{"id":623123,"date":"2026-09-13T06:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T06:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623123\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T06:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T06:04:17","slug":"apple-watch-series-12-vs-11-here-are-the-6-biggest-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623123\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Watch Series 12 vs 11: Here are the 6 biggest differences"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Apple Watch Series 12<\/a> just dropped, and you might be wondering whether to buy an Apple Watch Series 11 <\/a>on sale or wait and pre-order the new watch<\/a>. Both watches will run the new watchOS 27 software, both have the same battery life, and both look pretty much identical, but there are some key differences. We\u2019ll dive into them below, so read this before adding either watch to your cart.<\/p>\n


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The Apple Watch Series 12 is Apple’s newest smartwatch, available to pre-order now. It has a new heart rate monitor and a helpful daily readiness score.<\/p>\n

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The Apple Watch Series 11 is now Apple’s older flagship watch. It won’t get some of Apple’s new longevity features or Audio Intelligence, but it’s still a fantastic smartwatch. <\/p>\n

Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Series 11: 6 biggest differences Heart rate monitor <\/p>\n

They might look the same, but flip the watches over and you\u2019ll spot the biggest difference from a health and fitness-tracking perspective: the newer watch has a completely redesigned heart rate monitor. Apple says it\u2019s the most accurate heart rate sensor in a wearable, with larger, more power-efficient green LEDs that measure your heart rate every five seconds, compared to every five minutes in the Apple Watch<\/a> Series 11.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

But why does this even matter? Continuous heart rate monitoring lets the watch provide more accurate heart rate variability (HRV) data. On the Apple Watch Series 12, you\u2019ll be able to see your Recovery HRV score, which shows signs of stress and recovery, as well as your overall HRV, which offers insights into your overall health.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos FromTom’s Guide<\/p>\n

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The new heart rate monitor also allows you to use Apple\u2019s new Readiness score. More on that below.<\/p>\n

Daily Readiness score<\/p>\n

Readiness provides a single score out of ten with one of four different recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. Readiness updates throughout the day as new data comes in, and is based on your overnight vitals, sleep score, recent physical activity, and training load.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)Charging speed <\/p>\n

Even with continuous heart rate monitoring, both watches have the same 24-hour battery life in smartwatch mode. That said, the Apple Watch Series 12 offers faster charging and slightly longer GPS-mode battery life \u2014 10 hours instead of 8 on the Series 11.<\/p>\n

With the Series 12, 15 minutes of charging gives you 12 hours of battery life, making it easier to ensure you don\u2019t miss any sleep-tracking data.<\/p>\n

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n

Audio Intelligence features <\/p>\n

The third huge difference between the two devices is that the Apple Watch Series 12 has Apple\u2019s Audio Intelligence features on board. This uses Apple Intelligence to tell you what song is playing in the background in real time, detect important sounds you might have missed, get a transcript of the last 15 seconds of conversation with Live Rewind, and take notes of your conversations throughout the day with Siri<\/a> Recap.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

These features will drop later in the year, and you can read more about the Audio Intelligence features on the Apple Watch<\/a> here.<\/p>\n

Processor<\/p>\n

The Apple Watch Series 12 has the new S11 chip. As well as the features above, Apple says this chip has redesigned algorithms to improve the distance accuracy of indoor walk or run workouts, as well as a more accurate pedometer. With the Apple Watch Series 12, you\u2019ll also be able to see how many steps you\u2019ve taken each day from your home screen.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

Durability and cases<\/p>\n

While the two watches look pretty much identical, the Apple Watch Series 12 watches with aluminum cases have a tougher screen.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Finally, you\u2019ll also get new finishes with the Series 12 \u2014 there\u2019s a new radiant gold titanium casing, as well as two new ceramic casings in pearl white and night blue.<\/p>\n

Which should you pick? <\/p>\n

So, should you pre-order the Apple Watch Series 12, or save your money and buy the Series 11 when it goes on sale? We\u2019re yet to fully test the Series 12, so stay tuned for our full review dropping later this month, but from the heart rate sensor alone, this seems like a worthy upgrade from a health and fitness tracking standpoint.<\/p>\n

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Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News<\/a> and add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Alternatively, you can read our content on the Tom’s Guide app available now for iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a>. <\/p>\n

More from Tom’s Guide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Apple Watch Series 12 just dropped, and you might be wondering whether to buy an Apple Watch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[203,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-623123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-gadgets","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}