Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: Gurman Says Don't Expect Much, Despite the Rumour Mill Saying Otherwise

Apple's next Watch lineup arrives alongside the iPhone 18 Pro in September, and the rumour mill has been considerably louder about it than the reporting actually warrants. Blood pressure sensing, Touch ID, a microLED display upgrade — plenty of outlets are running with these. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, whose track record on Apple hardware is about as reliable as it gets, has been consistently more measured: expect a new chip and some health-tracking refinements, not a redesign.

What's Actually Locked In

Gurman's Power On newsletter reported on August 5–6 that Apple is now in "late-stage testing" of three models — the Apple Watch Series 12 in both Wi-Fi-only and cellular variants, plus the Apple Watch Ultra 4. That's a firmer signal than earlier-stage leaks typically carry, and it's the clearest indication yet that all three are locked in for a September launch rather than any last-minute lineup shuffle.

The Real Headline: A New Chip After a Year-Long Pause

Both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 currently run the same S10 chip that debuted a generation earlier in the Series 10 and Ultra 2 — meaning Apple has gone a full cycle without a genuine Watch performance upgrade. MacRumors reports leaked Apple code shows the Series 12 moving to a new chip, though it's unclear whether it will carry S11 or S12 branding. Either way, it's the first real Watch performance jump in years, and multiple reports point to longer battery life as the other headline focus — Weibo-sourced leaks suggest Apple is specifically targeting endurance gains over the Series 11's current 24-hour (38-hour Low Power Mode) rating.

What Gurman Explicitly Says Won't Happen

Here's where the reporting genuinely splits, and it's worth being upfront about it rather than blending every rumour into one list. Touch ID built into the side button had circulated as a real possibility based on leaked Apple code, and a blood-pressure sensor and microLED display have both appeared in less-authoritative coverage. Gurman, however, has been direct: neither the Series 12 nor the Ultra 4 will get a "major design overhaul," and he specifically frames Touch ID as unlikely given that it would itself count as a meaningful design change. He also doesn't mention the blood-pressure sensor or microLED rumours in his own reporting at all — an omission that, given his track record, is itself a signal these features are less likely than the wider rumour cycle suggests.

Ultra 4: An Internal Refresh, Not a Visible One

The Ultra line hasn't had a genuine hardware refresh in a while — the Ultra 3 shared its S10 chip with the standard Series 11 rather than getting anything Ultra-specific. Some outlets, including ESR's buying guide, cite rumours of a roughly 15% thinner Ultra 4 design and battery life approaching 72 hours, though real-world use is more likely to land in the 48–60 hour range even if the headline number holds up. As with the Series 12, Gurman's reporting is clear that any changes here are concentrated under the hood rather than in a visible redesign.

Apple has not confirmed the Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, their specifications, or a launch date. Everything in this article is drawn from analyst and leaker reporting and remains unverified until Apple's official announcement.