Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) vs Apple Watch Ultra 4

Apple launched SE (2nd generation) on 7 September 2022 at $249, and U.S. stores had it from 16 September. Ultra 4 followed on 9 September 2026 at $799. Back then the SE was Apple’s value watch; that job now belongs to SE 3, which also starts at $249 and gets watchOS 27. If you’re replacing a 2022 SE, it helps to know what each step up buys before you go all the way to the Ultra.

Four years apart, side by side

Spec	Apple Watch SE (2nd generation)	Apple Watch Ultra 4
Announced	7 September 2022	9 September 2026
Case	40mm or 44mm aluminum	49mm titanium
Display	LTPO OLED, 1,000 nits; not Always-On	Always-On LTPO3, 3,000 nits
Resolution	324 × 394 (759 sq mm) or 368 × 448 (977 sq mm), 326 ppi	422 × 514
Chip and storage	S8; 32GB	S11; 64GB
Battery	Up to 18 hours	Up to 50 hours; 84 in Low Power Mode
Charge to 80%	About 1.5 hours	About 45 minutes
ECG and Blood Oxygen	No	Yes, with regional limits
Temperature sensing	None listed	Wrist and water temperature
GPS	L1 (GPS, GNSS, Galileo, QZSS)	Dual-frequency
Water	50m, swimming	100m; dives to 40m
Satellite	No	SOS, Messages, Find My
watchOS 27	No	Ships with it
US launch price	$249	$799

The screen sleeps, and the health list is short

The 2022 SE’s Retina LTPO OLED sits under Ion-X glass and goes dark whenever you lower your wrist. Ultra 4’s screen stays on, gets three times as bright at its 3,000-nit peak, and dims to 1 nit in the dark.

For health, the SE relies on a second-generation optical heart sensor: the Heart Rate app, high and low heart rate alerts, irregular rhythm notifications, and sleep stages in the Sleep app. There’s no electrical sensor, so no ECG, and there’s no Blood Oxygen app or temperature sensor. Ultra 4 adds the Health Sensing System, ECG, Blood Oxygen, wrist temperature, a Sleep score and sleep apnea notifications where Apple offers them. In the SE line, sleep apnea notifications arrived with SE 3, not this model.

One day of battery, or two

Apple rates the SE for up to 18 hours, a figure that includes a workout, and gives it no Low Power Mode or GPS workout rating. Charging to 80% takes about 1.5 hours on its magnetic charger, slow next to newer watches that quote 30 or 45 minutes.

Ultra 4 is rated for up to 50 hours, or 84 in Low Power Mode, and 18, 25 or 45 hours in its GPS workout modes. It reaches 80% in about 45 minutes, and 15 minutes on the charger adds about 18 hours of normal use: the SE’s whole rating from a quick top-up.

What only the Ultra has

Ultra 4 is a 49 × 44 × 12mm titanium watch of about 63 grams, built for rough conditions: an Action Button, a siren, dual-frequency GPS, 5G RedCap, and Emergency SOS, Messages and Find My over satellite when there’s no cell signal. It’s water resistant to 100 meters and rated for dives to 40 meters, it’s IP6X dust resistant with a depth gauge, and it keeps working on the wrist down to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The SE has none of that. Its GPS is single-frequency L1, its cellular models use LTE and UMTS with roaming set by your carrier, and it has Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.3 but no ultra-wideband chip. It’s water resistant to 50 meters for swimming, not diving, and has no dust rating.

What the 2022 SE still covers

For a 2022 watch, it handles the safety basics: Crash Detection (new on this SE and Series 8 that year, and still there on Ultra 4), Fall Detection, Emergency SOS and noise monitoring, plus a compass, an always-on altimeter and Backtrack. Apple Pay and GymKit work, and the Digital Crown has haptic feedback.

Workouts cover running, hiking, cycling and swimming, plus skiing, snowboarding, rowing, golf, walking, elliptical, HIIT and yoga. Hiking gets a compass, waypoints and Backtrack, but Apple doesn’t list the curated hikes in 63 national parks for this SE as it does for SE 3 and Ultra 4, and it doesn’t itemize Functional Threshold Power for cycling or SWOLF for the pool. There’s no Action Button either, the Ultra control for marking a lap without looking at the screen.

Cases, bands and software

The SE’s aluminum case comes in midnight, starlight or silver. The 40mm measures 40 × 34 × 10.7mm and weighs 26.4 grams with GPS or 27.8 grams with cellular; a 44mm GPS model weighs 32.9 grams. It uses the standard Apple Watch band fitting, so Ultra bands won’t fit, and the box holds one band and a USB-C magnetic charger.

It pairs with an iPhone Xs or later, including iPhone SE (2nd generation or later), on iOS 18 or later. It launched on watchOS 9 and doesn’t get watchOS 27, which Ultra 4 ships with.

Price

The 2022 SE launched at $249, and Ultra 4 starts at $799. If what you want is Always-On and current software, SE 3 has both, with S10, from $249; Series 12 adds ECG from $399. Ultra 4 is the right replacement only if you want the rugged case and the longer battery. Check apple.com for current prices before you decide: a used 2022 SE shouldn’t cost anything close to a new SE 3.