Why I'm Not Buying a New Apple Watch for watchOS 27

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On Monday, Apple announced a new slate of updates coming sometime this fall — among them, iOS 27, macOS 27, and watchOS 27. During the keynote, the company enthusiastically shared that iOS 27 would be available to all iPhones compatible with iOS 26. If your iPhone is currently getting the latest updates from Apple, it will continue to do so for another year. Unfortunately, some of the company’s other products weren’t so lucky.

As expected, macOS 27 Golden Gate marks the end of the line for Intel Macs. Unless you have an Apple silicon Mac, you won’t be able to update this fall. It’s a similar story for iPadOS 27: Apple is dropping a number of iPads this year, mostly from 2018 and 2019. But the real shock came with watchOS 27: Apple’s lineup is now limited to just six Apple Watches, which means there’s a decent chance your watch isn’t supported this year. While the company developed watchOS 26 for the Series 6, 7, 8, first-gen Ultra, and second-gen SE, none of those watches will get the new update in the fall.

I’m an update guy; I love installing the latest OS version on each of my devices and exploring what’s changed since the last update. While I can look forward to that on my iPhone, my Mac, and my iPad this year, my Apple Watch is a different story. I have a Series 6, which means that watchOS 26 is the end of the road for my wearable. If I want to try watchOS 27, I’ll need to bite the bullet and upgrade to a Series 9 or newer. The thing is, I’m not going to do that — not yet, anyway.

Why watchOS 27 isn’t worth buying an Apple Watch for

Here’s my take: While watchOS 27 seems like a great update, it isn’t worth dropping serious cash on a new Apple Watch. Despite how many Apple Watches didn’t make the cut this year, the update doesn’t include enough captivating features to make me want to ditch my aging Series 6.

Like Apple’s other flagship updates this year, watchOS 27 is all about AI. There’s Siri AI, of course, which — taking Apple at its word — transforms the company’s assistant into something more like ChatGPT or Gemini. If I bought a new Apple Watch, I’d be able to ask Siri complex, open-ended questions that it would apparently be able to answer beyond the usual “I don’t see ‘taco bowl recipes’ in your contacts.” I could ask it to pull up photos from a trip I took last year, or pick up conversations I had with the assistant on my other Apple devices through the new Siri app. I’m not saying I wouldn’t try the new Siri if I had a newer Apple Watch, but as someone who doesn’t really use chatbots outside of my reporting, I’m just not enticed by the upgrade here.

Workout Buddy also gets upgrades this year, tapping into Apple Intelligence to offer new insights about your fitness based on your history. The AI coach now supports Spanish, and you don’t even need your iPhone nearby to use it anymore. Unfortunately, my Series 6 never supported Workout Buddy to begin with, so this is a case of not missing what I never had.

There are some miscellaneous upgrades across the board, too: There’s now a new dynamic app grid that might make it easier to find the app you’re looking for; watchOS will surface relevant info when on a phone call; there’s now perimenopause and menopause support; indoor walks and runs are tracked more accurately; a new single-tap gesture lets you select widgets in Smart Stacks, which also comes with upgraded suggestions. And Apple upgraded Liquid Glass to be a bit more legible across the board. None of these features is bad; they just aren’t worth $399 or more to pick up a brand new watch.

Really, my main temptation here would be the only non-feature Apple is rolling out this year: performance upgrades. The company is taking 2026 as an opportunity to refine its OSes across the board, and on watchOS, the company made improvements to battery life, sleep tracking, media playback, and Wi-Fi connectivity, among other boosts. But if I’m buying a new Apple Watch, I expect it to be faster and longer-lasting than my old one anyway, so performance increases in and of themselves aren’t necessarily convincing either.

My Apple Watch still works great

Is my Apple Watch about five years old? Yes. Is the microphone a bit “hard of hearing” these days? Yes. Does the battery last as long as it did when I got it? Absolutely not. Does it do just about everything I need it to? You betcha.

In recent years, the Apple Watch achieved something similar to the iPhone: The improvements year-over-year are so slight that there’s little reason to upgrade on a frequent basis. Apple released the Series 6 back in 2020, and yet it does everything I expect an Apple Watch to do. I can track my workouts indoors and out; I can keep tabs on my sleep habits and evaluate health trends over time; I can quickly respond to texts from friends on my wrist (even if the interface is starting to slow down); and I can check on simple stats without taking out my iPhone, like the weather, my upcoming schedule, or, of course, the time.