In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you send text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable. This feature will work without an iPhone, he said.
Gurman also expects the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to support a special version of 5G for smartwatches. The existing Ultra models support LTE.
Last year, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 received a black titanium case option, but otherwise the Ultra model has not received any hardware upgrades since 2023.
Other likely upgrades for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 include an S10 chip or newer, faster charging, and a wide-angle OLED display that is brighter when viewed from an angle and offers a higher refresh rate for the always-on display mode. All of these improvements were already introduced on the Apple Watch Series 10 last year.
In March, Gurman said Apple was still experiencing issues with a planned blood pressure monitoring feature for the Apple Watch, so it is unclear if that will be ready in time for the Ultra 3, which should launch in a little over two months from now.
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future.
To set up the...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works.
We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 6:33 am PST by Joe Rossignol
It has been a slow start to 2026 for Apple product launches, with only a new AirTag and a special Apple Watch band released so far. We are still waiting for MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the iPhone 17e, a lower-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip, long-rumored updates to the Apple TV and HomePod mini, and much more.
Apple is expected to release/update the following products...
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
well, if those 2 are the main upgrades - I certainly will NOT upgrade my Ultra 2. For me, they fall in the "nice to have" category. And the other features mentioned? meh, I'll take 'em ...
IF Apple does not come out with a new health sensor - AW will go thru a dire year ...
They still haven't brought back the 02 sensing in the USA. Not buying some gimped version of a watch from Apple again. And a "special version" of 5G. Just another excuse for the carries to justify some silly price hike on what limited functionality we use a watch for anyways. $10 per month was respectable. $15 a month for LTE is just dumb.
Apple has really just sunk in our opinion and not what we wanted from them at this point. The new Samsung watches will be great to try out this year as well as the new Fold 7 since Apple is stuck in 2018 for the time being.
The only real improvements I want to see are a meaningful bump in battery life across the range and then some improvement in sustaining battery health over time. I’m sure it’s got to do with charging speed but it feels like modern Apple batteries just fail faster than they used to.
I got an Apple Watch recently and before buying it I asked some athlete friends of mine & watched a ton of videos and reviews, and what most people have been missing from the AW that keeps them using a competitor is
1. battery life 2. Less reliance on the touch screen while in a workout 2. A better Health app with actual insights into your data, like Whoop does (which is a terrible product btw but the app is more useful). 3. Better support for offline maps and routes.
So mostly software stuff really. If Apple can overcome those things, I know a lot of people would switch from Garmin and others.
Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode
