Apple Watch Series 12 debuts with S11 chip, Audio Intelligence, and better health tracking for $399
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While the foldable iPhone Duo was undoubtedly the star of today’s Apple event, the company also debuted the iPhone 18 Pro series and the Apple Watch Series 12 alongside it. While its latest smartwatch lineup doesn’t bring a massive design overhaul, Apple has made some noteworthy refinements to the internal hardware and taken a major leap forward in intelligence features, health tracking, and recovery metrics.
S11, Audio Intelligence, and Live Rewind
The most impactful upgrade in the Apple Watch Series 12 is the introduction of Audio Intelligence. Powered by the new S11 processor, the watch uses built-in microphones and on-device AI models to deliver a new class of features without creating or storing audio recordings.
Live Rewind displays a transcript of what was said in the preceding 15 seconds. Alongside Live Rewind, Siri Recap automatically generates titles, summaries, and key points from conversations for users to review in the Siri app. The S11 chip also enables advanced Sound Recognition locally on the device.
Redesigned health sensing system, Readiness, and longevity insights
At the center of the health tracking changes is the new Health Sensing System, built with larger, power-efficient green LEDs and photodiode sensors to deliver the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. It enables background heart rate readings every five seconds throughout the day and captures HRV up to 24 times more often.
The Series 12 separates HRV metrics into two distinct categories: Recovery HRV to track daily stress and recovery, and overall HRV for broader cardiovascular health trends. Furthermore, a new daytime vitals view lets users toggle between overnight and daytime metrics to catch biometric shifts before they show up overnight.
The Series 12 introduces a new Readiness feature that analyzes recent activity, sleep scores, and vitals to give users a daily 0 to 10 score. This score comes with clear actionable guidance, including Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It.
A redesigned Health app coming later this year will feature an Insights tab powered by Apple Intelligence, as well as a new Longevity tab that brings together data across sleep, movement, and heart health alongside new Health Age metrics. Cycle Tracking also receives an update with perimenopause and menopause support.
Ceramic returns alongside hardware refinements
Apple is bringing back a premium ceramic case option for the Series 12 in pearl white and night blue finishes. For the standard models, aluminum finishes include dark bronze, black, light gold, and space gray, while titanium variants come in radiant gold and natural titanium.
Aluminum models feature Ceramic Shield 2, which is 60 percent tougher than the Ion-X glass on previous aluminum generations. The device supports 24 hours of battery life with faster charging capabilities.
Pricing and availability
The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399. Pre-orders open today, with full retail availability starting Friday, September 18.
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