Apple has unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, with both models putting health, recovery and fitness tracking at the centre of this year’s upgrades. The two watches introduce Apple’s new Health Sensing System and S11 chip, bringing more frequent heart rate and HRV measurements alongside a new readiness score.

The Series 12 remains the mainstream option, starting at AED 1,599, while the Ultra 4 targets endurance athletes and adventurers with significantly longer battery life and starts at AED 3,199. Both are available to pre-order now ahead of their September 18 release.

Health Sensing System is the big upgrade

Both watches feature redesigned optical and electrical heart sensors powered by the S11 chip. Apple says the new Health Sensing System delivers its most accurate wearable heart rate tracking yet, based on a company-conducted study involving more than 1,000 participants.

Heart rate can now be measured every five seconds throughout the day, while HRV is measured up to 24 times more frequently. Apple also separates recovery HRV from overall HRV, giving users more context around short-term recovery and broader health trends.

The Vitals experience expands accordingly, with recovery HRV compared against personal overnight baselines and a new daytime view for spotting changes throughout the day.

Readiness turns all that data into something useful

Perhaps the most interesting addition to both watches is readiness. Rather than throwing another collection of graphs at your wrist and expecting you to decipher them like Starfleet telemetry, Apple attempts to translate activity, training load, sleep and vitals into a simple daily score.

Readiness ranges from zero to 10 and provides one of four recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready or Go For It. The score can also change during the day as new workouts or physiological data are recorded.

For athletes, this could be considerably more useful than another isolated health metric. The goal is to answer a much simpler question: should you push harder today or give your body some recovery time?

Ultra 4 is where the battery upgrades get serious

Battery life is one of the biggest differences between the two models. Apple Watch Series 12 retains up to 24 hours of everyday battery life, although outdoor workout tracking increases to as much as 10 hours. A 15-minute charge can provide up to 12 additional hours of use.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 is playing an entirely different game. Everyday battery life reaches up to 50 hours, increasing to 84 hours in Low Power Mode. Fifteen minutes of charging can add up to 18 hours of use.

Extended Workout mode offers up to 25 hours with full GPS and heart rate readings, while Max Extended Workout mode can track outdoor runs, walks and hikes for up to 45 hours while maintaining one-second GPS readings. That makes the Ultra 4 the obvious choice for ultrarunners, hikers and endurance athletes who regard a normal workout as merely the tutorial level.

S11 powers smarter tracking and accessibility

The S11 chip drives more than the new health system. Apple has redesigned its pedometer algorithms, with both watches promising more accurate step and indoor distance tracking. There’s finally a Steps complication too, putting the count directly on the watch face.

Sound Recognition is another interesting S11-powered feature coming later this year. It can identify sounds such as sirens, alarms, doorbells and babies crying, providing alerts particularly useful for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.

Apple says this processing happens within a hardware-isolated Secure Exclave, with raw audio immediately deleted rather than stored. Shazam integration can also automatically identify nearby music and surface the track through Smart Stack.

watchOS 27 adds smarter gestures and widgets

Both watches benefit from watchOS 27, including a dynamic app grid with Siri-suggested apps and more contextual Smart Stack suggestions.

A new single-handed tap gesture lets users select Smart Stack widgets by tapping their index finger and thumb, complementing the existing double-tap interaction. Cycle Tracking also expands with perimenopause and menopause support, while Workout Buddy gains additional capabilities.

Series 12 gets more design choices, Ultra 4 stays rugged

Apple Watch Series 12 comes in 42mm and 46mm sizes. Aluminium versions are available in dark bronze, black, light gold and space gray, while titanium comes in radiant gold and natural finishes. Apple is also bringing ceramic into the lineup with pearl white and night blue models.

Aluminium Series 12 models receive Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple says is 60 percent tougher than the Ion-X glass used on Series 11.

Ultra 4 sticks with its familiar rugged titanium formula and comes in natural or black. New Trail Loop, Alpine Loop and translucent silicone Ocean Band colours accompany the launch, alongside an updated Hermès Ultra collection.

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 UAE price and release date

Apple Watch Series 12 starts at AED 1,599, while Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at AED 3,199. Both are available to pre-order now and arrive in stores on Friday, September 18.

The Series 12 makes sense as Apple’s everyday health and fitness watch, while the Ultra 4’s extra AED 1,600 buys a much more endurance-focused device. The latter’s 50-hour everyday battery, extended workout modes and rugged titanium construction are features aimed at people who will actually use them, rather than anyone who simply wants the biggest Apple Watch available.