We only have a month left to go until Apple’s expected to launch the Apple Watch Series 11 at its September event. Thanks to plenty of Apple Watch Series 11 leaks, we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the next premium Apple timepiece. While the watch’s design itself isn’t expected to change much, the recently announced watchOS 26 promises to overhaul its look and feel as well as introduce several new features.
Don’t expect any new sensors, as Apple says its long-awaited non-invasive blood glucose monitoring is still “many years away.” Though we can be sure it’ll show off some handy new features powered by Apple Intelligence. We’ll have to see whether that’ll be enough for Apple’s lineup to make the cut for our best smartwatches ranking.
With the clock winding down before its big reveal, we’re rounding up all the biggest Apple Watch Series 11 upgrades that have been rumored so far.
Updated S11 and modem chips
Just because the Apple Watch Series 11 isn’t getting a design overhaul doesn’t mean there aren’t a few hardware upgrades in store. Apple upgrades its processor with every smartwatch release, so we expect to see an updated S11 chip, which could improve performance and battery life.
Apple’s latest smartwatches could get a serious new connectivity improvement too. The Apple Watch Series 11 lineup is rumored to pack new modems from MediaTek with 5G RedCap support, which could finally let Apple’s wearables ditch LTE connectivity for 5G. Satellite connectivity could be coming for the rugged Watch Ultra 3 as well, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
New WatchOS 26 features
As we said, easily the biggest upgrade coming to the Apple Watch Series 11 is the new watchOS 26. The latest software adds plenty of new features to play with, like Wrist Flick gesture controls, which make dismissing notifications and alerts as easy as, well, a flick of the wrist. It seems so simple and intuitive, I’m surprised it took Apple over 10 years to implement it.
Then there’s the Workout Buddy, which is sure to prove popular. Apple’s new personalized exercise coach helps you make the most of your workouts by providing tips, analysis, and motivation. It even sounds like a personal trainer is right there with you, cheering you on, because it uses an AI model trained on voice data from real Apple Fitness Plus trainers.
WatchOS 26 also brings a long-requested feature to Apple smartwatches: Notes app support. All of your existing notes automatically sync to the app for easy viewing, but unfortunately, “viewing” is all you can do. You still won’t be able to edit notes with your Apple Watch, though you can start a new one using the screen’s tiny keyboard or audio dictation.
Those curious can download the watchOS 26 beta right now for a test run. While you’re at it, be sure to check out our full round-up of watchOS 26 features we can’t wait to try.
Sleep score
At long last, Apple seems to be developing a sleep score feature for Apple Watch. Code found in iOS 26 suggests the Watch Series 11 could algorithmically monitor and rank the user’s time spent and quality of sleep.
It’s a feature already found on many of the best smartwatches, but it’ll be interesting to see Apple’s spin on it. Especially given that many of Apple’s existing health features, such as sleep apnea detection, are either backed by clinical research or cleared by the FDA. It’s possible Apple’s sleep score will take multiple health metrics into account, similar to what we saw with the Vitals option introduced with watchOS 11.
Blood pressure tracking
The Watch Ultra 3 is said to be Apple’s first wearable to support blood pressure monitoring. While it’s not the first smartwatch on the market to do so (Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 can also track your blood pressure), Apple’s implementing this new feature in a pretty ingenious way.
Rather than providing an exact figure on diastolic or systolic measurements like you get with an on-the-arm cuff, this will work more like the sleep apnea detector to let the wearer know when their blood pressure starts creeping up.
Once the user is notified about hypertension, the watch can give that information to a medical professional for additional testing. Just like other Apple Watch features that provide an early warning system for potential health concerns.
Liquid glass interface
Finally, the Watch Series 11 is set to bring iOS 26’s biggest (and most divisive) selling point to Apple’s line of wearables: liquid glass. Like the name would suggest, the liquid glass interface gives apps a translucent finish devoid of color, letting on-screen elements behind it bleed through as if seen through glass. You can already test out how liquid glass looks with the watchOS 26 beta.
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