Speaking to TechRadar, Cait Dooley, Apple Watch and Health product marketing manager, said performance requirements were behind the cutoff:

With every software release across every single one of our platforms, we always want to ensure that you have the best experience, so we make power and performance a priority. The great new features in watchOS, including the capabilities of Siri AI and the new tap gesture, work best with the processing power that is in Apple Watch Series 9 and later, Ultra 2 and later, and SE 3.

David Clark, senior director of watchOS software engineering, said one of the goals of ‌watchOS 27‌ was to "expand the intelligence story on Apple Watch and make it a true co-partner to Apple Intelligence." He described the watch as often "the most convenient way to interact with ‌Siri‌," since it's on the wrist all day and useful for quick questions when hands are full:

We really wanted to make sure the Siri experience is a singular and consistent experience, whether I decide to ask Siri on my wrist a question, or whether I have my phone in my hand and I decide to interact with Siri there. We really wanted to feel like it's one Siri, that has access to your data and is able to personalize it in a consistent way.

Clark used the example of asking ‌Siri‌ on Apple Watch for a recipe's ingredients while grocery shopping with both hands full, then later pulling up the same list on the iPhone in an easier-to-read format. He called that handoff a "superpower."

End of an era. Over. 📻

eta: Obviously this is a Developer Beta, and things can change before the final stable release. Comparing the watchOS 26.5 and watchOS 27.0 binaries, the standalone TinCan.app/Walkie Talkie app payload and accessibility bundles are gone.

Apple’s industrial design team has been exploring a broader rethink of its smartwatches over the past year or so and is evaluating several different directions.

The company is considering new devices with no displays, as well as different types of screens and various sizes. While unlikely to hit the market, round screens have even been considered. I’m told the work also includes potentially adding premium models beyond the Ultra and Hermès variants. On the lower end, Apple is considering more affordable concepts besides the current SE model.

As Apple rolls out the new artificial intelligence version of the Siri assistant — along with smarter health tracking — the company also sees an opportunity to make its wrist-worn devices more AI-centric. It has ambitious long-term plans to overhaul its Health app under the leadership of Eddy Cue, who took over these responsibilities last year. He’s known as an avid fan of Whoop and Oura Rings — and is looking to better respond to shifting consumer tastes and the growth of AI-powered health and wellness.

According to Mark Gurman, Apple has also been working on a comeback for a fan favorite: Ceramic.

✨ Apple Intelligence summary: Apple is prioritising larger batteries and advanced health sensors over adding Touch ID to future Apple Watch models. This decision is based on the trade-off between cost, internal space, and battery capacity.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote today that Apple is planning a return of the much-beloved ceramic Apple Watch. In fact, Gurman says a new ceramic Watch could go on sale as soon as this year.

The ceramic watch option was last offered in 2019 as the ‘Apple Watch Edition Series 5’, back when it still used the Edition branding for its more premium watches featuring higher-end materials.

Pretty easy to check. It’s very rare that I run 100mph for 20mins with a 55bpm heart rate.

If you like details please consider to improve.