Black Friday Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Series 12 deals start now

Apple Watch discounts are starting to build ahead of Black Friday, and this time it is not just older models being cleared out. Amazon is already cutting prices on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4.

That makes the current sale a little more interesting than usual. Apple’s latest watches only arrived in September, so seeing them discounted this early gives buyers more choice than simply deciding whether last year’s model is cheap enough.

The table below pulls in the latest qualifying Apple Watch offers from our live wearable deals tracker, so it will update as Amazon changes its deals.

Series 12 is already part of the sale

The interesting bit here is Apple Watch Series 12. Discounts are showing up across both case sizes and on GPS and cellular configurations.

Series 12 is not a dramatic redesign, but there are enough changes underneath to make it meaningfully different from Series 11. Apple’s new Health Sensing System takes background heart-rate readings much more frequently and increases HRV sampling, while Readiness gives Apple Watch a recovery-style metric that was conspicuously missing from earlier generations.

There is also the newer S11 chip, more memory and additional Apple Intelligence features. We went through all of the differences in our Apple Watch Series 12 versus Series 11 comparison.

The catch is that everyday battery life remains rated at 24 hours on both generations. The displays are also very similar, and Series 11 already covers the core Apple Watch health features including ECG, blood oxygen, temperature tracking and sleep.

That is why the Series 11 deal is still worth watching. If its discount gets substantially deeper than Series 12 as Black Friday gets closer, it could become the more sensible buy for someone who does not particularly care about Readiness or the newer health-sensing system.

Discount at the top of the range

There is a similar choice at the top of the range. Both Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the newer Ultra 4 are showing up in the sale, but the older generation currently has the more aggressive reduction.

Ultra 4 is the better watch. Battery life increased to as much as 50 hours of normal use, compared with 42 hours on Ultra 3, while Low Power Mode stretches further as well. It also gets the new Health Sensing System, Readiness and higher-frequency heart-rate and HRV tracking.

The basic Ultra formula has not changed much, though. Both watches use a 49mm Grade 5 titanium case, sapphire display, precision dual-frequency GPS and a screen that reaches up to 3,000 nits. Both also support satellite communications, cellular connectivity and recreational diving.

That makes Ultra 3 particularly interesting when the price gap gets large enough. Our Apple Watch Ultra 4 versus Ultra 3 comparison shows that most of the best upgrades are concentrated around battery life and the newer health platform rather than a completely different watch.

Ultra 4 still makes more sense if you want the longest battery life Apple currently offers or specifically want Readiness. Apple increased normal battery life from 42 to 50 hours this year, which is one of the more useful upgrades for anyone actually using the Ultra for long workouts and outdoor trips.

But Ultra 3 remains a very capable watch, and a sufficiently large Black Friday discount changes the calculation quickly.

These deals could still move quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. Different case sizes, bands and cellular configurations also tend to move independently on Amazon, so one version can become substantially cheaper while another barely changes.