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.
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition.
The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more.
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date.
Keep reading...
Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features.
Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos
Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
Singapore has ordered Apple to block or filter messages on iMessage that impersonate government agencies, requiring the company to implement new anti-spoofing protections by December as part of efforts to curb rising online scams, the Straits Times reports.
Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it had issued an Implementation Directive to Apple under the Online Criminal Harms...
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports.
CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...
Monday November 24, 2025 10:25 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple is making progress on the development of the book-style foldable iPhone expected in 2026, according to a report from Chinese site UDN. The device has reportedly entered the engineering validation stage, and Apple is gearing up for mass production.
Citing supply chain sources, UDN says that Apple has solved "the crease problem" that has plagued most foldable smartphones, and the...
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
