Apple has announced the new generations of its smart watch, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12, both built around the new Health Sensing System and the S11 chip, the most powerful ever developed by the company for a wearable device. The main innovation concerns heart rate measurement, which according to Apple now reaches the highest precision ever obtained on a smartwatch, thanks to redesigned optical and electrical sensors and a new sensor equipped with larger and more efficient green LEDs, capable of detecting heartbeats every five seconds throughout the day.
On the heart rate variability (HRV) front, the measurements become up to twenty-four times more frequent and find space in a new section of the Battito app, which distinguishes between Recovery HRV, more useful for capturing daily signals of stress and recovery, and overall HRV, designed for a broader reading of the state of cardiovascular health. Even night-time vital parameters are enriched with the analysis of HRV Recovery compared to personal reference values, while a new view allows you to compare data collected during the day and at night.
The most significant function from the point of view of the user experience, however, is Readiness, a daily score from zero to ten that crosses recent physical activity, training load, vital parameters and quality of sleep to suggest how to face the day, through indications such as Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready or Go For It. The score is updated over the hours based on the new data collected and allows you to consult the factors that determine it; the algorithm was developed together with Apple’s exercise science and medical team, based on data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study.
The two lines differ above all in terms of autonomy and vocation. Apple Watch Ultra 4, designed for extreme sports and adventure, reaches up to fifty hours of battery life in daily use and up to eighty-four in Energy Saving mode, with a charge that returns up to eighteen hours of use in fifteen minutes. For longer outdoor workouts, the new Max Extended Workout mode lets you track runs, walks and hikes for up to forty-five hours while maintaining per-second GPS readings.
Apple Watch Series 12, designed for daily use, offers up to twenty-four hours of standard battery life and ten hours of outdoor training, 25% more than the previous model, with a charge that adds up to twelve hours of battery life in fifteen minutes.
Both models benefit from a completely redesigned pedometer, which uses new machine learning algorithms and the power of the S11 chip to more precisely measure the distances traveled during indoor workouts and the number of steps taken throughout the day. The S11 chip also introduces two functions linked to the integrated microphone: Sound recognition, designed to alert deaf or hard-of-hearing people when the watch detects sounds such as sirens, alarms or a baby’s crying, even without an iPhone nearby; and Shazam, which recognizes the music you are listening to and shows the title and artist directly from your wrist. Both functions process audio thanks to an isolated compartment of the chip, the Secure Exclave, which immediately deletes the recording without making it accessible to the operating system, apps or Apple itself.
The watchOS 27 operating system, available as standard on both models, introduces a dynamic grid of apps suggested by Siri, a new single tap gesture to open Smart Gallery widgets with one hand, contextual suggestions such as the location of a parked car or a reminder for a contact’s birthday, support for perimenopause and menopause in the Cycle Tracking app, and the extension of Workout Buddy even in the absence of iPhone, now also available in Spanish.
On an aesthetic level, Apple Watch Ultra 4 maintains the titanium case, available in natural and black, with new Trail Loop, Alpine Loop and Ocean straps in new colours. Apple Watch Series 12 instead expands the range of finishes, with aluminum cases in dark bronze, black, light gold and space gray, versions in bright and natural gold titanium, and a new variant in pearl white and midnight blue ceramic; the aluminum models also adopt Ceramic Shield 2, 60% more resistant than the Ion-X glass of previous models. Both devices are available for pre-order and will go on sale starting Friday 18 September.