The Apple Watch Series 12 and its big sibling, the Apple Watch Ultra 4, were the latest wearables announced alongside the iPhone Duo at Apple’s ‘Surprise and Shine’ event, and the array of new health features haven’t let me down.

Though I didn’t get the design upgrades I was hoping for (I wanted Apple to do a 180-degree turn and debut a completely fresh look for its watches), we got some smart new color options in the process. But that aside, the new monitoring tools do more than make up for the lack of visual upgrades — they’re smarter, insightful, and more personal than ever.

It’s hard to tell if all the new wellbeing tracking tools will be available for previous models — for anything powered by Apple Intelligence, it’s likely that these will remain native to the Series 12 and Ultra 4 — but we still think they’ll make for welcomed additions for health-conscious users.

On-camera fitness testing

As part of the wider Health app revamp, health monitoring using the Apple Watch paired with the iPhone's camera is a new feature, starting with full body assessments. The assessments allow the Health app to measure VO2 max — the the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use while exercising, a key measure of fitness — along with flexibility, strength, balance, and movement mechanics.

All you have to do is prop your iPhone vertically against a wall so that your whole body fits in the frame, and it will get you to follow a coach-guided workout. Apple says in order to measure VO2 max, you’ll need an Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 3, or a third-party heart rate sensing device.

Health Age

Apple is slightly behind on the Health Age feature — Garmin and Whoop got there first with Fitness Age and Whoop Age, respectively — but it’s finally coming to Apple Watch.

Health Age can be found under the new Longevity tab in the Health app, a hub for displaying deeper insights for different health topics including heart health, mental wellbeing, nutrition, and hearing health.

Your Health Age reading takes different aspects of your health profile into account and combines them into one score to show how your metrics compare to the average health and fitness level for your age and gender.

Health Sensing System

This is a technical upgrade to the Apple Watch itself, and a welcomed improvement to how the wearable reads your health data.

Both the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 come fitted with new LED sensor arrays designed for better skin contact, including a new heart-rate sensor for more accurate heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements — which helps to determine the new Readiness score, which we'll discuss in a moment.

Under the new sensors are larger green LEDs, which now measure your heart rate up to every five seconds, all day long. Apple claims that it's the most accurate heart rate measurement on any wearable, and it can back this up with testing results. We can't wait to try it ourselves against an electrical heart rate monitor.

Readiness Score

Much like the Health Age metric, the new Readiness Score is a tool that's been widely adopted by rival wearables in the past — and now it’s Apple’s turn.

Diving into your Vitals, Sleep Score, recent activity, and other metrics, you'll be presented with a score from 0-10, along with a brief explanation to tell you if your watch thinks you need to pace yourself, or if you have the capacity to push yourself further.

It's a clever and handy tool that could stop you from overtraining, or change your plans to fit in a long run on a day in which you're ready for action. Readiness also updates multiple times a day as your Apple Watch gathers new data, telling you exactly what's affecting your overall score.

Insights tab

The Health app's new Insights tab looks very comprehensive. Throughout the day, Insights displays timely information about your health metrics including heart, sleep, readiness, fitness, vitals, and cycle tracking data.

It gives you short summaries about how different fitness categories are impacting your long-term health, while the 'For You' section offers personalized recommendations and even relevant health articles based on your data.

Apple introduced the Apple Watch 12 at this week's September Event, and Best Buy already has an impressive discount on the smartwatch.

• Shop more Apple deals at Best Buy

While it's only available for preorder, you can get the 42mm GPS-only model for as little as $219 (originally $399) when you trade in a qualifying smartwatch. That's an impressive $180 discount and an incredible deal for a newly released Apple device.

The Apple Watch Series 12 features new Apple silicon and advanced health sensors, which Apple claims are the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. Apple's newest Health Sensing System, along with its S11 chip, offers a suite of health and fitness features including a new readiness score. The Series 12 also includes advanced workout and sleep tracking and offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours during an outdoor workout, a 25% improvement over the previous model.

Save on the new Apple Watch 12 at Best Buy

To find out how much you can save, you'll click on 'Check your trade-in value' on the Apple Watch 12 product page. You'll then answer questions about your trade-in device, and Best Buy will show you the value. The retailer will email you shipping instructions for your trade-in device, and once it receives it, Best Buy will refund the amount to your original payment method.

