We're only hours away from the WWDC 2025 keynote taking place in which Apple is expected to unveil some of the most sweeping changes to its suite of operating systems — including watch OS.
The best Apple Watches will all be able to run the newest version of the software — rumored to be bringing an updated Control Center experience to the fore — but not every model will make the cut.
According to a new leak (picked up by MacRumors), any Apple Watch older than the Apple Watch Series 6 won't be eligible to update. To put it another way, here's all the Apple Watches that could be in line for watchOS 26 when it's made publicly available:
- Apple Watch Series 6
- Apple Watch Series 7
- Apple Watch Series 8
- Apple Watch Series 9
- Apple Watch Series 10
- Apple Watch Ultra
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
- Apple Watch SE (2nd generation)
When Apple released watchOS 11 last year, several Apple Watch models found their way onto the chopping block. The Series 4, Series 5 and original Apple Watch SE were unable to upgrade. This year's list makes no additional changes to that with the oldest model on the list, the Series 6, celebrating its fifth birthday this year.
Apple is expected to rename all its operating systems at today's event, bringing the naming convention in line with the year of release similar to what Samsung does. So we're expecting to see watchOS 26 revealed as opposed to watchOS 12.
There's likely to be plenty of new Apple Watch features revealed at this week's event, including new training metrics and better health monitoring tools. You can read about all the rumoured upgrades coming to Apple Watch right here.
And head over to our WWDC 2025 live blog for all the latest news from the show as it happens.
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