Apple Watch Series 12 one week later: There's so much more than meets the eye

When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12, two features stood out: the new Siri Recap feature, as well as the much improved heart rate monitor. While those two features were part of the reason I was compelled to buy the new Apple Watch, I’ve found myself delighted by much more than just those two things.

While Apple’s website doesn’t quote any additional battery life for Apple Watch Series 12compared to Series 11, the battery certainly feels like it lasts longer. As I’ve written in the past, I was someone who used the WHOOP prior to the Apple Watch Series 12, and even though I kept my Apple Watch, I never used it for sleep tracking.

After the keynote, I decided to give Apple Watch sleep tracking a shot. That said, on my Series 11, juggling sleep tracking and charging was a bit of a pain. After using the watch throughout the day, I’d have to charge it a little bit before going to sleep, then when I wake up, I’d have to charge it again.

On Series 12, that isn’t the case. It has enough battery to last through a day and overnight, and now I just charge it when I wake up.Apple Watch Series 12also charges significantly faster, which makes that part less of a pain. 15 minutes of charging gets you up to 12 hours of use, per Apple.

I imagine the new S11 chip, derived from the A20 Pro’s 2nm design, is a large part of the reason why battery life feels so much longer. Regardless of the why, it feels amazing to not have charging anxiety around sleep tracking on the Apple Watch Series 12. Another big upside to the S11 chip? Apple Watch Series 12 feels so much faster, especially with Siri.

On Series 12, Apple finally includes a proper step counter as a complication, which I like checking on in my smart stack. Could this come to older Apple Watches? Probably. It’s not like Apple didn’t count steps before. Apple Watch Series 12 certainly counts them more accurately, but given the fact that the data is there, I think Apple should just add the complication. Either way, it’s nice to have on Series 12.

Another neat new feature is the entire Readiness app, which gives you an idea of how okay you’re doing today based on last night’s sleep, your previous day’s activity, and your vitals. This is similar to a recovery score on WHOOP, and I was certainly happy to see Apple add this to the Apple Watch? It’s a bit of a bummer it’s exclusive to the Series 12, but I could understand why Apple isn’t willing to calculate it with less accurate data.

All in all, the Apple Watch Series 12 is a rather nice upgrade. It’s a total S year, but if you care about your Apple Watch actually doing more rather than just looking different, I’d say this might be one of the most substantial year over year upgrades since Apple Watch Series 4.

The bezels certainly got aslight bit thicker compared to Series 10 and 11. As someone who uses a watch face with a black background, I can’t say I’ve noticed this much – though I hope Apple improves on this in the next iteration.

One last thing of note: Apple Watch Series 12 offers Ceramic Shield 2 on the aluminum models, making it hold up to scratches much better than older Apple Watch models. I haven’t owned mine long enough to truly test this, though so far my Apple Watch still looks perfect.

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