Apple Watch Series 12 is built from 40 percent recycled material overall, with 100 percent recycled aluminum and titanium in its cases, according to Apple’s own figures, and ships in 100 percent fiber-based packaging. Apple Watch Series 12 reaches stores Friday, September 18. Apple Watch Series 12's aluminum and titanium cases are both listed as…
Apple Watch
Apple Watch Series 12 Without an iPhone Nearby: What watchOS 27 Newly Allows
Apple Watch Series 12 still needs an iPhone to get started, but Apple’s own descriptions of watchOS 27 add two features this year that work without one nearby: Workout Buddy over Wi-Fi or cellular, and setup of a child’s watch through Apple Watch For Your Kids. Apple Watch Series 12 reaches stores Friday, September 18,…
Apple Watch Series 12's Display: LTPO3, 2000 Nits and What Always-On Actually Shows
Apple Watch Series 12 uses what Apple’s tech specs page calls an Always-On Retina display with wide-angle OLEDs and LTPO3, refreshing down to 1Hz, with a peak brightness of 2000 nits and a minimum brightness of 1 nit. Those are the same peak and minimum brightness figures Apple published for Series 11 last year, which…
Apple Watch Series 12's Depth Gauge Is Back: 6 Meters, a Water Temperature Sensor and What 50 Meters Still Means
Apple Watch Series 12 ships with a depth gauge rated to 6 meters and a water temperature sensor, according to Apple’s tech specs page, sitting inside the same 50-meter water resistance rating the watch has carried for three generations. Apple Watch Series 12 reaches stores Friday, September 18, alongside Apple Watch Ultra 4 and iPhone…
iPhone 18 Pro and Apple Watch in the EU: Apple's Software Gap Is Wider Than Siri AI Alone
Apple’s own pages carve the European Union out of three separate pieces of its new software this fall, not one. Siri AI is the loudest of the three, but a support document Apple published alongside Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 extends a version of the same carve-out to the Watch, and a footnote…
Apple Watch Series 9 and watchOS 27: Which New Health Features Actually Arrive
watchOS 27 will install on an Apple Watch Series 9, but the free update does not hand that watch the new Health Sensing System Apple announced alongside Series 12 and Ultra 4. Apple publishes a list of what watchOS 27 brings to already-owned watches, and the five-second heart rate sampling, the rebuilt HRV measurements and…
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: Five Questions Apple's Pages Still Do Not Answer
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 arrived with a genuinely new Health Sensing System and an S11 chip, but several of the most-repeated questions buyers are asking still have no answer on any Apple page. Here are five gaps that keep coming up, and what would actually need to happen for each to close.…
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 FAQ: The Most-Asked Questions, Answered From Apple's Pages
Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799, and Apple says both reach store shelves on Friday, September 18. Apple’s own Series 12 product pages and Ultra 4 specification pages answer most of what buyers are typing into search boxes this week, though on a few points Apple…
watchOS 27 Has No Apple Intelligence Advanced Tier: Every Eligible Watch Gets the Same Features
watchOS 27 ships as a free update on Monday, September 14, 2026, alongside iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate and visionOS 27. Each of those four other operating systems has a second, higher tier of Apple Intelligence, gated by a newer chip and, on iPad and Mac, by more memory. Apple has not…
Your Apple Watch Will Not Get watchOS 27: What Changes on Monday, and What Does Not
If your Apple Watch is a Series 8 or older, an Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) or the original Apple Watch Ultra, Monday brings you nothing. Those five models ran watchOS 26 and none of them appears on Apple’s watchOS 27 list, which stops at Series 9, SE 3 and Ultra 2. Series 12 ships…
iOS 27 First, Then watchOS 27: The Update Order for Monday, and Where Apple TV Fits
There is a fixed order to Monday’s updates, and Apple publishes it in a footnote rather than an instruction. watchOS 27 requires a paired iPhone already running iOS 27, so the phone goes first and the watch cannot go at all until it does. watchOS 27 installs only after the paired iPhone is on iOS…
watchOS 27's Four Off-Stage Features: Find My, Wallet Passes, Call Context and Kids' Setup
watchOS 27 arrives free on Monday, September 14, and four of its changes were never mentioned on stage: a single Find My app, Wallet passes made by scanning a plastic membership card, Call Context on your wrist, and a setup path for a child’s Apple Watch. None of the four needs an Apple Watch Series…
