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Apple just announced watchOS 27, and it’s delivering a wakeup call for many owners of older Apple Watch models. The upcoming update will only run on the Apple Watch SE 3, Series 9–11, Ultra 2, and Ultra 3 — leaving the original 2022 Ultra, SE 2, and earlier Series models without the new redesigned app grid, upgraded Siri, and other features.

Even Apple’s premium rugged flagship from just a few years ago gets only three major OS updates before being cut off, highlighting the company’s increasingly aggressive hardware cutoff strategy. If you own one of the unsupported watches, this fall’s update means no new software features — though basic functionality will continue.

Sam Byford for Fast Company:
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The first came out in 2022, so it will have received only three operating system upgrades over the course of its entire life cycle. And this wasn’t a throwaway product — it was Apple’s first significant expansion of the Watch lineup, coming with an all-new design and a $799 price tag. Mine is still going strong; I wasn’t particularly tempted to upgrade to the Ultra 2 or 3.

But now Apple is rendering it obsolete. WatchOS 27 is a fairly significant update, bringing a redesigned app grid and the new version of Siri, and it won’t be coming to the Ultra.

The reason is almost certainly the chip. The original Ultra used Apple’s S8 system-in-package, which actually used the exact same CPU as the S7 and S6 before it. In other words, the Ultra launched with a two-year-old chip.

That wasn’t much of a problem at the time, and really, it hasn’t been much of a problem today… But when the 2 arrived in 2023 alongside the Series 9, the two new watches did bring a meaningful silicon jump. Their S9 chip included a faster GPU, a new Neural Engine, and support for features like on-device Siri processing and a system-level gesture invoked by double-tapping your thumb and finger together.

Given that the Apple Watch Series 9 is also receiving watchOS 27, it would seem that Apple is using that chip transition to mark a line in the sand and move forward with a new generation of hardware and software.

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Time to upgrade! Apple Watch uLtra turns four years old on September 23rd – an eon in tech time.

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Source link: https://macdailynews.com/2026/06/11/apple-drops-support-for-watchos-27-on-original-apple-watch-ultra-se-2-and-several-other-models/

Despite lukewarm initial reviews calling Apple’s latest AI announcements uninspired and derivative, the company’s pragmatic approach to enhancing Siri and Apple Intelligence may prove more effective than critics realize. With iPhone sales already surging 23% in the first half of fiscal 2026, Apple’s focus on reliable, privacy-first features—rather than flashy AI “for the sake of AI”—could be exactly what’s needed to sustain momentum and drive the stock higher.

This piece from Barron’s explores why investors may be misreading the reset, arguing that Apple’s measured strategy positions it well for long-term gains.

Adam Levine for Barron’s:
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[I]n his final Worldwide Developers Conference as CEO, Tim Cook was copying what Steve Jobs did when he left the stage in 2011: bequeathing his successor with a basic foundation for the next generation of the “Apple experience.” It isn’t meant to be groundbreaking.

After failing three times to make an Apple cloud service that was up to the company’s standards, Steve Jobs took the stage at the 2011 WWDC for what would be his last keynote address before he died. While announcing iCloud, Jobs joked about the three previous failures: iTools, .Mac, and MobleMe. “Now you might ask, ‘Why should I believe them? They’re the ones that brought me MobileMe,’” he said to raucous laughter and applause.

No one’s laughing anymore. Today, iCloud is the glue for Apple’s ecosystem…

With Monday’s announcement, Cook and team have put Apple Intelligence on the iCloud path. The company is offering a free set of basic services that protect user privacy. It will improve from here.

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As we wrote on Tuesday:

“Apple’s iPhone and Mac both show that personalized AI isn’t yet important enough to negatively affect sales – not even close – so Munster is correct that Apple has time, although we’d peg it at about a year, given the rate that AI is improving. Siri AI in beta form is still and that’s more than good enough for now. The beta being used by hundreds of millions of users will provide much opportunity for Apple to fine tune the product. By this time next year, we’ll all be wondering how we ever lived without Siri AI.”

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Source link: https://macdailynews.com/2026/06/11/investors-are-misreading-apples-latest-ai-announcement-apple-got-it-right-this-time/