Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 12 today at its “Surprise and shine” event, with a starting price of $399, pre-orders open now and in-store availability on Friday, September 18. The headline change is a new Health Sensing System that measures heart rate every 5 seconds and heart rate variability every 5 minutes.
The price matches last year’s Series 11, which also started at $399, and the 42mm and 46mm sizes carry over. The changes are inside the case: a new S11 chip, new heart sensors, a ceramic case option and faster charging. Our Apple Watch Series 12 preview covers what was expected going in.
Apple Watch Series 12 price and release date
Series 12 starts at $399 in the US, or $11.99 per month over 24 months through Apple’s upgrade lease. Apple has not published prices for titanium, ceramic or cellular models.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Pre-orders opened today, September 9. The watch reaches stores on Friday, September 18 in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UAE and more than 50 other countries and regions.
Health Sensing System and Readiness score
The Health Sensing System pairs new optical and electrical heart sensors with larger, power-efficient green LEDs. Heart rate is measured every 5 seconds throughout the day, and HRV is sampled every 5 minutes, which Apple says is 24 times more often than before.
HRV now comes in two forms, Recovery HRV for daily stress and recovery and an overall HRV figure. Apple cites a study of more than 1,000 participants that found Apple Watch to have the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable versus leading competitors.
A new Readiness score rates each day from 0 to 10 based on recent activity, training load, vitals and sleep, and attaches one of four recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready or Go For It. The score updates during the day.
S11 chip, battery and Audio Intelligence
- S11 chip, described by Apple as its most powerful wearable chip, with a Secure Exclave, a hardware-isolated compartment for on-device audio processing with immediate deletion
- Up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours of outdoor workout tracking, 25 percent more than before
- 15 minutes of charging delivers 12 hours of use, 50 percent faster than before
- Audio Intelligence: Sound Recognition alerts for sirens, alarms, doorbells and baby cries, Live Rewind for the previous 15 seconds of conversation as text, Siri Recap conversation summaries and Shazam music detection
- Ceramic Shield 2 front crystal on aluminum models, 60 percent tougher than Ion-X glass, plus a new Steps complication
Colors, materials and bands
Aluminum comes in dark bronze, black, light gold and space gray. Titanium comes in radiant gold and natural, and the new ceramic case is offered in pearl white and night blue.
New bands include the Sport Band in olive, burgundy, wildflower blue and pale succulent, the Sport Loop in chambray blue, magenta, burgundy plaid and light umber plaid, and the Milanese Loop in radiant gold and dark bronze. Apple has not published band prices.
Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Apple Watch Product Marketing, called Series 12 “the most advanced health and fitness companion we’ve ever created.”
watchOS 27 arrives as a free update on Monday, September 14, the same day as iOS 27. Apple has not published display specifications, weight or Low Power Mode hours, and there was no new Apple Watch SE despite the SE 3 going unavailable before the event. Our event recap covers the Ultra 4 and everything else Apple showed.
