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The newly announced iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may start at $100 more than their predecessors, but Apple has made slight cuts to the starting price of its latest wearables. The freshly revealed Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $649, down from $679 for last year's model, and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 got a $50 price cut down to $1,349.
Both the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 share a couple of new features, including a new chipset, revamped health sensors, and "Audio Intelligence". Out of these, the new S11 chip is the least interesting, with it largely being used to facilitate new functionality.
The revamped health sensors mean the Watches now measure heart rate every five seconds, which is 60 times as frequent as past models. Heart rate variability is now measured 24 times as frequently too. In addition to providing more accurate fitness data, this extra information is used to provide a "Readiness Score". This is a score from zero to ten that's meant to give you an indication of whether you should rest and recover, or push it in workouts.
Audio Intelligence refers to a raft of features that take advantage of the new Apple Watch models having an "always-on" microphone. These include:
- Sound Recognition: Get alerts for sounds like doorbells, sirens, alarms, or babies crying
- Live Rewind: Get a transcript for the last 15 seconds of a conversation on your wrist
- Siri Recap: Get a summary of conversations you had throughout the day at the end of the day
- Shazam: Automatically find out what song is playing without needing to ask
Live Rewind and Siri Recap won't be available until later this year. Siri Recap can be set on a schedule, or disabled entirely.
Otherwise, the main change to the Apple Watch Series 12 is aluminium models now have a Ceramic Shield 2 display, for greater durability. A high-end ceramic Series 12 is also available.
On the Apple Watch Ultra 4 front, the other main change is battery life. Apple says the wearable will last for up to 50 hours per charge, or 84 hours in low power mode. A 15-minute charge is said to add 18 hours of additional battery life.
Both new Apple Watch models are available to pre-order now ahead of a September 18 release date. The Series 12 starts at $649 for a 42mm aluminium model, $1,249 for a 42mm titanium model, or $1,599 for a 42mm ceramic model. The Ultra 4 retails for $1,349.
Alex Choros
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