Keep in mind this is a limited-time offer, and the Apple Watch 12 is only available for preorder with a September 18 ship date. This is a fantastic deal if you have an older smartwatch and want to upgrade to Apple's latest and greatest.

Apple's 'Surprise and Shine' event unveiled long-awaited devices including the iPhone 18 Pro and the long-anticipated iPhone Duo, but Apple Watches also had their time in the spotlight.

The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are the latest models to join Apple's family of wearables, and both pack quite a punch on the features- and health-tracking front, thanks to the combination of the new Health Sensing System and deeper Apple Intelligence integration.

Of course every new Apple Watch offers improvements over the previous generation — the question is always whether it offers enough to make it worth the upgrade. To help you decide, I've compared the new Apple Watch Series 12 against its predecessor, the Apple Watch Series 11, so you can see all the changes side-by-side.

Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Series 11: Specifications

Design

We weren't expecting a visual overhaul with the Apple Watch Series 12, and nor did we get one.

The new model packs the same digital crown and side button that you'll find on most Apple Watch models, and size-wise the only difference is that the Series 12 is 1mm wider; if you can spot that in real life, you have sharper eyes than I do.

However, there are some design changes worth talking about. The key one is that as well as being available in Aluminium and Titanium, as the Watch 11 is, there's also now a Ceramic version — the first since the Series 5.

The Ceramic Watch 12 comes in two colors, Pearl White and Night Blue, while the Aluminum model is available in Space Gray, Black, Light Gold and the stunning new Dark Bronze shade, perfect for both casual and smart wear. The Titanium versions come in Radiant Gold and Natural.

Sticking with the Apple Watch 11? Then your choices are between Space Gray, Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver for Aluminum, and Slate, Gold, and Natural Polished in Titanium. And to reiterate, there is no Ceramic Watch 11 — so if you want that, you'll need the new model.

Features

Minor design changes aside, the key reasons to upgrade to the Apple Watch 12 relate to its health-tracking smarts.

Many of these stem from its new S11 chip. Apple — inevitably — describes this as its "most powerful wearable chip", and it powers the new Health Sensing System and Audio Intelligence features.

Let's start with the Health Sensing System, the redesign of the previous generation's LED heart rate sensor array. The Series 12's electrode surface area is now bigger, allowing for better skin contact for ECG tracking. It also packs new optical-sensing photo diodes to capture light more efficiently, while its brighter green LEDs support accurate HR in motion. In short, it's the most accurate Apple Watch ever, tied with its sibling the Apple Watch Ultra 4.

It records heart rate continuously, up to every five seconds, and heart rate variability (a key part of sleep tracking and recovery metrics) up to every five minutes. That's a massive 24x more frequently than it did before, ensuring peak accuracy (in theory).

However one of the new standout features is the new Readiness Score, which has finally arrived on Apple Watch. Every other health wearable seems to have one, and Apple's Readiness Score will combine your rings, vitals and other health metrics into a single actionable, frequently updated number.

There are also a significant redesign of the Health app which thrusts Apple Intelligence to the front of the experience. Now, Apple Watch lets you explore health profiles while offering personalized guidance thanks to Apple Intelligence. Once the Health app gets a sense of your health habits, it will tweak its recommendations so that they align with your health levels and data.

Health Age is another new feature that aligns your metrics and fitness level with your actual age, similar to features on Whoop and Garmin.

The Series 12 is packing tons of new fitness features, but Apple Intelligence — or at least, audio intelligence — is brand new and unrelated to health.

Audio Intelligence is comprised of four features. The Series 12 can listen out for sounds, be that a doorbell, traffic, or oncoming pedestrians, and will send alerts right to your watch face — which is ideal for users who are hard of hearing. You can also Shazam songs from your wrist.

Slightly more suspect are Live Rewind and Siri Recaps. Live Rewind allows you to go back 15 seconds to remember parts of a conversation. Didn't catch what the waiter said was new on the menu? Just double-press the digital crown and your watch will generate a transcript for you to read. Siri Recaps is a feature that, when active, listens constantly in the background, providing you with a summary of your day in the evening, including conversations.

We've covered these two features in more detail here, including Apple's privacy assurances and why the Cupertino giant might not be reading the room on this feature, as surveillance-capable wearables are receiving a lot of pushback at the moment.

You can pre-order the Apple Watch Series 12 now, which will be available starting September 18.

