The 2026 Apple Watch refresh is, once again, speculated to ship with not one, but two premium ceramic options. That's assuming you can afford them.

The rumor mill has repeatedly brought up potential changes to the Apple Watch lineup, as well as how it apparently won't change that much. While bigger changes are still on the horizon, one of the upcoming ones will be material in nature.

Throughout August, the hype for the ceramic version of the Apple Watch Series 12 has increased. In Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman adds more fuel to it.

Gurman says that Apple has tested the Apple Watch Series 12 with both white and dark gray configurations of ceramic cases. Apparently, this case style is referred to internally as "iceman."

While the attention is on the premium material, Gurman adds that there will still be more band colors and configurations for other variants to use.

As previously declared in various ways, Gurman reiterates that there won't be a big redesign this year for the wearable. That said, there could be a change in 2027, though that may also slip into 2028.

More health monitoring

There's a small chance of there being some form of health shakeup with the Apple Watch this year, as evidenced by rumors of a sensor in the band. Gurman, however, sticks to feature changes in his reporting.

This includes Apple apparently testing a way for the heart rate sensor to continuously collect data throughout the day. Currently, it does so at semi-random intervals or when the user is undergoing an intensive activity.

Such a change could use the way the Apple Watch tracks workouts, but continuously running instead of being for limited periods.

There is also the potential for an update to the fitness and health app software. Gurman believes there could be more wellness-related metrics presented to users, in a similar way to wearables from Whoop and Oura.

Gurman doesn't say when to expect such changes to hit the Apple Watch. It's possible that they could arrive in September, but they may also be arriving in a further-off release.

We don't have that long to wait before finding out. Apple's "Surprise and shine" event is on September 9, and while the iPhone 18 Pro and folding iPhone launches will be the main stories of it, a new Apple Watch is also expected.

While we are pretty sure about what Apple will launch at the event, the timing of preorders is quite uncertain. Though Apple opens preorders on the following Friday, it is rumored to be instead opening them on the Saturday.

You may not need to wait until 5 am PT or 8 am ET either. Apple's allegedly opening preorders at 12:01 am PT, or 3:01 am ET.