The Apple Watch Series 11 Rumors I'm Most Excited About (including A Big One For Health Tracking)

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Apple is slated to denote caller hardware adjacent month. 
• Notable Apple Watch updates could beryllium coming, according to rumors. 
• Blood unit monitoring and slumber scores could beryllium connected nan way. 

We're a period distant from Apple's yearly September hardware event, wherever nan tech elephantine announces its latest releases, from iPhones and iPads to AirPods and, my favorite, Apple Watches. 

Rumors are swirling astir what's to travel connected nan adjacent procreation Apple Watch, nan Apple Watch Series 11. 

Also: Should you bargain nan iPhone 16 aliases iPhone 17? How to determine which exemplary to buy

Apple's latest smartwatch software, WatchOS 26, gives america a fewer glimpses astatine what nan Series 11 is tin of. A caller Workout Buddy characteristic guides Apple Watch users done their workouts pinch encouragements, individual grounds announcements, and advancement reports. Apple's caller Liquid Glass show makes widgets, messages, and apps look clear connected nan watch and mimics nan show of Apple Vision Pro headset. Outside of those package updates, I'm keeping my eyes and ears unfastened for rumors, murmurs, and whispers connected Apple's adjacent Apple Watch. 

Here's what we've heard truthful far. 

Launch timeline

Apple historically unveils its caller products astir nan 2nd week of September, and we expect this year's arena will beryllium nary different. After nan company's merchandise announcements, we tin expect a consequent rollout and shipment of nan caller devices astir a week aliases 2 later, arsenic has been nan lawsuit successful nan past. 

Also: Your Apple Watch is getting a awesome upgrade

Sleep scores, astatine last 

Your slumber could beryllium getting graded soon if Apple adds slumber scores to its adjacent Apple Watch. MacRumor's Steve Moser recovered a "Watch Focus Score" and Apple Watch icon pinch an "84" people wrong nan codification of WatchOS 26 that hints astatine Apple's first foray into algorithmically monitoring and ranking clip spent and value of sleep. 

This is 1 characteristic I've been waiting for connected nan Apple Watch and person enjoyed utilizing connected respective different smartwatches and rings. The rumor pinch slumber scores, I've learned done testing respective slumber trackers myself, is nan truth that it's not an nonsubjective datapoint and tin disagree based connected nan device. When I was testing retired 3 wearables astatine once, I'd often person 3 different, albeit intimately related, slumber scores, which proved to maine that a slumber people characteristic can't beryllium wholly and wholly objective. 

Also: I took these 4 slumber trackers to bed. Here's which 1 I urge most

Because galore of nan wellness features Apple launches are backed by a bevy of objective investigation aliases cleared by nan FDA -- Apple's slumber apnea discovery feature, for illustration -- I'm funny really a slumber people characteristic would look and activity connected nan smartwatch, and really Apple will springiness it its ain sound aliases twist. 

New processor 

We will astir apt spot a caller processor connected nan Series 11 and Ultra 3, fixed nan truth that Apple upgrades its processor pinch each smartwatch release. 

Satellite connectivity for Ultra 3

According to serial Apple leaker Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, outer connectivity and 5G support could beryllium coming to Apple's rugged Apple Watch Ultra 3, though they whitethorn skip nan Watch 11. 

Revamped Health app

Apple has been moving connected giving its Health app a facelift. 

According to Gurman, Apple has been moving connected a awesome Health app revamp, code-named Project Mulberry, that would bring AI recommendations and actionable wellness and fittingness insights to users. The astir notable summation comes successful nan shape of an AI wellness coach that could "replicate, astatine slightest to immoderate extent, a existent doctor," Gurman writes. The wellness coach would usage nan information it collects from Apple's wearables aliases third-party apps to supply recommendations and insights. The AI supplier is being trained utilizing information from physicians connected staff, Gurman reports. 

Also: 5 Apple devices you decidedly shouldn't bargain this period (and 7 to get instead)

Apple has leveraged AI already for Workout Buddy, a characteristic that provides stats, workout metrics, and encouragement erstwhile a personification logs a workout connected nan watch. 

Blood unit tracking 

The Apple Watch could spot a highly coveted characteristic implemented, but whether it's implemented successful some nan Series 11 and Ultra Watch 3, aliases 1 aliases nan other, is unknown. Rumors astir a caller humor unit monitoring sensor for easy monitoring without an armband are swirling. Gurman wrote that Apple was ramping up nan rollout of nan feature, but it seems for illustration humor unit monitoring has tally into galore hurdles. 

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