The Apple Watch Could Get a Fresh Coat of Paint in watchOS 12
Credit: Apple
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If the latest reports are accurate, iOS 19 is slated to get the biggest design overhaul we’ve seen in over a decade, adopting a design aesthetic similar to visionOS. While we hadn’t heard much about the Apple Watch in this light, a new report suggests that Apple’s wearable won’t be left out of the party.
According to Israeli site The Verifier, Apple is working on not only adding a “visionOS-inspired design” to the Apple Watch but may even bring Apple Intelligence to this year’s model.
Any redesign would undoubtedly be part of watchOS 12 and would therefore come to all models that support the new software release. In theory, that should take us back to at least the Apple Watch Series 7, but there haven’t been any reports of Apple’s specific plans in that area yet.
Such a redesign would be surprising, considering that Apple completely refreshed the Apple Watch user interface less than two years ago in watchOS 10. However, The Verifier also says the changes here may be more subtle, bringing “elements of visionOS to the watch” but not the wholesale redesign expected to come to iOS 19.
It’s also possible these changes may be held off until watchOS 13 in 2026, as it notes that the redesign is still in development, and Apple is expected to unveil watchOS 12 in just over eight weeks. The Verifier has shared Apple software-related leaks in the past, albeit with a mixed track record, including a report that a visionOS-like redesign would come in iOS 18. At best, it was a year off on that one, so the same could hold true for watchOS.
The more dubious part of The Verifier’s claim is the addition of Apple Intelligence to the wearable. This would require new hardware and would therefore be limited to the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3, both of which are expected to debut this fall. However, the report goes a step further, saying that Apple plans to limit it to its premium Apple Watch Ultra 3, with AI features not arriving on the standard models until at least 2026.
This year’s Apple Watch Ultra is reportedly on deck to get 5G and satellite messaging capabilities, which would make it a pretty significant update. The Verifier claims that Apple is also working on a new processor that will be exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra, which would be enough to power AI features like notification summaries, Genmoji creation, and new Siri features related to health and fitness tracking. The new chip would also power improved gesture recognition, expanding the double-tap that came to the Series 9 and Ultra 2 into more ways to use the wearable with a single hand.
The health features could include sports activity, AI medical monitoring, sleep tracking, heart rate activity, and more.” However, it’s also possible that the report conflates Apple Intelligence with the new AI health features we’ve already heard about from more reliable sources like Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Apple’s health division has been working on an AI health coaching service for several years, and there’s a chance it could debut this fall. However, these aren’t expected to be part of Apple Intelligence and may not run natively on the Apple Watch. The iPhone Health app still does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to these features, and we don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
Along similar lines, it’s also possible that some Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji creation could arrive in watchOS 12, but as iPhone-powered tools. Adding a powerful Neural Engine and 8 GB of RAM to the Apple Watch seems like a big step (current models have 1 GB), but it wouldn’t be a stretch for an Apple Watch to rely on a paired iPhone to handle things like AI image generation.
Nevertheless, this is a rumor that’s best taken with a healthy dose of salt. While The Verifier was the first to accurately report that iOS 13 would drop support for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 and did the same for iOS 14 the following year, it has also had its fair share of false starts and mixed information. In early 2020, it accurately predicted a blood oxygen sensor for the Apple Watch Series 6 but also said we’d see a Touch ID sensor. It was also ultimately correct in predicting multiple profiles for the Apple TV but jumped the gun by two years when it said those would come in tvOS 11 (they didn’t show up until tvOS 13). Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for the so-called “Kids Mode” it predicted for tvOS 14 and an advanced AI-powered Siri it said would come in iOS 11.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