Apple's September 9 'Surprise and Shine' event has come and gone, and we've learned a lot about Apple's latest crop of devices. While we've got new AirPods and iPhones (including Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo), it's the Apple Watches that have caught my eye as TechRadar's resident fitness and wearables writer — specifically, the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the latest version of Apple's flagship watch series.

But how does it compare to the previous gen, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 — and is it worth upgrading? Read on for a full comparison of both watches, so you can make an informed decision.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Specifications

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Price and availability

• Price is unchanged from last year
• $799 / £749 / AU$1,399
• Available from September 18

Here's an easy one to start with: the Apple Watch Ultra 4's price is unchanged from last year, at $799 / £749 / AU$1,399. It's available from the September 18, so if you were considering getting an Apple Watch Ultra 3 but were holding out, there's no reason not to wait a few days for the latest model.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: design

Physically, little has changed in terms of looks, but there have been subtle tweaks. The titanium case is still there, slightly wider and slimmer than last year, and it lasts six hours longer than the Ultra 3 to make it to two days, or 18 hours with continuous GPS use.

The watch's heart rate accuracy is even better thanks to the new Health Sensing System. This redesign of Apple's LED optical heart rate sensor tech offers better skin contact thanks to an increased electrode surface area. Heart rate readings are now being taken up to every five seconds, with heart rate variability, an overnight measure of rest and recovery, being read up to every five minutes.

This makes Apple's heart rate sensor the most accurate of any wearable, according to Apple. It has apparently conducted tests against rivals using ECG chest straps, much like we do in our reviews.

I can attest that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is as accurate a wearable as it gets, so I'll be intrigued to test the new Ultra 4 against my trusty Polar H10.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Features

• Finally, a Readiness Score
• New Audio Intelligence features
• Redesigned Health app

At last! Apple Watch gets a Readiness Score, a feature almost every other fitness wearable has had for years. Typically from Apple, it looks like the bee's knees, feeding into Vitals to generate a holistic overview of your night, and updating throughout the day, like Garmin's Body Battery function. A new Health Age feature also compares your current fitness level to those in your age group, much like Garmin's Fitness Age or Whoop's, er, Whoop Age.

It's unclear at the moment whether the Ultra 3 will get these features, or if it will be an Ultra 4 / Series 12 exclusive. But all the Apple Watch Ultra 3 features, including LTE and satellite connectivity, are available on the Ultra 4.

An incoming redesigned Health app on iPhone is Apple Intelligence-forward, offering personalized AI-powered insights, and what is clear is that this will also work with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and all Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhones. This Health App will show you Readiness, Longevity, and allow you to measure your VO2 Max using a coached guided workout on your iPhone's camera, then update it according to your activity levels and metrics.

Audio Intelligence features are exclusive to the Ultra 4 and Series 12, and include Shazam on your wrist, Sound Recognition (your watch will let you know the doorbell's rung or a siren's going off, for example), and two more features which are sure to prove controversial.

Live Rewind has your watch listen to and instantly recall a conversation up to 15 seconds previously, by double-tapping the crown of your Apple Watch. Siri Recap listens throughout the day and uses Siri AI to process live audio files, serving you a summary of the day in the evening. There are numerous controls and privacy safeguards in place here, but there's no doubt they'll come across as creepy to many. You can read all about Audio Intelligence on Apple Watch here.

Earlier this year, many Apple products (but not iPhones, AirPods or Watches) were hit with a huge set of price hikes. And then, more recently, Apple unveiled its new Mac mini range, which also comes at a 50% higher starting price than just five months before.

This left me (and probably a lot of other people) fearing the worst about the prices of the new stuff coming at Apple's September 2026 event.

But as we watched new products being announced that were the same price, or actually better value, than their predecessors, I felt like I was watching Neo dodging RAM-ageddon bullets… even though the iPhone 18 Pro price rose (check out our full list of iPhone price hikes), it felt reasonable.

But then, just like Neo, we got clipped and dropped to the ground by the fact that Apple quietly increased the price sof all its older phones following the event. Here's the new pricing for those models:

Let's run through how well we did in different areas in the US and UK prices (it may differ elsewhere, of course).

Apple Watch

A nice easy win here — we got new features across both the new regular model and the new Ultra, and we got them for the same price as the previous model. That's pretty great given the levels of inflation we're dealing with.

