Apple Watch Series 12 bezels are bigger and users have noticed

There’s a tiny Apple Watch Series 12 change Apple didn’t exactly shout about. The bezel looks a bit chunkier than it did on Series 11, and once you notice it, it is pretty hard to ignore.

At first, you could easily put that down to the new ceramic version or the way Apple has photographed the watch. But the regular aluminium and titanium models have changed as well.

The case is wider

Let’s look at the published specs.

Apple Watch Series 11 measures 46 x 39 x 9.7 mm in the larger size and 42 x 36 x 9.7 mm in the smaller one. Series 12 keeps the same height and depth, but the aluminium and titanium versions are now 40 mm and 37 mm wide respectively.

So both Series 12 sizes have gained 1 mm in width. That is a small change, but on a watch it is enough to make the border around the screen look noticeably wider.

The display resolution has not changed. The 46 mm Series 11 and Series 12 both use a 416 x 496 pixel display, while the smaller versions remain at 374 x 446 pixels.

Apple also lists both generations at 326 pixels per inch. That points to the active display remaining essentially the same physical size while the case around it has become wider.

The difference is easiest to spot with a bright watch face. Dark OLED backgrounds disguise the bezel much more effectively, while white or colourful faces make the edge of the screen obvious.

Apple’s display figures complicate things

There is one slightly confusing detail in Apple’s specifications. The Series 11 specs list a display area of 1,220 square millimetres for the 46 mm model and 989 square millimetres for the 42 mm version.

The Series 12 specs instead give figures of 1,196 and 970 square millimetres. Read literally, that would suggest the Series 12 display has actually become smaller.

Apple’s own Watch comparison page tells a different story. It now lists Series 11 with the same 1,196 and 970 square millimetre figures as Series 12, which conflicts with the dedicated Series 11 specifications page.

The unchanged resolution and identical 326 ppi figure also make an actual reduction in display size unlikely. The most likely explanation is that Apple has changed how it reports display area, or one of the Series 11 pages is using an older measurement.

So this does not look like Apple shrinking the Series 12 screen. It looks more like the same basic display sitting inside a slightly wider case.

The ceramic version goes a little further

The ceramic Series 12 has different dimensions again. The 46 mm ceramic version measures 47 x 41 x 9.85 mm, compared with 46 x 40 x 9.7 mm for the aluminium and titanium versions. That makes the bezel difference particularly noticeable on ceramic.

For most buyers, this probably will not be a major reason to choose one generation over the other. Our Apple Watch Series 12 vs Series 11 comparison covers the larger differences between the two watches.

Still, it is a curious move after several generations of Apple gradually pushing the display closer to the edges. Series 12 appears to take a small step in the other direction, even though the usable screen itself seems to be effectively unchanged.