Apple Watch Series 12 reviewed: the standard

Nearly a teenager, the Apple Watch Series 12 has refined its looks and built up its understanding of health. If only it had one more thing to complete its package.

It might sound crazy, but the smartwatches have been with us for a decade.

For over ten years, we’ve been wearing an extension of the smartphone on our wrists, making it do more than simply “tell the time”, and having it tell us stuff about ourselves: how we move, when we move, how often we move, and reminding us that we really should move.

Like our phones, our wearables are an extension of our lives, but found on our wrists, and they now track more about our fitness than really anything else.

And in Apple’s Series 12 Watch, our need to know more about our movements is fuelling what actually is different about this model. It sports a newly updated and rebuilt approach to monitoring heart rate, with this the main thing that separates it from other generations.

Is that enough? Is a new heart-rate tracking system what Apple needs to stay in the smartwatch game, or are other players beginning to catch up to the lead Apple has long had in this category?

Design and features

In the latest generation of Apple Watch, not a lot has changed visually. The same softened square (more a softened rectangle, actually) is still here, with a most bezel-free design that sees the screen wrap around and curve almost off the glass. It’

It’s a pretty device for sure, and one of the better looking smartwatch models you can find. But it’s the Series 11 Apple Watch with a few changes under the hood. You’d never know the difference unless you were looking at the from underneath.

Even in our aluminium base-model Series 12 Apple Watch review model, the look is lovely (though sadly, no such luck for either the premium titanium or ceramic version to review).

While the look hasn’t changed, owners of the aluminium base model do get something new for their time, with an improvement to the scratch resistance, courtesy of Ceramic Shield 2, the same glass resistance the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max sported. That actually kept those models mostly scratch-free in our time with them, so it’s definitely quite welcome here.

Mind you, owners of both the titanium and ceramic equivalents for a minimum of double the price get sapphire crystal, which is clearly much more durable and also much more premium.

However, what each includes is largely still the same: a choice of the small 42mm or large 46mm models with either a 376×446 or 416×496 screen (respectively) dependent on the model you look at. Each version is OLED and supports always-on, supporting a 1Hz refresh rate and improved power efficiency LPTO3, or Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (the third version).

Regardless the model, each includes the Apple S11 system-on-a-chip with 64GB storage, and sensors covering water temperature, depth gauge, ambient light, gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, altimeter, and a newly rebuild health system skin temperature, SpO2 blood oxygen, always-on optical heart, and electric heart covering electrocardiogram (ECG).

It’s a complex assortment of sensors which allows Apple to cover heart rate variability, something new to the mix that contributes to your “readiness score”.

Each also includes two buttons, with a Digital Crown knob completer with a button inside, and the side button. They also both include a microphone and speaker, as well. In case you want to make and take calls on your wrist, just like you’ve come from the future.

In-use

The aesthetics may not have changed dramatically, but neither have how you use the watch. Not too much, anyway.

The main change is that the Digital Crown’s button doesn’t have to trigger every app in a honeycomb shape, or even the full list. You can instead get seven of your most used apps, or six plus a shortcut to the rest. Alternatively, swipe up and the list becomes apparent.

It’s a faster way of using the tiny watch screen, which would hardly show you what you truly needed before, and now seems a little more reliable for getting around.

You can also do the Apple gesture thing of double-tapping your thumb and forefinger together, signalling to the watch hardware you move forward, but frankly the touchscreen and physical controls are a lot more reliable. We’ll just stick to those, thank you.

Performance

The latest processor means Apple’s latest watch is indeed fast, but previous models haven’t really seen complaints in that regard. However, this new model should see you through over the next few years all the same.

That said, the performance improvements in the Series 12 aren’t really about the speed of the watch or how quickly it will run apps. Rather, it’s for the changes to heart rate tracking.

For the new watch, Apple has rebuilt its heart rate technology, and the difference is noticeable on the underside of the thing. The sensor is definitely more complex and appears to have more in it, which is handy given the heart rate variability is new to the range.

Also new is the support for a “readiness score”, a feature that grades your heart and strain and sleep quality to give you a number from zero to ten, deciding how hard you can take on the day. It’s specific to you, covering your body and how you’re faring, but isn’t always tremendously reliable.

Low scores basically mean to recover or slow down, while higher scores suggest you can take on the day, or even go hard, our readiness scores hardly felt accurate. A score of five after a mediocre night’s sleep and a suggestion that this reviewer was rested when he actually needed to down two Red Bulls was a regular misread, and it just didn’t ever achieve the reliability that was expected.

The number merely felt like a metric to kick his butt into gear, but hardly felt accurate in the slightest. And could only be found on the watch Readiness app, not in Apple’s Health app.

It just doesn’t feel as much of a win as Apple is expecting. Maybe we just need more data.

Battery

There may well be a new heart rate tracker, but the battery is largely the same, and that means you won’t likely see any major changes.

Our review period typically saw a day and a half of life, though you’d definitely need a charge on the second day, especially knowing that the readiness score and heart rate tracking while sleeping needs roughly 30 percent to do its thing. That easily means a charge on that second day, if not before.

