When Apple previewed watchOS 27 at WWDC 2026, it noted that the new Apple Watch operating system will not support the Apple Watch Series 6, 7, 8, SE 2, and the original Apple Watch Ultra, and those wearables will receive only security updates going forward. As you might imagine, this ticked off quite a few Apple Watch users.
Admittedly, it was unusual for Apple to drop support for fairly recent Apple Watch models and we had never witnessed it dropping support for so many devices at once. Now, Apple is explaining why it did this.
Speaking to TechRadar, Cait Dooley, Apple Watch and Health product marketing manager, said performance requirements were the reason for the massive pruning of devices:
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.
Meanwhile, David Clark, senior director of watchOS software engineering, described the Watch as often being “the most convenient way to interact with Siri,” since it’s on a user’s wrist all day and is 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.
watchOS 27 is currently available in an initial beta to developers, with a public beta expected to be released next month. A wide public release is expected in the fall.