2025 should be an Ultra year for the Apple Watch. In an unusual move, Apple only launched the Apple Watch Series 10 this year. It kept the Ultra 2 around, only releasing a new black titanium colorway.
But next year won’t be all about Apple’s most expensive smartwatch. For more budget-conscious customers, the third-gen Apple Watch SE should arrive in 2025.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 rumors
The Apple Watch Ultra is the company’s best smartwatch. It features a rugged design, powerful internals, and a multi-day battery life. Apple did not upgrade its Ultra smartwatch meaningfully this year, but 2025 should be different.
Taking a cue from this year’s Apple Watch refresh, the Ultra 3 should use a faster SiP for better performance and efficiency. An upgraded 4-core Neural Engine will allow the watch to better suppress background noise during phone and FaceTime audio calls.
More importantly, reports indicate the Apple Watch Ultra 3 might switch to a MediaTek modem. Currently, it uses an Intel 4G modem.
Wondering what’s the big deal about this potential change? Supposedly, this will enable Apple to bring one of the iPhone’s best life-saving features in recent times — Emergency SOS via satellite — to its 2025 Ultra smartwatch. It will supposedly enable Apple Watch Ultra 3 users to send text messages even when out of Wi-Fi or mobile network range.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Given how useful iPhone users have found Emergency SOS via satellite in emergencies, the feature should further elevate the experience of using the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
The 2025 Apple Watch Ultra might also feature blood-pressure monitoring. In its first iteration, the watch will reportedly monitor whether you have high blood pressure instead of giving an exact reading. Still, this would be a helpful addition, especially for people with high blood pressure.
Apple could tweak the Apple Watch Ultra 3 design to reduce its overall profile. It might adopt the same metal back as the Apple Watch Series 10. This would integrate the antenna into the device housing, potentially reducing the wearable’s thickness and weight. It may also enable Apple to boost the Watch Ultra 3’s charging speed.
Taking a cue from the Apple Watch Series 10, the Ultra 3 should adopt the new wide-angle OLED display. This should provide a better viewing experience at wider angles. Plus, the lower refresh rate will enable the watch to update the always-on watch face more frequently without negatively impacting battery life.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 running watchOS 12 should launch in September 2025 alongside the iPhone 16 series. Despite the rumored upgrades, its $799 price should remain unchanged.
Apple Watch SE 3 rumors
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The last Apple Watch SE refresh arrived in September 2022. This means the current model is over two years old now and long due for a refresh. Reports claim Apple’s next SE smartwatch will use a plastic casing, ditching its current aluminum chassis. This will seemingly enable Apple to offer the wearable in several bright colors. It may possibly also lead to a slight weight reduction.
Apparently, the brighter colors will help make the Apple Watch SE 3 “more kid-friendly.”
More importantly, the switch to plastic will supposedly enable Apple to reduce its manufacturing costs. While it may not lower the Apple Watch SE 3’s price, it could make up for it by adding new features. However, a lower price could further help bolster Apple Watch SE’s sales, making it a great alternative to its more expensive siblings.
Still, you should expect the Apple Watch SE 3 to cost the same as its predecessors, with prices starting from $249.
Another key upgrade on the Apple Watch SE (2025) would be the move to a faster SiP. The current model uses an S8 chip, which debuted in 2022. However, it offers no performance improvement over the S7 and even the S6 chip from 2020. Apple may switch to a faster S10 SiP.
Apart from faster performance, it should also help speed up AI-related tasks thanks to the built-in 4-core Neural Engine.
There’s no word on the release date yet, but the Apple Watch SE 3 could debut in spring 2025 alongside the iPhone SE 4. If not then, Apple’s budget smartwatch should launch later in the year, in September 2025.
Apple Watch Series 11 rumors
With the Apple Watch Series 10 getting a big redesign this year, Apple may only focus on the Ultra model in 2025. This means the company might not launch an Apple Watch Series 11 next year.
Given how minor Apple Watch yearly upgrades have felt in recent years, this would be a change in the right direction. A longer two-year refresh cycle for Apple’s smartwatch lineup makes more sense, giving the company more time to develop compelling features.
Even if an Apple Watch Series 11 arrives next year, don’t expect it to pack any significant upgrades. At best, you are looking at some new colors and an upgraded chip; that’s about it.
