- Apple introduced Watch Series 12/Ultra 4 with AI enhancements.
- New audio intelligence, sound recognition features enhance usability.
- Upgraded health sensors, wellness scores provide detailed physiological data.
- Series 12 starts at $399; Ultra 4 begins at $499.
Apple has expanded its smartwatch lineup with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, introducing a stronger focus on artificial intelligence, health monitoring and everyday wellness insights. The new models were unveiled Wednesday at Apple’s iPhone launch event in Cupertino.
Rather than relying on a dramatic redesign, Apple has focused this generation on software capabilities and upgraded sensing technology. The company is also positioning the watches to compete with the growing category of AI-enabled wearable devices by adding tools designed to help users remember and understand conversations.
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AI Features Turn the Watch Into a Conversation Companion
One of the biggest additions is Apple’s new “Audio Intelligence” suite. It includes “Live Rewind”, which allows users to revisit up to 15 seconds of a recent conversation. By double-pressing the Digital Crown, users can access the previous 15 seconds as a text transcript.
That information can then be queried through Siri or saved inside the new Siri app for later reference. The feature could be particularly useful during meetings, appointments or situations where users need to quickly recover a detail they may have missed.
Apple is also introducing “Siri Recap”, designed to capture important points from everyday conversations. With the feature enabled, ambient listening is used to generate high-level notes. These could include meeting takeaways or important points from a parent-teacher conference. Following the conversation, Apple Intelligence automatically creates a title and key points within the Siri app.
Apple says the audio intelligence capabilities do not create or retain audio recordings.
New Accessibility and Sound Recognition Features
The new watches also add a “Sound Recognition” capability aimed at people who are hard of hearing. The feature can identify environmental sounds including sirens, alarms, doorbells and a baby crying.
The addition broadens the role of the Apple Watch beyond fitness and communications, giving it another accessibility-focused function that can provide users with contextual alerts about sounds around them.
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Health Sensors Get a Major Upgrade
Health tracking is another central focus of the Series 12 and Ultra 4. Both watches receive a revised health-sensing system featuring a larger electrode surface area. Apple says the change improves skin contact during ECG measurements.
The optical sensing hardware has also been redesigned. Photodiodes are positioned in a ring arrangement to improve how efficiently light is captured, while more power-efficient green LEDs are used to support accurate heart-rate tracking throughout the day, including while users are moving.
One of the most notable changes is the frequency of background heart-rate measurements. The watches can now capture readings every five seconds throughout the day, including during activity. Apple says this represents a 60-fold increase in measurement frequency compared with the previous system.
The additional data feeds into Apple’s broader wellness features, potentially giving users a more detailed picture of their daily activity and physiological trends.
Readiness Scores and Health Age Add More Wellness Insights
Taking inspiration from the growing smart-ring category, Apple is adding new readiness scores. The feature evaluates recent activity, vital signs and sleep data each morning before producing a single score intended to indicate how prepared the body is for the day ahead.
Another new feature, “Health Age”, compares selected health indicators with a user’s actual age. The calculation draws on information collected by the watch, including VO2 max, sleep data and other health metrics.
Together, these features shift the Apple Watch further toward continuous wellness tracking rather than simply recording workouts and individual health measurements.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 Price In India (Expected)
The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399, while the Apple Watch Ultra 4 carries a starting price of $499.
Using an exchange rate of roughly $1 = Rs 95.08 on September 9, the US prices translate to approximately Rs 37,900 for the Series 12 and Rs 47,500 for the Ultra 4.
These are direct currency conversions and should not be treated as official Indian launch prices, since local pricing can differ because of taxes, duties, regional pricing and configuration.
With the new generation, Apple is therefore putting less emphasis on a visual overhaul and more on what the watch can understand, measure and communicate. The combination of AI-powered audio features, more frequent health sensing and personalized wellness scores gives the Series 12 and Ultra 4 a broader role in Apple’s wearable ecosystem.
