Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Comparing the Ultras

Price and availability

The Apple Watch Ultra costs $4,799/£749 and is available for pre-order ahead of its launch on September 18.

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By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is available to buy now and has a slightly cheaper starting price of £649/$699.

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Apple Watch Ultra 4 works best with iPhone only, while Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 works best with Samsung

One of the biggest deciding factors between the two comes down to the smartphone, as the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is only compatible with iOS, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 can only be paired with Android phones.

Although the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is technically compatible with most phones running Android 10 or later, the device works best when paired with a Samsung Galaxy phone. This means that pairing the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 with a Samsung handset unlocks features such as EKG, sleep apnea notifications and blood pressure monitoring.

With that in mind, if you’re sporting one of the best Android phones, then check out our best smartwatches and best fitness trackers instead.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 promises to offer the most accurate heart rate detection in a wearable device

Apple makes some serious claims for the Watch Ultra 4 and Watch Series 12. Thanks to the new Health Sensing System, which includes new heart sensors, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 promises to provide “the most accurate heart rate detection in a wearable device.” The Health Sensing System is equipped with larger LEDs that now measure heart rate every five seconds.

Apple backed up this claim by sharing the study conducted on more than 1,000 participants, which compared the Apple Watch’s new heart rate detection accuracy to leading wearable devices. The result showed that the Apple Watch provides the highest accuracy among the devices.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also monitors your heart rate, regardless of whether it’s paired with a Samsung or another Android phone. In addition, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also offers a heart health score that combines information such as activity time, sleep, body weight, and vascular stress for an easy-to-understand result.

S11 vs Snapdragon Wear Elite

Behind the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is the S11 chip, touted as “Apple’s most powerful wearable chip.” Not only does this processor keep the watch running smoothly, but it also supports the upcoming Audio Intelligence features that are said to arrive later this year.

Audio intelligence has three distinct properties. First, it can detect loud noises like sirens, doorbells, or even a baby crying, and alert users who might not have heard them. Then there’s Live Rewind, where you can go back 15 seconds in a conversation to see what someone said, and finally Siri Recap, which gives you an overview of your conversations throughout the day.

How useful these tools actually are remains to be seen. While the loud noise detection will undoubtedly help the hearing impaired, it feels strange to be able to scroll through all of my conversations at the end of the day.

By the way, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite. Samsung promises that thanks to the processor, the device can launch applications faster and offer smoother interaction than ever before. What’s more, the processor gives you access to Gemini, Google’s voice assistant, which is on board the Ultra 2 – a welcome addition, as we found Gemini to be one of the most useful AI assistants out there.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 introduces fitness scores and health era

A frequently requested feature on the Apple Watch is the readiness score and health era, and thankfully Apple has listened to our requests. When the revamped Apple Health app launches later this year (exact date still TBC), Apple Watch users will get a personalized health age based on their VO2 Max levels.

Additionally, Apple is introducing a readiness score that analyzes recent metrics including activities, vitals, and sleep score and gives you a score between 0 and 10, along with an actionable recommendation: Recover, pace yourself, be ready, or go. Essentially, the higher your score, the more it encourages you to stretch your body.

By the way, the Samsung Health app that comes with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 was recently revamped and now includes a new Vitals section that tracks metrics like heart and respiratory rate, HRV, skin temperature, and blood oxygen levels. Although the app update claims to be AI-centric, we found that the insights weren’t as personalized as we would have liked.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 promises longer battery life in low power mode

While neither offers as long a battery life as the Whoop or the best Garmin watches, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 promises up to 50 hours under normal use. It can last up to 84 hours if you put the watch in low power mode.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is not far behind either, with a promise of up to 60 hours.

Either way, both devices offer about two days of use time, which, while an improvement over older models, is still far short of the best smartwatches out there.

Early judgment

The most obvious reason to choose one smartwatch over another is what kind of phone you have, as the Apple Watch is only compatible with iPhones and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is only compatible with Androids. And remember, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 supports Android phones, it works best with Samsung Galaxy phones specifically.

Either way, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are rugged smartwatches designed to provide accurate health and fitness tracking.

We will update this after reviewing the Apple Watch Ultra 4.