A CNET journalist testing the Apple Watch Series 4's ECG feature against a hospital-grade electrocardiogram unexpectedly had the device flag an irregular heartbeat in his own heart, matching the hospital's findings. Doctors later determined the anomaly was benign, likely caused by stress and sleep deprivation, but the moment shifted his view of the watch from a novelty gadget to a legitimate health tool. He later gave Apple Watches to his parents, and one flagged an issue that led to his father's diagnosis and treatment for a serious heart condition.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-21
The Quantified Scientist's Rob ter Horst compared the Apple Watch Series 12's redesigned heart rate sensor against a Polar H10 chest strap across cycling, running, and weightlifting. He found near-perfect correlation during cycling, strong results while running, and solid but slightly weaker accuracy during weightlifting, an exercise notoriously difficult for wrist sensors to track.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-18
Apple's Series 12 smartwatch introduces a single-tap hand gesture for navigating Smart Stack widgets alongside existing double-tap and wrist-flick controls. It also debuts a new Health Sensing System with 32 ECG electrodes, ring-arranged photodiodes, and larger LEDs, enabling heart rate readings every five seconds and HRV readings every five minutes, up from every five minutes and two hours respectively on Series 11. The new S11 chip also improves step-tracking accuracy and adds a real-time Steps complication to the watch face.
wired.com
· 2026-09-17
Apple's new $799 Watch Ultra 4 pairs a redesigned sensor array—32 electrodes arranged like flower petals—with the new S11 chip, enabling heart-rate readings every 5 seconds and HRV checks every 5 minutes, far more frequent than prior models. That increased sampling powers a new Readiness score that updates throughout the day rather than relying mainly on overnight data, plus a Daytime toggle in the Vitals app to view daytime alongside nighttime metrics.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-10
At IFA in Berlin, Paris-based Circular unveiled the Ring 3 Pro and Ring 3 Slim, adding contactless payment support and the return of haptic vibration alerts to its smart ring lineup. The rings retain Circular's FDA-cleared ECG and AFib detection while adding new wellness features like blood pressure trends, glucose trend estimates and expanded sleep metrics.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-02
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