With such high standards to meet, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12, which I’m currently testing for an upcoming review. Officially it is rated with the same rating as its predecessor: up to 24 hours. Unofficially, I took note of the inclusion of continuous heart rate monitoring as the main new feature and wondered what impact this would have on battery performance. I was prepared for a drop in last year’s numbers that were still above Apple’s estimates.
Apparently, the impact of the new sensor is not much. Either that, or the new S11 processor has such a positive impact that it more than cancels out the energy load of the health function.
I just completed my first full Series 12 battery test and it lasted a long time. 51 hoursbeating both Series 11 races by at least a couple of hours. It lasted two full days, two full nights, and lasted until mid-morning on the third day. By the standards of a full-featured smartwatch, that’s elite performance.
Of course, there are caveats. This is just my first test and I plan to perform at least one more full shutdown before turning my thoughts to a full review. In any case, battery performance is quite subjective – there’s no set battery benchmark app like there is for the iPhone or Mac, and battery life will vary depending on use. And on the downside, my first load test of the Series 12 suggests that it powers up more slowly than its predecessor, requiring 57 minutes to go from 0 to 80 percent, compared to just 40 minutes for the Series 11. (Again, I plan to run this test again to check reliability.)
Still, the early signs are that the Apple Watch Series 12 has managed to take one of the highlights of the Series 11 and surpass it. This is a promising start, to say the least.