Apple Watch Checkout: The Three Choices You Cannot Change Later, and the One You Can
Ordering an Apple Watch commits you to three things you cannot change afterwards, and one you can change any time. Case size, case material and cellular are fixed at purchase. The band is not, and it is the only one of the four Apple has left unpriced. Ceramic Series 12 cases measure 43mm and 47mm…
Apple Watch Prices Before September 18: The Three Numbers Apple Publishes, and Nine It Does Not
Every Apple Watch price Apple has published for this launch fits in three figures: From $249 for SE 3, From $399 for Series 12 and From $799 for Ultra 4. There is no fourth number, and no per-configuration list anywhere on Apple’s site. Ceramic returns on Series 12 in pearl white and night blue, at…
Buying an Apple Watch Apple No Longer Sells: Which Models Still Get watchOS 27 on Monday
Apple now sells three watches, and every other model it has released is off the store. The useful part for anyone shopping outside Apple is that watchOS 27 supports eight models, five more than Apple stocks, so a discontinued Apple Watch can still take Monday’s free update. Series 12 is one of only three watches…
Apple Watch SE 3 Is Still $249: What Apple's Only Entry Watch Includes, and the Two Sensors It Does Not
Apple Watch SE 3 survived September 9 unchanged and unrepriced, and it is now the only Apple Watch under $399. Apple lists it at From $249 with the S10 chip, 40mm and 44mm aluminum cases, up to 18 hours of battery and a 1000-nit Always-On display. Series 12 at $399 sits above the SE 3…
Apple Watch Case Materials Then and Now: Stainless Steel Gone, Titanium Since Series 10, Ceramic New for Series 12
Apple Watch Series 12 lists three case materials, aluminum, titanium and ceramic, which is one more than any Apple Watch has offered since 2021. Stainless steel, which Apple’s own spec sheets named as recently as Series 9, is not on the 2026 list at all. Ceramic is new for Series 12, in pearl white and…
Will Your Old Apple Watch Bands Fit Series 12? What Apple Has Actually Published
Apple has published no statement about whether bands from older Apple Watch models fit Apple Watch Series 12. What it does publish is the sizing for the new bands: two columns, 42mm and 46mm, with wrist ranges of 130 to 200mm and 140 to 245mm. The new Series 12 Sport Band colors. Image: Apple That…
Apple Watch Series 12 Front Crystal: Ceramic Shield 2 on Aluminum, Sapphire on Titanium and Ceramic
Only the aluminum Apple Watch Series 12 gets Ceramic Shield 2. Apple lists a sapphire crystal on the titanium and ceramic cases instead, and the toughness number everyone has been quoting, 60 percent tougher than Ion-X, is attached to the aluminum case alone. Apple Watch Series 12 in two of its new case finishes. Image:…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 Without Your iPhone: What Works Alone, and What Still Needs the Phone
An Apple Watch Ultra 4 with a cellular plan can carry a phone number, 64GB of storage and satellite messaging without an iPhone in your pocket, and Apple includes two years of satellite service. Setting it up is a different matter: watchOS 27 requires an iPhone 11 or later, or an iPhone SE from the…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 Charging on a Multi-Day Trip: What 5, 15 and 45 Minutes Each Buy
Apple publishes three charging figures for the Apple Watch Ultra 4: 15 minutes on the cable returns up to 18 hours of normal use, five minutes covers up to 10 hours of sleep tracking, and a charge to 80 percent takes about 45 minutes. The watch is rated at up to 50 hours of normal…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 Display: 3000 Nits in Daylight, 1 Nit at Night and a 1 Hz Always-On Panel
Apple rates the Apple Watch Ultra 4 display at up to 3000 nits at its brightest and 1 nit at its dimmest, on a 422 x 514 pixel always-on panel that can drop its refresh rate to 1 Hz. The glass in front of it is flat sapphire, the case is 49 mm titanium, and…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 Sensors: What the Depth Gauge, Water Temperature Sensor and Altimeter Report
Apple’s specification sheet for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 lists 11 sensors, and four of them exist for the outdoors: a depth gauge rated for recreational scuba to 40 metres with accuracy of plus or minus 1 metre, a water temperature sensor, an always-on altimeter and a compass. The watch starts at $799 and reaches…
Apple Watch Ultra 4 in Cold and Heat: The Minus 20C Wrist Range, MIL-STD 810H and IP6X
Apple rates the Apple Watch Ultra 4 for wear between minus 20 and 55 degrees Celsius, lists a separate 0 to 35 degree operating range, and says the 49 mm titanium case has been tested to MIL-STD 810H. It also carries an IP6X dust rating and 100 metre water resistance, and it reaches stores on…