If you have been holding off on a new Apple Watch waiting for the big redesign, this year is not it. Mark Gurman has laid out what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Series 12 ahead of September, and the summary is short: faster chip, better health tracking, same watch.
Search for either model right now and you will hit a wall of headlines promising a major overhaul. Those headlines are running well ahead of the actual reporting, and if you are about to spend several hundred pounds on the strength of them, it is worth knowing what is really on the table.
What Gurman actually said about the Apple Watch Ultra 4
Gurman does not expect either the Series 12 or the Ultra 4 to bring any major design changes compared to the Series 11 and Ultra 3 you can buy today. What he does expect is faster performance and unspecified improvements to health and fitness tracking. That is the whole list.
It is worth being clear about what "no major design changes" rules out. A different case shape, a new button layout, moved sensors, or a fingerprint reader would all count as major. If Gurman has this right, none of it is landing in September.
The S11 chip is the actual upgrade
The performance line is easy to skim past, but it matters more than it sounds. The Series 11 and Ultra 3 both run the S10 chip, and the S10 first appeared back in the Series 10 and Ultra 2. Apple has now shipped the same silicon across two generations of watch.
An S11 or newer would be the first real Apple Watch performance improvement in years. On a device where the everyday complaint is how long an app takes to open or how sluggish a Siri request feels, a genuine chip jump is not nothing. It is the least glamorous item on the list and probably the one you would actually notice.
There is also a longevity argument. Newer on-device features tend to demand newer silicon, so buying into the S10 in its third year starts you further down the support curve than buying into a fresh chip. I made the same case about the A20 Pro in the iPhone 18 Pro, where the silicon was quietly doing most of the work that the spec sheet got credit for.
Two Apple Watch Series 12 rumours that just got quieter
A rumour has been circulating since August 2025 that Touch ID was coming to the Series 12. Gurman's note does not kill it outright, but a fingerprint sensor is very difficult to add without it counting as a major design change. Treat it as unlikely rather than dead.
The second was always thinner. A leaker claimed the Series 12 would ship with a health sensor moulded directly into a silicone band, apparently because Apple had not worked out how to embed the same hardware in other band materials. Gurman did not mention it at all. Neither claim is confirmed, and the second has less standing now than it did a few weeks ago.
There is no Apple Watch SE 4 this year
Gurman also says there will not be an Apple Watch SE 4 in 2026. If you were waiting for the cheap model to refresh before buying, that wait now runs into next year at the earliest.
This is the one that will irritate the most people. The SE is how most first-time buyers get into the Apple Watch, and leaving it another year means the entry point stays exactly where it is on both price and features.
The redesign is a 2027 conversation
Gurman does say bigger changes are in the works, just not for another year or two. That sits loosely alongside a separate and unconfirmed claim from a Weibo leaker in June, which described a major overhaul next year with a new system for attaching bands.
That band detail is the part worth filing away. If Apple genuinely changes the connector, every strap you own stops fitting. Nobody has confirmed this and it should be read as a rumour, but if you are the sort of person with a drawer full of bands, it is a reason to think twice about how many more you add to that drawer this year.
Blood sugar tracking is still years away
Apple continues to develop non-invasive blood sugar detection, with a goal of releasing it by 2030. That is the feature that would genuinely change what an Apple Watch is for, and it is four years out on an internal target, which is not the sort of date you should plan around.
If you are buying for health reasons specifically, buy for what the watch does today. Hypertension alerts, sleep tracking and ECG are all real and shipping now. Blood sugar is not a reason to wait, because waiting for it means waiting most of a decade.
Should you buy the Apple Watch Ultra 4 or Series 12?
If you are on a Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2 or Ultra 3, skip this one. You would be paying full price for a chip bump and some unspecified health improvements, on a watch that looks identical to the one already on your wrist.
If you are on a Series 6, 7 or 8, or an original Ultra, the maths flips. You are several chip generations back, and the September models are the first in a while to move the performance needle at all. That is a real upgrade rather than a sideways one.
And if you do not own an Apple Watch yet, September is still the right moment to look, because the outgoing generation drops in price the day the new one lands. A discounted Series 11 beats a full-price Series 12 for almost everyone. If you do buy, it is worth working out whether AppleCare One makes sense at £16.99 a month, since it covers the watch alongside everything else you own.
Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Series 12 FAQ
When will the Apple Watch Ultra 4 be released?
Apple has not announced a date. The Apple Watch has launched alongside the iPhone every September for years, and both the Ultra 4 and Series 12 are expected in that same window this year. None of it is confirmed until Apple says so on stage.
Will the Apple Watch Series 12 have Touch ID?
Probably not. The rumour has been around since August 2025, but Gurman does not expect any major design changes to the Series 12, and a fingerprint sensor would be exactly that. It remains unconfirmed in both directions.
Should I wait for the Apple Watch redesign instead?
If a new design matters to you more than a faster chip, waiting is defensible. The reporting points to bigger changes a year or two out, and one unconfirmed leak suggests next year brings a new band attachment system. That is a long time to sit on your hands for something nobody has confirmed.
My take
This is a filler year for the Apple Watch, and I would rather Apple leave it alone than dress a chip revision up as a reinvention. The S11 is genuinely useful for anyone on old hardware and completely irrelevant for anyone on new hardware. Not every product needs an annual reason to exist.
What I would not do is buy a Series 12 or an Ultra 4 on the assumption that something bigger follows shortly after. If the band system really does change next year, the sensible play is either a discounted Series 11 now, or holding what you have until the redesign is announced rather than rumoured.
My money says the interesting Apple Watch is the 2027 one. This year I am keeping my Ultra 3 and putting the difference towards the iPhone 18 Pro instead.
Source: MacRumors