Apple announced the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, which will go on sale on 18 September. New features include the return of the ceramic model, 4GB of RAM and Audio Intelligence. Apple also issued a notice regarding the timing of hypertension notifications in Japan.
Apple officially announced the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 on 10 September, opened preorders the same day and will begin sales on 18 September. The current lineup will consist of Series 12, Ultra 4 and SE 3, while Series 11 and Ultra 3 will be discontinued. The return of the ceramic model is a key feature, with prices starting at ¥159,800 for the ceramic model, ¥142,800 for Ultra 4 and ¥41,800 for SE 3. In Japan, a notice stating that the hypertension notification feature remains subject to approval procedures is still displayed, which should be taken into account.
Series 12 and Ultra 4 feature a new sensing system and an S11-series chip, enabling more frequent heart-rate variability measurements, while RAM has been increased to 4GB. With Audio Intelligence, pressing the Digital Crown twice rewinds 15 seconds and displays a meeting summary, while Siri Recap is also available. Faster charging is cited as an improvement, enabling 18 hours of use after 15 minutes of charging. GLONASS is no longer listed for Ultra 4, while the positioning system continues to support GPS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou.
Alongside the pricing announcement and preorder date, the carriers also published their information, with NTT DOCOMO, au, SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile providing effective prices. DOCOMO cited an example of discounts bringing the effective price to ¥66,110, while au listed ¥56,150 and SoftBank ¥56,160. Rakuten Mobile is expected to sell the GPS + Cellular model for ¥99,800.
Details have been compiled on the supported models and Japanese-language availability of the new features for Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, as well as the release date for watchOS 27, alongside the release and preorder dates. Further developments regarding availability in Japan are awaited.