The Apple Watch Gets its Annual Update
It’s that time of year again: time for Apple to unveil its new slate of products, and for you to consider whether you really need to upgrade your iPhone, or resort to one more year of jiggling chargers and waning battery life. I’ll admit, this year’s crop is cooler than usual, with the iPhone Duo finally coming to fruition and giving us one more foldable phone option. But this is a watch website, so naturally our focus was on the reveal of the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, the latest in Apple’s now long-running collection of smartwatches. They weren’t first to the market with the original Apple Watch—now ten years old, if you can believe it—but like Kleenex and Band-Aid before it, the Watch has now become synonymous with the smartwatch category, and every new model brings massive hype and speculation. So, what are the facts? First, let’s look at the Series 12. Starting at $499 with GPS and cellular ($399 with just GPS), the Series 12 brings back most of the beloved features of its predecessors, with a shiny new S11 chip inside. According to Apple, it carries up to 24 hours of battery life, Siri AI and Audio Intelligence, advanced health tracking, and more, all upgrades over prior versions. The heart rate, sleep apnea, and hypertension sensor and notifications are a big draw with the health crowd and those who need health monitoring, making the Apple Watch a one-stop-shop solution for most people. And while I am not the intended audience for a smartwa...