Apple Watch 12 and Ultra 4 get major RAM upgrade, despite DRAM crisis

The Apple Watch Series 11 ($399 on Amazon) was still equipped with the Apple S10 ARM chip, which was technically almost identical to the Apple S9. After three years, Apple is finally giving its flagship smartwatches a new processor again. Although the Apple S11 still has only two efficiency cores, a single-core GPU, and a four-core AI accelerator, these are now based on the architecture of the Apple A20 Pro, whereas the chip in the previous model was still based on the outdated Apple A15 Bionic.

At first glance, the new chip offers little that’s new. While the more modern architecture should lead to higher performance, Apple is still advertising a battery life of only 24 hours for the Apple Watch Series 12, or 38 hours in power-saving mode. As before, the watches are limited to Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.3 and come equipped with 64 GB of flash storage for apps, music, and map data. However, the new chip is said to enable more precise step counting and heart rate measurements 60 times more frequently, as well as a range of AI features such as Audio Intelligence.

MacRumors has now found evidence in Xcode 27 of a significant RAM upgrade, as both the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 are reportedly equipped with 4 GB of RAM each, instead of the 2 GB found in last year’s models. While the increased RAM should make it possible to switch between more apps before some of them need to be reloaded, this upgrade is likely necessary above all for the new AI features.