APPLE WATCH ULTRA
For an athlete or an aesthete, this is a quality device with a super screen
Not only is this display larger, but it also has a 2000-nit peak brightness
The Ultra is the biggest transformation to the Apple Watch since its 2015 launch. But there’s more to it than just being a premium alternative to the Watch Series 8 and the Watch SE. This watch is designed to be outdoor-focused for extreme sports, from ultra marathons to rock climbers.
It’s a much bigger device than the regular Series 8, in part thanks to its chunky design. There’s a hard titanium bezel to protect the screen, a bigger and more rugged digital crown and a more pronounced second button. It’s also water resistant down to 100m (compared to 50m). There’s a new depth gauge and water temperature sensor, as well as a dedicated depth gauge app included and a soon-to-be released dive computer app called Oceanic+.
With the larger casing comes a new 49mm (1.92-inch) display, with 410 x 502-pixel resolution. Not only is this display larger than the 45mm of the Apple Watch Series 8 models, but it’s also twice as bright, with a 2000-nit peak brightness. Like the Series 7 and 8, the Ultra’s display is always-on, so you don’t need to raise your wrist to show the clock face, and all the accompanying widgets.
The Apple Watch Ultra’s new Wayfinder face includes up to eight widgets and incorporates an inner bezel to show either latitude and longitude or elevation/incline. By tapping the dial, the hours ring switches over to a live compass. And if you turn the digital crown, the watch face goes into night mode, turning everything red, making it easier to see in low-light conditions.
When in workout mode, the Ultra can display an extra line of data. There’s also two alternate displays, showing your movement rings for the day and our favourite: the zone view, which helps to monitor your level of effort.
There’s a bigger battery, too – 73% bigger, in fact. General use will give you around 36 hours, while if you’re using mobile signal from the watch rather than just your phone’s data, you will get around 18 hours.
The introduction of the Ultra is a welcome one for Apple Watch users as it represents a true flagship product for the range, rather than just a change of case material. For us, the larger, brighter screen and chunkier build is reason in itself to pick this over the Series 8. However, the added features, like the superior GPS, three-microphone array, longer battery life, depth gauge and siren make it a serious choice for divers, climbers and endurance athletes.