Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 at its Sept. 9 event, with a big focus on Apple Intelligence and health and fitness.
One of the big new features is the Health Sensing System, which includes upgraded hardware to better track health metrics. That includes more electrodes, bigger photodiodes for better light capture, and larger, brighter green LEDs.
Apple says the new system can check heart rate 60x more frequently than before and can sample heart rate variability (HRV) every 5 minutes for the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable when compared against competitors using an ECG as a reference.
Another new feature is Health Age, which uses various metrics like sleep and biomarkers from blood to show what your overall health is like.
A big part of that is a new Health app coming later this year, which includes an all-new design and several of the new features.
Another watch-related announcement was Audio Intelligence, which aims to make sense of what you hear. There’s Live Rewind, which lets you press the digital crown on the Apple Watch to view a transcript of recent speech.
Sound Recognition is now on the Apple Watch as well, which allows the watch to listen for certain sounds and alert people to them. These include sirens, alarms, doorbells, or the sound of a baby crying. Apple Watch uses on-device intelligence to detect and notify users of those sounds.
Siri Recap is another Audio Intelligence feature that can create summaries of conversations for later review. Apple was quick to note that this all happens on device and thus shouldn’t be a privacy concern.
Apple Watch Series 12
Apple touts the Watch Series 12 as being as “individual as the person wearing it,” offering the wearable in a variety of colours and finishes. That includes dark bronze, black, light gold, and space grey aluminum, as well as radiant gold and natural titanium. Plus, there’s a new ceramic option in both white and blue shades.
Watch Series 12 sports Ceramic Shield 2 glass on the face, making it more durable than before.
Apple Watch Ultra 4
Meanwhile, Watch Ultra 4 remains the ultimate sports and adventure smartwatch, boasting two-day battery life. Specifically, Apple boasts up to 50 hours of battery on the Ultra 4, extendable to 84 hours in Low Power Mode.
Elsewhere, Apple says it redesigned the pedometer model for more accurate step tracking, distance measurements, and more.
In Canada, the Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $549, while the Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $1,099.
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