Apple just announced watchOS 27, and it’s delivering a wakeup call for many owners of older Apple Watch models. The upcoming update will only run on the Apple Watch SE 3, Series 9–11, Ultra 2, and Ultra 3 — leaving the original 2022 Ultra, SE 2, and earlier Series models without the new redesigned app grid, upgraded Siri, and other features.
Even Apple’s premium rugged flagship from just a few years ago gets only three major OS updates before being cut off, highlighting the company’s increasingly aggressive hardware cutoff strategy. If you own one of the unsupported watches, this fall’s update means no new software features — though basic functionality will continue.
Sam Byford for Fast Company:
The first Apple Watch Ultra came out in 2022, so it will have received only three operating system upgrades over the course of its entire life cycle. And this wasn’t a throwaway product — it was Apple’s first significant expansion of the Watch lineup, coming with an all-new design and a $799 price tag. Mine is still going strong; I wasn’t particularly tempted to upgrade to the Ultra 2 or 3.
But now Apple is rendering it obsolete. WatchOS 27 is a fairly significant update, bringing a redesigned app grid and the new version of Siri, and it won’t be coming to the Ultra.
The reason is almost certainly the chip. The original Ultra used Apple’s S8 system-in-package, which actually used the exact same CPU as the S7 and S6 before it. In other words, the Ultra launched with a two-year-old chip.
That wasn’t much of a problem at the time, and really, it hasn’t been much of a problem today… But when the Apple Watch Ultra 2 arrived in 2023 alongside the Series 9, the two new watches did bring a meaningful silicon jump. Their S9 chip included a faster GPU, a new Neural Engine, and support for features like on-device Siri processing and a system-level gesture invoked by double-tapping your thumb and finger together.
Given that the Apple Watch Series 9 is also receiving watchOS 27, it would seem that Apple is using that chip transition to mark a line in the sand and move forward with a new generation of hardware and software.
MacDailyNews Take: Time to upgrade! Apple Watch Ultra turns four years old on September 23rd – an eon in tech time.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
I bought my Ultra eBay Refurbished for about $450 two years ago. It failed at the basic functionality of delivering iMessage notifications from my mother and sister (seemed to work fine for everyone else). If I get another one it will also be eBay Refurbished for at least 50% off retail, it’s not worth more.
After having worn a FitBit Air simultaneously over the past few weeks I can see how the health tracking on the Watch from steps to calories to sleep quality is total BS. Apple should really be ashamed of how bad the Watch is at accurately tracking these metrics. However much market share the Watch took from dedicated health trackers it’s not because it was a better product, it was the illusion they created that it gave you everything the competition did and so much more. Health-wise Apple gives you much less.
Until they figure out non-invasive blood glucose monitoring like they’ve been trying for a decade+ I don’t care about the Watch anymore, it’s their most stale product line.
Can anyone explain why to wear an Apple Watch when the iPhone is always nearby? I don’t need to know that I was lying awake last night for an hour.
After the first week health stats, the only use I can think of is leaving the phone behind, but what exactly does that gain?
Apple is getting real greedy as it grows
Looks like I will be upgrading from the Ultra 1 to the Ultra 4 this fall. Looking to be an expensive time of the year for me. Upgrading to the MacBook ultra, and of course, a new iPhone Pro Max. And if the new AirPods Pro ultras ship, those too.
One of the things that has made “the Apple tax” worth it, i.e, the higher prices you pay for Apple products, is the long term OS support that its products receive, which often runs longer than five years. The new iOS 27, for example, will still support iPhone 12, which debuted in 2020. In early 2023, I bought the high end model of the Watch Series 8, which cost almost $800, all in. And in Sept, just 3 years and 9 months later, the new Watch OS will not support it. That is just atrocious forced obsolescence for an $800 device. Well, this will be my last Apple Watch for sure.