Overview
- Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at its September 9 event, and both are available to preorder now with store availability beginning September 18.
- The watches run on the new S11 chip and a redesigned Health Sensing System that measures heart rate every five seconds and gives higher‑frequency heart‑rate variability sampling for new Readiness and Health Age metrics.
- A suite called Audio Intelligence adds Live Rewind (15‑second transcripts), Siri Recap (ambient conversation summaries), Sound Recognition and faster Shazam, with Apple saying raw audio is processed in a hardware‑isolated Secure Enclave and deleted immediately.
- Live Rewind and Siri Recap will enter beta later in 2026 and require an Apple Intelligence–enabled iPhone 16 or newer, start in English and will not initially be available in the EU, with some server‑side requests subject to daily limits.
- Apple cites internal testing that it improved heart‑rate accuracy and battery life, but the company’s study and new listening features may prompt independent validation and regulatory attention as users decide whether continuous sensing and ambient audio fit their daily lives.