Last week, Apple officially released watchOS 27. The most interesting thing is not the new features themselves, but this year’s compatibility adjustments. With the launch of the new system, Apple will stop supporting many older Apple Watch models, and this change has quickly become a focus of discussion.
Here’s why watchOS 27 stops supporting five Apple Watch models
In an interview with TechRadar, Cait Dooley, product marketing manager for Apple Watch and Health, further explained the compatibility strategy for watchOS 27. He pointed out that this year’s update made a necessary trade-off between performance and user experience, with the goal of ensuring that all devices that can be upgraded can get the “best experience.”
As previously expected, watchOS 27 will no longer support Apple Watch Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, as well as the second-generation Apple Watch SE and the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra. In other words, these models will stay on the watchOS 26 series and no longer receive major feature updates.
The complete list of models that can be upgraded to watchOS 27 is as follows:
- Apple Watch SE (3rd generation)
- Apple Watch Series 9
- Apple Watch Series 10
- Apple Watch Series 11
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
- Apple Watch Ultra 3
Dooley said that at the heart of the decision was the need for performance. Many of the new features introduced in watchOS 27, including new Siri AI, a revamped Dynamic App Grid, an upgraded Fitness Buddy experience, and more intuitive tap gestures, all require more processing power to function smoothly. He emphasized that these features can only show full performance on Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 and newer models, so compatibility must be adjusted.
However, for those who still use older Apple Watches, this does not mean that the device will immediately lose its usefulness. Dooley specifically pointed out that older Apple Watches can still be paired with iPhones running the latest iOS and continue to receive security updates. In other words, even if they cannot upgrade to watchOS 27, users can still maintain daily notifications, health tracking and basic functions. He said: “In software updates for all our platforms, we always want to provide the best experience, so performance and efficiency are top considerations. Many new features of watchOS require newer processors to take full effect, but older Apple Watches can still be paired with the latest iPhones and continue to enjoy secure updates and a stable experience.”
watchOS 27 itself is a considerable update. In addition to the standalone Siri AI application, Apple has also redesigned the application grid to make operations more dynamic; the “Fitness Partner” function has been enhanced to provide more real-time and personalized exercise suggestions; and the overall system interaction method has become more intuitive through tap gestures. These changes show that Apple is gradually pushing Apple Watch in a smarter and more independent direction.
WatchOS 27 is currently open to developers for beta testing. The public beta version is expected to be launched in July, and the official version will be released with the new Apple Watch in the fall. For an in-depth look at all the new features and details, check out our complete watchOS 27 feature guide. Overall, although the compatibility adjustments of watchOS 27 have caused some old models to withdraw from the update queue, Apple’s strategy still revolves around “experience first.” As the functions of Apple Watch increasingly rely on the AI computing and sensing capabilities of the device, future system updates will inevitably continue to move in the direction of optimizing new hardware.
Source: KOCPC Chinese