and Slate, Gold, and Natural Polished in Titanium. And to reiterate, there is no Ceramic Watch 11 — so if you want that, you’ll need the new model.
Features
Minor design changes aside, the key reasons to upgrade to the Apple Watch 12 relate to its health-tracking smarts.
Many of these stem from its new S11 chip. Apple — inevitably — describes this as its „most powerful wearable chip“, and it powers the new Health Sensing System and Audio Intelligence features.
Let’s start with the Health Sensing System, the redesign of the previous generation’s LED heart rate sensor array. The Series 12’s electrode surface area is now bigger, allowing for better skin contact for ECG tracking. It also packs new optical-sensing photo diodes to capture light more efficiently, while its brighter green LEDs support accurate HR in motion. In short, it’s the most accurate Apple Watch ever, tied with its sibling the Apple Watch Ultra 4.
It records heart rate continuously, up to every five seconds, and heart rate variability (a key part of sleep tracking and recovery metrics) up to every five minutes. That’s a massive 24x more frequently than it did before, ensuring peak accuracy (in theory).
However one of the new standout features is the new Readiness Score, which has finally arrived on Apple Watch. Every other health wearable seems to have one, and Apple’s Readiness Score will combine your rings, vitals and other health metrics into a single actionable, frequently updated number.
There are also a significant redesign of the Health app which thrusts Apple Intelligence to the front of the experience. Now, Apple Watch lets you explore health profiles while offering personalized guidance thanks to Apple Intelligence. Once the Health app gets a sense of your health habits, it will tweak its recommendations so that they align with your health levels and data.
Health Age is another new feature that aligns your metrics and fitness level with your actual age, similar to features on Whoop and Garmin.
The Series 12 is packing tons of new fitness features, but Apple Intelligence — or at least, audio intelligence — is brand new and unrelated to health.
Audio Intelligence is comprised of four features. The Series 12 can listen out for sounds, be that a doorbell, traffic, or oncoming pedestrians, and will send alerts right to your watch face — which is ideal for users who are hard of hearing. You can also Shazam songs from your wrist.
Slightly more suspect are Live Rewind and Siri Recaps. Live Rewind allows you to go back 15 seconds to remember parts of a conversation. Didn’t catch what the waiter said was new on the menu? Just double-press the digital crown and your watch will generate a transcript for you to read. Siri Recaps is a feature that, when active, listens constantly in the background, providing you with a summary of your day in the evening, including conversations.
We’ve covered these two features in more detail here, including Apple’s privacy assurances and why the Cupertino giant might not be reading the room on this feature, as surveillance-capable wearables are receiving a lot of pushback at the moment.
You can pre-order the Apple Watch Series 12 now, which will be available starting September 18.
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