In just a few weeks’ time, Apple will finally pull the cloak off the all-new iPhone 17 at its big September event, but it’s not the only device coming out of Cupertino next month. The tech giant is also set to launch the Apple Watch Series 11, and plenty are hoping for something bigger and better than the slightly disappointing Apple Watch Series 10.
Essentially just an iterative upgrade, the Apple Watch Series 10 looked practically identical to the Apple Watch Series 9, with just a slightly bigger, sharper display, thinner and lighter design and sleep apnoea alerts. But could the Apple Watch Series 11 do better?
While rumours about the upcoming smartwatch are thin on the ground, suggesting that it might not be a ground-breaking update (again), here’s what we know about it so far, from release date to features.
Apple Watch Series 11 release date
Ever since Apple launched the Apple Watch Series 2 in 2016, the company has unveiled each new Apple Watch in September alongside the iPhone. That makes an early September launch for the Apple Watch Series 11 highly likely.
The Apple event is predicted to take place on Tuesday 9 September, with pre-orders for both the iPhone 17 and Apple Watch Series 11 expected to go live on Friday 12 September, before it officially releases the following week on Friday 19 September.
Apple Watch Series 11 price
Right now, there aren’t any leaks about the Apple Watch Series 11’s price, but we expect it to start at £399 for the 42mm model, £429 for the 46mm model, and increasing to £499 and £529 respectively for the models with cellular connectivity.
Apple Watch Series 11 design and features
While there’s been little word on the Apple Watch Series 11’s design, ahead of the launch of the Series 10, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed that Apple was working on a special anniversary edition of the Apple Watch, called the Series X, and said it could be released in 2024 or 2025. There would be a thinner case and a new magnetic band attachment system, making it easier to attach new straps to your watch.
The Series 10 did get a thinner case, but there was no new magnetic band system or a Series X. Will this be the year for that new redesign? Here’s hoping. There are, however, a couple of rumours about the Series 11’s features.
In late 2023, Gurman claimed that Apple was working on blood pressure monitoring for an upcoming Apple Watch. This was predicted to launch on the Apple Watch Series 10, but he said in March this year that Apple had been running into issues when testing the technology.
While it wouldn’t give you exact systolic and diastolic measurements, it could give you hypertension alerts and track whether your blood pressure was going up or down. If Apple is still finding blood pressure monitoring difficult to implement, it still might not arrive in time for inclusion on the Series 11.
And it looks like Apple has also solved its blood oxygen monitoring problem. The feature was removed on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Series 10 due to patent disputes, but it finally resolved it earlier this month, so blood oxygen monitoring will be back on the cards for Series 11.
Besides that, it looks like it’s going to be another fairly iterative upgrade. Future Apple Watch models could be far more exciting, however.
In March, Gurman stated that Apple was working on developing an Apple Watch with built-in cameras that would launch in 2027. According to the leaker, it wouldn’t be used for FaceTime, but for Apple’s visual intelligence features, letting a user point their watch at things in their environment to get on-wrist information about them, such as a shop’s opening times or the name of a plant in the wild.
The Apple insider also revealed later that month that Apple’s ongoing mission to bring non-invasive glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch was still in the works, but that it was many years away from reality. According to Gurman, a proof-of-concept was engineered in 2023, but it was still too big to put into an Apple Watch. There are reportedly hundreds of engineers working on the project.
Apple Watch Series 11 specs
Apple updates the chip inside the Apple Watch every year, and we’re pretty certain an S11 chip is going to power the upcoming Apple Watch Series 11. While we don’t know anything about it yet, the smartwatch will probably run faster and help increase its battery life.
In December last year, Gurman claimed that MediaTek had been picked to supply the modems for future Apple Watches in 2025, finally bringing 5G speeds to the wearable. The current Intel modems only use LTE connectivity, but MediaTek’s modem uses 5G RedCap, a service specifically built for wearables.
We’ve rounded up everything you need to know about the iPhone 17 and AirPods Pro 3
