Apple Bets on Health and AI With New Watches

When Apple launched the first-generation Watch in 2015, Cupertino wasn’t quite sure how people would use it, but knew it was a fashion device. It even sold a version with an 18-karat gold case, starting at $10,000 — only to stop supporting it with major software updates three years later. But after a “what is this for?” launch, the Watch soon found its answer in health. With one on your wrist, you could track your daily steps, your workouts, and your sleep.And health wearables have become fiercely competitive in the years since. I wear a smart ring on each hand — one from Oura, the other from Ultrahuman — and you can buy health-tracking bands from Whoop, Fitbit, Garmin, and more.Apple wants to claw back some of its customers and has upgraded the health chops of the new line — along with leaning into its function as an AI-enabled helper.Though it looks like every other Apple Watch, the health sensor array on the Series 12 has been completely rebuilt. Apple says it reads heart rate every five seconds, all day long, and heart-rate variability as often as every five minutes — up to 24 times as often as on the Series 11. Like other wearables in the space, it can now produce a readiness score from zero to ten, along with a view of daytime vitals. Apple’s Health app still kind of sucks, long falling behind its screenless competitors, but a redesign with new Insights and Longevity tabs is due later this year.Courtesy of AppleThe other new addition to the watches — and the most controversial bit — is an opt-in listening mode, due in beta later this year, maybe. Siri Recap is an AI meeting or conversation summary feature, which you can then use to get high level notes in the Siri app; Live Rewind lets you see a transcript of the previous 15 seconds of a conversation with a double press of the Digital Crown. That could have some helpful uses — checking a phone number someone told you — but mostly seems like an argument accelerant.Apple says the features create and store no audio recordings: the S11 chip processes the raw audio in an isolated compartment, then deletes it. Some might doubt its claims, but given the storage issues with the alternative, I believe them. Whether it will actually be useful is the real question. Local transcription models have improved — and Siri AI has a pretty good one — but this needs to be close to perfect to be useful, and your wrist isn’t an optimal microphone position.If you can get helpful to-do lists without trying, and tell it to remember specific memos, and rely on them later, then fantastic — but if it’s not that reliable and nukes the battery life, expect it to go the way of every other transcribing wearable and end up largely unused.Otherwise, though, the watches are similar to the previous models, with the same 42- and 46-millimeter case sizes for the standard Watch and a 49-millimeter titanium case for the Ultra 4. The Series 12 screen still peaks at 2,000 nits, as on the Series 11, while the Ultra 4 reaches 3,000 nits. Aluminum Series 12 models gain Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple says is 60 percent tougher than the previous glass; the titanium and ceramic models, and the Ultra 4, use sapphire instead.The Series 12 starts at the same $399, though the larger aluminum model is now $20 more at $449. Titanium starts at $699, the returning ceramic version at $899, and the Ultra 4 at $799.

Apple Bets on Health and AI With New Watches

Apple Bets on Health and AI With New Watches

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