The only potentially offputting thing is Apple's slightly new always-listening Siri Recap option, now — but not the price, mercifully.

AirPods 5

These were the big win on value, in my opinion. When reporting on the AirPods 5 rumors, we said that we really wanted to see Apple improve what you got for the money specifically, because its entry-level were behind the best budget earbuds from competitors.

Well, that's exactly what we got. The basic AirPods 5 now have active noise cancellation, and along with other improvements this should make them competitive again at the same price. And the mid-range AirPods 5 model get on-ear volume controls and a few other small quality-of-life upgrades, which makes them cheaper than last year's mid-range model. It's a win all around — and you can pre-order them today.

iPhone 18 Pro

This is where things get rockier — but both models have a relatively modest $100 price increase in the US, which is under 10%, and in the world of 2026, I'll take that.

Of course, they've also improved compared to the previous model, and from what Apple's saying the new variable aperture camera system and the much longer battery life provided by the (somehow also super-powerful) A20 Pro chip might be well worth the extra cash.

iPhone Duo

Look, do I think $1,999 is an appealing price for a phone? It's not what I'd choose to pay. I wasn't happy about the rumors of it being that high, but it was kind of inevitable. However, the iPhone Duo folding phone needs to be assessed in context — and that context is: the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra costs more in the US (in the UK, Samsung has the edge).

It only costs $100 more, I'll grant you, but a win is a win — and again, given the price rises elsewhere in Apple's range earlier this year, I think it was far from a given that its fancy folder was going to actually undercut the competition.

It's not all roses

Will we be as lucky with future releases? Perhaps not. It's notable that these product categories are some of the few that didn't get price rises in the hikes earlier this year.

We're expecting the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini to get new versions soon, for example, and these will probably arrive with the same price the current models do… which were just jacked up significantly. Same for the rumored new entry-level iPad.

And then there's the small matter of Apple having raised the prices of all its existing iPhone models. Unlike the iPhone 18 Pro, those increases don't come with any hardware or performance upgrades — they're just more expensive.

And I assume this means we're not getting a base iPhone 18 at all, if all these phones are sticking around with higher prices.

The Apple Watch 12 was introduced at today's September Apple Event, along with the AirPods 5, iPhone Duo, and iPhone 18 Pro. Apple's newest smartwatch is packed with new features and is officially available to preorder.

The Apple Watch Series 12 features new Apple silicon and advanced health sensors, which Apple claims are the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. Apple's newest Health Sensing System, along with its S11 chip, offers a suite of health and fitness features including a new readiness score. The Series 12 also includes advanced workout and sleep tracking and offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours during an outdoor workout, a 25% improvement over the previous model.

The Apple Watch 12 starts at $399 / £369 for the GPS-only 42mm model and $449 / £419 for the 46mm size. The Cellular version starts at $499 / £469 for the 42mm model and $549 / £519 for the larger 46mm size.

As of writing, Apple is the only retailer where you can preorder the Apple Watch 12, but I'll update this page when more become available. Apple is currently offering a preorder trade-in deal that allows you to save on the new smartwatch when you trade in an older device.

Where to find the best Apple Watch 12 preorder deals

Below, you'll find the best Apple Watch 12 preorder deals available online in the US and UK.

Apple Watch 12 deals in the US

• Apple: save up to $430 with trade-in
• Amazon: check retailer
• Best Buy: check retailer
• Walmart: check retailer

Apple Watch 12 deals in the UK

• Apple: save up to £390 with trade-in
• Amazon: check retailer
• Argos: check retailer
• Currys: check retailer

How much does the Apple Watch 12 cost?

The Apple Watch 12 starts at $399 / £369 for the GPS-only 42mm model and $449 / £419 for the 46mm size.

The Cellular version starts at $499 / £469 for the 42mm model and $549 / £519 for the larger 46mm size.

What Apple Watch 12 deals can you expect?

The only Apple Watch 12 preorder deals you can typically find are on Cellular versions, offered by phone carriers.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is officially available on Friday, September 18, and that's when we might see small discounts from third-party retailers like Amazon. If you want the best Apple Watch 12 deals, you'll have to wait for the next big holiday sales: Amazon's October Prime Day and November's Black Friday shopping event.

You can also see today's best AirPods 5 preorder deals.

More of today's best Apple Watch deals