Apple has unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra 4, adding health tracking updates and longer battery life.
The device introduces a new Health Sensing System and Apple's S11 chip, designed to improve heart rate monitoring and support a new readiness score intended to reflect a user's daily condition. It also extends battery life for general use and outdoor workout tracking.
Among the headline changes is more frequent heart rate measurement, with the watch checking every five seconds throughout the day. Heart rate variability readings are also taken more often, and the revised Heart Rate app now separates recovery HRV from overall HRV.
Overnight vitals now include recovery HRV against a user's personal baseline, while a new daytime vitals view lets users compare overnight and daytime metrics. Apple says this could help users identify shifts in their readings earlier.
Readiness score
The readiness feature gives users a daily score from 0 to 10 based on recent activity, training load, vitals and sleep score. It also assigns one of four prompts: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It.
The score updates during the day as new information comes in, including after workouts or changes in daytime vital signs. Apple says the underlying model was developed using data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study, with input from exercise scientists and physicians.
The watch has also been redesigned for more accurate step counting and indoor distance measurement. Apple describes the change as a full overhaul of the pedometer model using new machine learning algorithms and the S11 chip, and has added a new watch face complication for real-time step tracking.
Battery changes
Battery life is another focus of the update. The watch offers up to 50 hours of use in everyday conditions and up to 84 hours in Low Power Mode.
For outdoor exercise, a new Extended Workout mode provides up to 25 hours with full GPS and heart rate tracking, while a Max Extended Workout mode stretches that to up to 45 hours for runs, walks and hikes. A 15-minute charge can also add up to 18 hours of battery life.
Audio-based software features tied to the S11 chip are also part of the update, although some will arrive later. These include Sound Recognition for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Live Rewind to display the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as text, Siri Recap to generate summaries of conversations, and Shazam music recognition on the watch.
Apple says these functions do not create or store audio recordings, and that raw audio remains inaccessible to the operating system, apps, users and Apple itself. Processing is handled in an isolated hardware section of the chip before the audio is deleted.
Software features
With watchOS 27, the watch also supports a new on-device version of Siri, with what Apple describes as personal context understanding and broader world knowledge. Other software changes include a dynamic app grid, a new single-handed tap gesture, Smart Stack widget suggestions, menopause support in Cycle Tracking, and Workout Buddy support without a nearby iPhone.
The watch will be sold in natural titanium and black titanium. Apple is also releasing new colours for Trail Loop, Alpine Loop and Ocean Band accessories, while the Hermès version adds a Grand H titanium band with an extension mechanism intended to fit over a wetsuit.
Apple says the Apple Watch Ultra 4 contains 45 per cent recycled material overall, including recycled titanium in the case and recycled cobalt in the battery. Its paper packaging is also fibre-based.
Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UAE, the UK, the US, and more than 50 other countries and regions can pre-order the device.
"The new Health Sensing System and S11 chip take Apple Watch Ultra 4 - our most rugged and capable Apple Watch - to the next level, delivering longer battery life, faster charging, and the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable," said Kaiann Drance, Vice President of Worldwide Apple Watch Product Marketing at Apple.
"With powerful health and fitness insights including readiness, new intelligent features, and its large, bright display, Apple Watch Ultra 4 is designed to support you wherever you go, from your workouts, to adventures, to everything you tackle in a day," Drance said.