Apple is sometimes accused of deliberately withholding new features from older devices for no good reason. For example, eyebrows were raised when dual capture video recording was restricted to the iPhone 17 when the same feature has been supported by third-party apps all the way back to the iPhone 11, so is clearly nothing to do with hardware capabilities.
When it comes to the latest health features, however, the company is wisely taking a far more inclusive approach …
Hypertension alerts
The headline new health feature of the Apple Watch models is hypertension notifications, aka alerting you to signs of chronic high blood pressure.
Hypertension is an extremely serious medical condition where the force of the blood against artery walls is consistently high, putting you at major risk from heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. The World Health Organization estimates that hypertension kills around 7.5 million people each year, equivalent to almost 13% of all deaths.
In the US, the CDC lists it as the 13th biggest killer in the country, responsible for more than 42,000 deaths each year.
Although introduced with the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Apple Watch Ultra 3, the company is also adding the feature to three older models:
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Apple Watch Series 10
Apple Watch Series 9
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