The possibility of a return to a ceramic Apple Watch body is growing, after a serial leaker posted about its arrival in the Series 12 model.
Apple is anticipated to bring out the Apple Watch Series 12 this fall, but it’s not expected to be a major upgrade or redesign. That said, there are rumors of a revival of a specific material.
In an August 19 post to X, leaker Kosutami was brief, writing “Hell yeah, Ceramic Apple Watch is back. We’ll see it at Series 12.”
The leaker doesn’t add anything new to the conversation, but the utterance does help bolster existing rumors about it.
In his August 9 newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman wrote about the return of ceramic to the Apple Watch. A return that could happen in 2026, with the Apple Watch Series 12.
It was the first instance of that particular rumor for the upcoming generation of wearables.
Bringing ceramic back
Ceramic was introduced with the Apple Watch Edition Series 2, a premium variant of the Apple Watch, in white. The Apple Watch Edition 3 included a Gray ceramic case option alongside the white.
The Edition series was missing for the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018, but returned for the Apple Watch Edition Series 5 one year later. It went missing again for the Series 6, and hasn’t been used by Apple since.
Kosutami has a relatively mixed record as a leaker when it comes to accuracy, and it’s not clear if this is a “me too” posting after the initial rumor earlier in August. However, the initial salvo from Gurman helps make the rumor seem more probable than if Kosutami posted alone.
If it ships this fall, you can expect it to be a very expensive purchase.
For reference, the Apple Watch Series 5 cost $399 or $429 depending on the size, with Stainless Steel and Titanium cases starting from $699 and $799 respectively at launch. By contrast, Ceramic at the time started at $1,299.
