Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 Gain New S-Class Chip for Siri AI
Updated
Updated · 9to5Mac · Aug 21
Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 Gain New S-Class Chip for Siri AI
3 articles · Updated · 9to5Mac · Aug 21
Summary
Next month’s Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are expected to debut a genuinely faster S-class chip, ending a stretch of mostly nominal annual chip updates.
watchOS 27’s headline feature—Siri AI—drives the upgrade, because the new assistant matches the version on iPhone, iPad and Mac and needs more processing power on the wrist.
The last real Apple Watch performance jump came with the S9 in 2023; last year’s Ultra 3 and Series 11 reportedly reused the same S10 chip as their predecessors.
That hardware shift also helps explain why watchOS 27 drops support for many older Watch models, positioning the new devices as Apple’s first watches built for its AI era.