Apple Watch Series 12 brings back a ceramic option, and in conjunction with watchOS 27, it has a new health app called Readiness, and privacy-centric audio recording features.

Ceramic is back with the new Apple Watch Series 5In an update that sees little else changed with the Apple Watch Series 12, there is now a ceramic option plus watchOS 27 adds new Readiness and Recap apps. It's seven years since the last ceramic model, the Apple Watch Series 5, but now Apple has brought back the material and done so in two colors.

The new ceramic Apple Watch Series 12 comes in pearl white and night blue. The aluminum model comes in black, light gold, and a dark bronze. Apple Watch Series 12 has a new gold color, as well as a natural titanium one.

If the Apple Watch hardware hasn't significantly changed with the new Apple Watch Series 12, watchOS 27 software has. Plus as recently predicted, watchOS 27 comes with more features than were shown in the beta releases. It appears that some of those features will have to wait for future hardware updates, but Apple has unveiled a new Readiness fitness app that should work on at least most recent editions of the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch Series 12 has an increased surface area for its electrode, meaning that it has better skin contact. It's also been redesigned to use larger green LEDs to support more regular heart rate measurements throughout the day. There is a higher frequency of monitoring that means heart rates are taken every five seconds all day, which is 60 times more than before. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is also checked up to every five minutes. All of this data, and more, is saved to the Apple Health app. Apple Intelligence then provides suggestions for improving fitness workouts. Putting Apple Watch more in competition with specialist health wearables is a new series of features that assess the wearer's capacity for exercise and effort on a given day.

Unique to the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4, though, is Siri Recap. This is a Siri AI-based feature that can summarize the wearer's day, based on workouts and location. Apple Watch Series 12 and watchOS 27 also use the Apple Watch's microphone to capture audio data throughout the day. It only does so if the user allows it to, though, and ...