Apple Watch (1st generation) was released on 24 April 2015.
The Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches developed and marketed by Apple. It has fitness tracking, health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, integrating with watchOS and other Apple products and services. The first Apple Watch was released in April 2015, and quickly became the world's best-selling wearable device. 4.2 million were sold in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, and more than 115 million people were estimated to use an Apple Watch as of December 2022. Apple has introduced a new generation of the Apple Watch with improved internal components each September – each labeled by Apple as a 'Series', with certain exceptions.
Each Series has been initially sold in multiple variants defined by the watch casing's material, color, and size (except for the budget watches Series 1 and SE, available only in aluminum, and the Ultra, available only in 49 mm titanium), and beginning with the Series 3 and Series 11, by the option in the aluminum variants for LTE and 5G cellular connectivity, respectively, which comes standard with the other materials. The band included with the watch can be selected from multiple options from Apple, and watch variants in aluminum co-branded with Nike and in stainless steel co-branded with Hermès are also offered, which include exclusive bands and colors. Any user may use digital watch faces carrying those companies' branding.
The Apple Watch operates in conjunction with the user's iPhone for functions such as configuring the watch and syncing data with iPhone apps, but can separately connect to a Wi-Fi network for data-reliant purposes, including communications, app use, and audio streaming. LTE and 5G-equipped models can also perform these functions over a mobile network, and can make and receive phone calls independently when the paired iPhone is not nearby or is powered off. The oldest iPhone model that is compatible with any given Apple Watch depends on the version of the operating system installed on each device. As of September 2025, new Apple Watches come with watchOS 26 preinstalled and require an iPhone running iOS 26, which is compatible with the iPhone 11 or later.
The Apple Watch is the only smartwatch fully supported for the iPhone, as Apple restricts the APIs available in other smartwatches, so other smartwatches always have less functionality.