watchOS 12: Design changes apparently confirmed – but only "half" AI
According to a report by The Verifier from Israel, Mark Gurman has now followed up: Apple is planning a new design for the Watch operating system.
watchOS 12: The icons have long been round.
(Image: Apple)
The first information about a possible redesign of watchOS is becoming more detailed: following a report by the Israeli magazine The Verifier last week, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman followed up in his newsletter on Sunday. It states that the new design language from iOS, iPadOS and macOS is allegedly also coming to the Apple Watch –, although the scope is still unclear.
Partly glassy look – but less aggressive?
The new, glassier look with the internal name Solarium promises to bring more uniformity to Apple's platforms. For the Apple Watch, Gurman says he envisages "some of the new interface elements here and there". However, a completely new design is not planned. In fact, the icons on the Watch, for example, have long been round, an element that is to be new in iOS 19 –, although the rounding could also be milder. Confusingly, the screen of the Apple Watch has always been square.
Videos by heise
According to Gurman, the overall plan is for watchOS 12 to have a "slightly smaller bite" of solarium. Apple may want to wait with a major redesign until more heavily modified new watch models are released. This year is actually an anniversary year, as the first Apple Watch was launched in spring 2025. New models are now expected in the fall – as usual in September.
AI: yes, but with a but
When it comes to AI support, the Vision Pro will also get a "button": with the help of the iPhone. The plan is to bring functions "powered by Apple Intelligence" to the watch. AI models will not run directly on the watch. The Verifier had claimed here that the Apple Watch Ultra 3, which is expected in the fall, will receive exclusive special chips. However, this is considered unlikely because Apple Intelligence requires at least 8 GB of RAM, while the Apple Watch currently only has 1 GB.
Such a large upgrade for the system-in-package, which contains the CPU, GPU and RAM, would probably be technically too complex. Accordingly, the computer watch will then outsource the jobs to the iPhone, such as the content summary or Genmojis. This would not be technically new. Initially, simple apps only ran on the Apple Watch to a very limited extent and were also delivered via the iPhone. So Apple has experience here.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(bsc)
