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Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 review: More personal than ever before
The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are all about what’s happening underneath. Headlined by a new Health Sensing System, they bring some of the biggest improvements to Apple Watch health tracking in years.
I’ve spent the last week with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 look the same as their predecessors. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 comes in the same two titanium finishes as before: Natural and Black. My review unit is the Natural finish.
For the Apple Watch Series 12, the real design story is in the colors and finishes.
First, there are some very minor changes in the dimensions of the Apple Watch Series 12. Apple’s tech specs page details that the display area is about 2% smaller than the Series 10 and Series 11. The overall pixel count, however, hasn’t changed. With that slight reduction in display area, the casing is about 1mm wider on the Apple Watch Series 12.
In practice, none of this is noticeable in the real world. The Apple Watch’s display still stretches near the edge of the casing. When you think about the revamped health sensing system (more on that below), it’s especially impressive Apple has maintained that design.
The Apple Watch Series 12 is available in three materials: aluminum, titanium, and ceramic.
Aluminum comes in four finishes: Dark Bronze, Light Gold, Black, and Space Gray. The aluminum version also switches from Ion-X to Ceramic Shield 2 for the front glass.
My Apple Watch Series 12 review unit is the black aluminum finish. Unlike last year’s Jet Black aluminum case, the black Apple Watch Series 12 is a matte finish. I think I’m partial to the Jet Black look personally, but I understand Apple switches things up on a year-to-year basis and it could return at some point in the future.
In my hands-on time with all the Apple Watch Series 12 aluminum colors last week, Dark Bronze stood out most. It’s an elegant finish that is unlike any previous aluminum Apple Watch. The Light Gold is also a really nice color for fans of gold. The Apple Watch Series 12 isn’t available in silver aluminum, but the space gray is light enough that I think it will tick that box for most people.