Apple Watch Series 12 announced: Everything you need to know about the new flagship Apple Watch

The Apple Watch Series 12 has been unveiled by Apple, marking a new era for the company's flagship smartwatch. During the September 9 Surprise and Shine event, Apple introduced the Series 12 alongside the Apple Watch Ultra 4, alongside the new iPhone 18 series and the iPhone Duo. Boasting a redesigned health sensor array, an upgraded processor, and a host of new wellness tools, the Apple Watch Series 12 promises to be a powerful companion for health and fitness enthusiasts.

The Series 12 comes with a starting price of $399, identical to its predecessor, the Series 11. It is available for preorder starting today and will be released on September 18. In terms of design, the Series 12 closely resembles the Series 11, offering various finishes such as Space Grey, Black, Light Gold, and Dark Bronze for the aluminum case; Pearl White and Night Blue for the ceramic case; and Polished Gold and Polished Silver for the titanium case.

Health-wise, the Series 12 introduces an improved health sensing system, enhanced heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) tracking, and a new Readiness metric. Users will also benefit from the Health Age score, which provides insights into their overall health status. The redesigned Health app now offers improved recovery insights and dynamic AI-powered health and fitness guidance that evolves over time. Additionally, the Health app supports personal health data and lab results.

From an AI perspective, the Series 12 enables users to interact with Siri, Apple's voice assistant. Live Rewind allows users to 'go back in time' up to 15 seconds, while Sound Recognition can automatically alert users to common sounds like sirens and alarms. Siri Recap takes high-level notes of conversations and generates summaries, making it easier for users to keep track of their daily interactions.