Apple will refresh its Series 12 and Ultra 4 watches with better specs, but not a design overhaul.
The upcoming refreshes to the Apple Watch won’t look much different from the existing models, but they will pack a lot more processing punch, according to the latest Bloomberg report. In the Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reported that Apple is in “late-stage testing” for the refreshed Apple Watch Series 12, in Wi-Fi only and in cellular, as well as the Ultra 4. Gurman added that the Apple Watch SE isn’t expected to see a refresh this year, considering the Apple Watch SE 3 was just released last year.
For anyone ready to upgrade their Apple Watch, Gurman reported that Apple doesn’t have a “major design overhaul” for this year’s models. Instead, Apple will be focusing on boosting performance through introducing health and fitness-tracking improvements, along with a bump in specs and speed thanks to new chips, according to Gurman. It’s still unclear what the performance upgrades will look like, but Gurman noted that the last major processor change for Apple Watches came in 2023 when the company introduced the S9 chip.
Anyone looking for a more dramatic cosmetic change to the Apple Watch may only have to wait a little longer. Gurman noted that there will be a “bigger rethink to the Apple Watch,” but not for another year or two. Along with that expected overhaul, Gurman reported that Apple is still working on its blood sugar detection feature. We’re still a long way out from a wearable being able to measure a user’s blood sugar non-invasively, but Apple’s blood sugar detection feature would line up perfectly with its own software, which it was reportedly working on back in 2024.