While this is quite normal battery life for an Apple Watch, and possibly faring a little better (at least in the early days of a review period), it’s also a battery life that isn’t changing at all. If anything, the Watch Series 12 battery feels… stuck.

You’ll be able to squeeze a little more life out of the Series 12 Watch battery, but not enough to count.

About the only thing that saves the Series 12 battery is the recharge time, which is faster in this generation, yet still doesn’t hold enough to really do much more than a day of life. Thanks to improvements in charging time, you can now get around 12 hours of battery life from 15 minutes of charging, basically guaranteeing that your watch will have life even if you forget to properly charge it the night before.

Value

Curiously, the price is actually different this year. Lower different. That almost never happens.

This year has seen price rises for much of what Apple makes, and yet the Series 12 is less expensive, starting from $649 compared to the Series 11’s $679 starting price. Indeed, our 46mm review model was lower, too, now at $739 which was definitely welcome.

For that price, you’re easily getting one of the better smartwatch models, mediocre battery notwithstanding, though everything else is largely up there.

We still believe the Apple Watch SE 3 represents the best value in the Apple Watch line-up, but it is nice to see a lower price point all things considered. That is definitely most welcome.

What needs work?

The battery is still a glaring problem on the Apple Watch, and 12 generations in, it’s becoming more difficult to forgive.

It’s not that Apple has a whole lot of competitors vying for the best iPhone-connected smartwatch; nothing else really does the job of the Apple Watch the way this wearable does. The problem is more that other manufacturers are now beginning to show Apple up.

Take the Pixel Watch, which manages to last two days on both last year’s Pixel Watch 4 and this year’s Pixel Watch 5.

You can’t actually use a Pixel Watch with the iPhone, much like how you can’t use an Apple Watch with an Android, so the comparison isn’t totally fair, but the point is this: if Google has managed to inch better battery life from its wearable, why hasn’t Apple?

The problem could be focus: Apple rebuilt the heart rate tech, but largely left the battery untouched. It tweaked the processor and sped up the recharge tech, but the battery life hasn’t changed dramatically.

Maybe next time Apple should spend time improving the battery life. Given that the models below the Ultra barely hit a day after several months of ownership, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine customers hoping this was next on the agenda later on.

There’s also that “readiness” score, which doesn’t seem like a tremendous reason to buy a watch. If anything, it’s barely secondary, and didn’t seem to be all that useful, at least not to this reviewer.

The frustrating part is that most of what makes the Series 12 feel different to its predecessor is that new heart rate mechanism, which is more impressive technically even glancing at it, and now stores more heart rate data. Handy.

But overall, the Series 12 Apple Watch just needs more change. Things seem so minimalist, you’d swear you were being sold the Series 11. Maybe even the Series 10.

What we love

Despite the mediocre battery life and the heart rate feature feeling like the only major change, the Apple Watch Series 12 is still one of the most well-rounded and highly polished wearables you can find anywhere. It’s a lovely device, even if it seems like other gadgets are beginning to catch up and lap.

There aren’t a heap of changes worth worrying about, which also means that while the Series 12 Apple Watch will be a new model to consider for many people, it’s mainly an upgrade path for older Apple Watch owners keen to just have whatever Apple says is the best, but still arrives in a smaller design than the larger Apple Watch Ultra model.

Don’t want the biggest Apple Watch, but do want the best combination of features? The Series 12 has your name on it, even if a better battery life isn’t one of those reasons.

Series 12 Apple Watch vs the competition

It’s worth noting that the Apple Watch doesn’t exist in a vacuum; there are other smartwatches found around the place, and some even work on iOS.

While none technically offer the deep level of integration with an iPhone, and few support 4G/5G mobile use so you can leave your phone at home, there are wearables from the likes of Garmin and Amazfit, not to mention Withings and other makers that can deliver on the fitness side of things, and will let you get more battery life. There are also rings like the Oura or smart bands like the Whoop. There are definite options.

The caveat is the Apple-quality integration: virtually none tie into the Apple ecosystem of payments and Apple News and other core iPhone connected features. If you want that on your iPhone, it’s basically the Apple Watch or nothing.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

For iPhone owners, the Apple Watch is still the one to consider, simply because of how solid a system it all is. Nearly everything comes together. It’s a solid little package and delivers so much.

But 12 years in, it also feels as though Apple is playing catch-up, and the hardware isn’t quite as compelling as it once was. The competition isn’t quite as grounded as the Apple Watch, but other wearables are beginning to make the case, and might just also nudge you in the direction of a different phone brand, as well.

For Apple, this means the Series 12 Apple Watch is still the model that will likely win over iPhone owners first and foremost, but that unless the rest of the package changes, that might also change with it. It’s the standard, but it’s also a standard that probably needs to improve.

As it is, the Series 12 Apple Watch is worth looking at and considering if you have an older model, or simply love living in the Apple ecosystem. But we definitely want a little more excitement for next time, starting with a better battery altogether.