The September iPhone show will not be phones only. 9to5Mac’s roundup says new Apple Watch models launch beside iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has said both watches get “a long-awaited bump in chips and speed.” Today’s watches still use an S10-class chip, and real performance has not jumped much since the S9 in 2023. watchOS 27 is adding a more capable Siri, so an S11 would arrive right when the software finally needs it.
Design rumors disagree. Digitimes has talked up a “major redesign” for Apple Watch Ultra 4. Gurman thinks a big new shape waits until at least next year, but he has floated a ceramic case coming back. Treat redesign talk as unconfirmed and the chip bump as the more consistent leak. The Ultra 4 and Series 12 names are the working labels in the rumor mill, not an Apple press release.
If you buy watches on launch day, wait for the S11 benchmarks and battery numbers, not the render. If you only want Siri that can finish a thought on your wrist, this is the first cycle in years where the silicon rumor matches the software story. Pricing and exact sensor changes are still not locked.
Source: https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/14/new-apple-watch-models-launch-next-month-heres-whats-coming/
