Apple Watch Ultra 4 Gets Full Redesign and Sensing Upgrades in 2026

Apple’s Watch Ultra line is getting its second consecutive annual update after Apple skipped a hardware refresh entirely in 2024, offering only a new black color option while keeping the Ultra 2’s internals intact. Mark Gurman, writing in his Bloomberg Power On newsletter, now places an Apple Watch Ultra 4 on Apple’s product calendar for later this year alongside the Apple Watch Series 12, both expected in September.

The Ultra 4 is shaping up to be more than an incremental bump. A May 2026 DigiTimes report cited a “full redesign,” and the device is separately rumored to receive a “significant upgrade to sensing functions,” though neither source specifies what those changes would actually look like.

What’s Coming to the Watch Platform More Broadly

Leaked Apple code has pointed to Touch ID integration in the 2026 Apple Watch lineup, with two possible implementations: under the display or built into the side button. The feature would reduce dependence on numerical passcodes, though the Watch already uses wrist detection for purchase authentication.

Looking past 2026, Apple is evaluating LG Display’s high-mobility oxide technology for Apple Watch OLED panels in 2027. Compared to the current LTPO approach, HMO increases electron mobility, which translates to lower power consumption.

The one sensor feature most people actually want, noninvasive blood glucose monitoring, remains years out. Apple is still working on miniaturization, so it won’t be arriving with the Ultra 4 or any near-term model.

watchOS 26 will bring new watch faces to the updated hardware, including a variant of the Modular Ultra face. The Ultra 4 arrives in a lineup that also includes the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and Apple’s first foldable iPhone, making this fall’s product wave unusually dense even by Apple’s standards.