Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 have 4GB of RAM, twice the memory reported for the previous-generation models. MacRumors says it confirmed the figure through Apple’s Xcode 27 developer tools. Apple’s product announcement identifies the new S11 chip and the Apple Intelligence features those watches are designed to support.
The memory change is not a separate consumer feature displayed on the watch face. It is a hardware detail that can help the new models handle a larger software workload. Apple has tied the S11 chip to Audio Intelligence tools such as Sound Recognition, Live Rewind and Siri Recap.
MacRumors reports that Series 11 and Ultra 3 used 2GB of RAM, while the new watches move to 4GB. The report also says the starting prices remain $399 for Series 12 and $799 for Ultra 4 in the United States, despite the additional memory.
Apple’s official announcement describes the broader reason for the new chip. Series 12 uses the S11 system to support higher-frequency heart-rate and heart-rate-variability sensing, a readiness score and Audio Intelligence. With watchOS 27, Apple Intelligence also brings Siri AI to the watch for personal context and broad world knowledge.
Those functions still depend on software and pairing requirements. Apple says Audio Intelligence features use the watch microphone, Apple Intelligence models on iPhone and Private Cloud Compute. MacRumors reports that the AI features require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone, while some functions are limited to newer iPhone models.
More RAM does not automatically prove faster performance or longer support. Apple has not published a benchmark that links the memory increase to a specific speed gain. The verified news is the developer-tool confirmation and the connection between the new memory capacity, S11 chip and announced software features.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 were introduced on September 9. The Audio Intelligence tools arrive in beta later this year, and Siri AI is scheduled to roll out in beta on September 14 for supported devices set to English. Review testing and later software releases will show how the hardware change affects day-to-day use.
