# Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: The Chip Upgrade Apple Owes Us Is Finally Coming By Rafiqul Islam Rabbi · Technology · Published Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:39:11 GMT · Updated Tue, 25 Aug 2026 01:40:48 GMT Source: The Current Tribune — https://currenttribune.com/article/apple-watch-series-12-ultra-4-specs-price-release-date For three years straight, buying a new Apple Watch has meant paying full price for the same processor. The Series 9 introduced a genuinely faster chip back in 2023. Everything since — Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2, Ultra 3 — has been running silicon with a new badge and the same performance underneath. That streak appears to end in about two weeks. Apple is expected to unveil the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at its fall event in early September, most likely on the 8th or 9th, sharing the stage with the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Apple’s first foldable. It will also be the first big hardware keynote of the John Ternus era, with Tim Cook stepping into the executive chairman role on September 1. If you’ve been holding onto a Series 8 or an original Ultra waiting for a reason to move, this is the year the math finally starts working in your favor — just not for the reasons most people expected. ### Three Watches, No SE Apple is reportedly in late-stage testing on exactly three new watches: a Wi-Fi-only Series 12, a cellular Series 12, and the Ultra 4. Internal codenames circulating in leaked build data point to N237 and N238 for the two Series 12 variants and N240 for the Ultra. Notably absent: a fourth-generation Watch SE. Apple refreshed the SE only last year with an always-on display, so skipping it in 2026 tracks. Anyone shopping the budget end of the lineup will be buying the SE 3 for another twelve months. ### The Chip Is the Whole Story Here’s the part worth caring about. Both new watches are expected to share a new system-in-package, internally referenced as T8320 and likely to be marketed as the S11 or S12 depending on how Apple wants to handle the naming. Whatever it ends up being called, it’s a new architecture rather than a renamed rerun of the T8310 silicon that has powered every flagship Apple Watch since 2023. The timing is not an accident. watchOS 27 brings the rebuilt Siri to the wrist, along with a smarter Workout Buddy and more on-device processing across the board. Running that on a chip designed before the current AI push was never going to feel good. A faster CPU with a beefier neural engine gives Apple room to actually deliver on the features it demoed in June instead of punting them to the iPhone every time you raise your wrist. #### What a New Chip Actually Buys You Set expectations sensibly. Watch chips aren’t laptop chips, and the practical gains show up in mundane places: - App launches and complication refreshes that don’t stall - Siri requests handled locally instead of bouncing to your phone - Faster workout metric calculations, especially GPS-heavy activities - Better power efficiency, which can translate to modest battery gains even without a bigger cell Nobody is going to benchmark their watch. But the difference between a Siri query that resolves in half a second and one that spins for four is the difference between using the feature and forgetting it exists. ### Design: Familiar Case, Possibly New Material Don’t expect a new silhouette. The most reliable reporting says neither watch gets a meaningful exterior redesign this year — the Series 12 will look like a Series 11, and the Ultra 4 will look like an Ultra. Apple’s design team is reportedly exploring bigger swings, including a round display and screen-free fitness bands aimed squarely at Oura and Whoop, but those are a year or two out. The one interesting hardware wrinkle is materials. Multiple leaks point to ceramic returning as a case option for the Series 12. Apple last offered it on the Series 5 Edition, where the glossy white finish developed a small cult following before quietly disappearing. If it comes back, expect it to sit above aluminum and titanium on the price sheet. #### Touch ID Isn’t Happening Fingerprint authentication in the Digital Crown or side button has been a fan request since a 2020 patent surfaced, and code references to Apple’s internal Touch ID project turned up in 2026 watch builds earlier this year. It’s off the table for this generation. The prevailing account is that Apple decided the internal volume was better spent on battery, leaning on iPhone-based unlock instead. It’s a defensible call. It’s also the third year running that this rumor has come and gone. ### The Ultra 4 Is the Contested One This is where the leak landscape gets messy, and readers should know it. Supply chain reporting has pushed a fairly dramatic story: a titanium case roughly 15% thinner, dropping from about 14.4mm to somewhere near 12.2mm, plus a doubled sensor array arranged in a ring on the caseback for more direct health measurement rather than algorithmic estimation. Some versions of that reporting stretch to 72 hours of standard battery life. The problem is that the reporting with the strongest track record doesn’t corroborate any dramatic redesign. Both claims can be partially true — a slimmer case that still reads as an Ultra at arm’s length would satisfy the thinner-body leak without amounting to a redesign — but treat the more aggressive version with skepticism until Apple is on stage. What does look solid: the Ultra 4 shares the Series 12’s new chip, keeps its titanium build and sapphire front, and continues to lead on satellite messaging and battery. ### Health Features: Blood Pressure, Round Two Hypertension notifications shipped with watchOS 26 and were arguably the most consequential Apple Watch health feature in years — passive analysis of optical heart sensor data over roughly 30 days, flagging patterns consistent with chronic high blood pressure. It doesn’t give you a number and it doesn’t replace a cuff. An updated version is reportedly working through regulatory review now. Apple hasn’t detailed what changes, but “more accurate, more people covered, faster to flag” would be the obvious direction. Beyond that, expectations for new sensors are muted. Non-invasive glucose monitoring remains a long-term project, not a 2026 feature. ### Expected Specs at a Glance Series 11 (current) Series 12 (expected) Ultra 3 (current) Ultra 4 (expected) Chip S10 New SiP (S11/S12) S10 Same new SiP Sizes 42mm / 46mm Unchanged 49mm 49mm, possibly slimmer Battery (AOD) 24 hrs 24 hrs or slightly more 42 hrs 42+ hrs Materials Aluminum, titanium Plus ceramic option Titanium Titanium Satellite No No Yes Yes Starting price $399 $399 (likely) $799 $799 (likely) ### Price and Availability The Series 11 starts at $399 and the Ultra 3 at $799, and no credible leak points to a change. Apple has held the Ultra at $799 since 2022. That said, executives have signaled that price increases are coming across parts of the lineup this year, and component costs are moving in the wrong direction, so a $20 to $50 bump on some configurations wouldn’t be shocking. If the keynote lands on September 9, the usual pattern puts pre-orders on the 11th or 12th and retail availability around September 18. ### Final Verdict: Who Should Actually Buy One If you own a Series 10 or Series 11, sit this one out. A faster chip and a possible ceramic case aren’t worth $399 when your watch already does everything the new one does, and watchOS 27 will bring most of the software features to your wrist for free. If you’re on a Series 8 or older, this is the upgrade to make. You’re getting three generations of health features — ECG improvements, sleep score, hypertension alerts — plus the first real speed increase in the product’s recent history, and a chip that won’t feel obsolete the moment Apple leans harder into on-device AI next year. Ultra owners are the tough call. Ultra 2 users have a reasonable case for jumping if the thinner chassis materializes, since bulk is the single most common complaint about the line. Ultra 3 owners bought a great watch eleven months ago and should keep it. The broader picture matters more than any individual spec. Apple has coasted on the Apple Watch for three years while Garmin, Samsung, and a wave of screenless trackers chipped away at specific use cases. A new chip doesn’t fix that on its own. But it’s the necessary groundwork for the round-display, AI-native watch that reporting says is actually coming — and this September looks like the setup, not the payoff.