Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra

The original Apple Watch Ultra went on sale on 23 September 2022 at $799; Ultra 4 reached stores three generations later, on 18 September 2026, at the same price. They still share a silhouette: a 49 by 44 by 12mm titanium case, a flat sapphire front with raised edges around it, and the Action Button on the side. The original came only in natural titanium; Ultra 4 also comes in black.

Four years apart, side by side

Spec	Apple Watch Ultra 4	Apple Watch Ultra
Announced	9 September 2026	7 September 2022
Case	49 × 44 × 12mm Grade 5 titanium	49 × 44 × 12mm titanium
Weight	63.0 g natural; 63.1 g black	61.3 g, natural only
Display	LTPO3, 422 × 514, 1,245 sq mm	LTPO2, 410 × 502, 1,185 sq mm
Brightness	Up to 3,000 nits; 1 nit minimum	Up to 2,000 nits
Always On	Updates once a second (1Hz)	About once a minute
Chip and storage	S11; 64GB	S8; 32GB
Normal use	Up to 50 hours	Up to 36 hours
Low power	Up to 84 hours in Low Power Mode	Up to 60 hours (launch figure)
GPS workouts	18 hours; 25 Extended; 45 Max Extended	Not published
Charging	About 80% in 45 minutes	Not published
Satellite	SOS, Messages, Find My	No
Cellular	5G and LTE (model A3579)	LTE and UMTS
Heart sensors	Health Sensing System	Third-generation optical + electrical
Gestures	Single tap, double tap, wrist flick	None listed
Wrist fit	130–210mm	Not published
watchOS 27	Ships with it	No
iPhone needed	iPhone 11 or later, iOS 27	iPhone 8 or later, iOS 16
US launch price	$799	$799

Satellite and software are the reasons to move

The original isn’t helpless in an emergency. It has Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, Crash Detection and Fall Detection, with a high-g accelerometer that measures up to 256 g-forces. What it lacks is satellite: Ultra 4 can send Emergency SOS, Messages and Find My over satellite, and that’s the safety reason to move if you go where phones lose signal.

Software is the other line. The 2022 Ultra launched on watchOS 9 and pairs with an iPhone 8 or later on iOS 16 or later, but watchOS 27 leaves it behind. Ultra 4 ships with watchOS 27 and needs an iPhone 11 or later, including iPhone SE (2nd generation or later), on iOS 27.

A brighter screen that keeps ticking

The original peaks at 2,000 nits, which Apple called twice as bright as any earlier Apple Watch display when it launched. Ultra 4 reaches 3,000 nits and can dim to 1 nit. Its panel moved from a 410 × 502 LTPO2 to a 422 × 514 LTPO3, the active area grew from 1,185 to 1,245 square millimeters, and Ultra 4 runs at 326 pixels per inch.

Always On changed too. Ultra 4 refreshes the dimmed face once a second, so a seconds hand keeps moving with your wrist down. The original updates it about once a minute, as every Ultra did until Ultra 3.

Battery: 36 hours then, 50 now

Apple rates the original for up to 36 hours of normal use and up to 18 hours on LTE. At launch Apple also quoted 60 hours in a low-power setting and said an extra-low GPS and heart-rate setting would follow later that fall.

Ultra 4 is rated for up to 50 hours of normal use and 84 in Low Power Mode, plus 18 hours for an outdoor workout, 25 in Extended Workout and 45 in Max Extended Workout, which covers outdoor runs, walks and hikes with GPS checking your position every second. It charges to about 80% in 45 minutes; fifteen minutes buys about 18 hours of normal use, and five minutes about 10 hours of sleep tracking.

The bigger battery adds a little weight: 61.3 grams for the original, 63.0 or 63.1 grams for Ultra 4, without a band. Ultra 4 fits wrists from 130 to 210mm. Both boxes include a band and a Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C cable.

The Health Sensing System against the 2022 sensors

The original has a third-generation optical heart sensor and an electrical sensor for the ECG app, for ages 22 and up where available, with irregular rhythm notifications. Blood Oxygen is a wellness feature, and a water-temperature sensor sits with the depth gauge. Apple lists no wrist temperature sensor or Sleep app for it, and sleep apnea notifications start with Series 9 and Ultra 2.

Ultra 4’s Health Sensing System uses new optical and electrical sensors with larger green LEDs. Apple says it checks your heart rate every five seconds all day, 60× as often as Ultra 3, and samples HRV as often as every five minutes, 24× as often. Readiness turns that into a 0–10 score each morning (Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready or Go For It) built from your activity, training load, vitals and sleep. Ultra 4 also tracks sleep stages, gives you a Sleep score and can flag possible sleep apnea where Apple offers it. ECG and Blood Oxygen are region-limited, and none of it is a diagnosis.

Chip, storage and gestures

The original runs on S8, with the W3 wireless chip, the first-generation U1 ultra-wideband chip and 32GB of storage. Ultra 4 has S11, a second-generation ultra-wideband chip and 64GB. S11 also brings Audio Intelligence, with Live Rewind and Siri Recap due as betas in late 2026, and Ultra 4 adds single tap, double tap and wrist flick gestures.

What the original already had

The Action Button isn’t new. On the original it’s international orange, and it starts workouts, marks compass waypoints, starts Backtrack or opens the Depth app. Its 86-decibel siren plays two patterns, one of them SOS, that can repeat for hours. Ultra 4 keeps the button, rates its siren at up to 600 feet (about 180 meters) rather than in decibels, and can put a flashlight on the button too.

Dual-frequency GPS was there from the start: L1 and L5, with GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou. Ultra 4 lists GPS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou, and Apple calls it the most accurate on-device GPS in a sports watch, a 2026 claim. Every original Ultra is a GPS + Cellular model on LTE and UMTS with international roaming; Ultra 4’s model A3579 adds 5G.

So was diving. The original is water resistant to 100 meters and rated for recreational scuba to 40 meters with a compatible App Store app, and not below 40 meters. Its Depth app shows time, current depth, water temperature, dive duration and maximum depth, and Oceanic+ was the launch partner. Ultra 4 keeps the EN13319 rating to 40 meters, with about 1 meter of depth accuracy and dive apps that open automatically at around 1 meter. Both are IP6X and tested to a list of MIL-STD-810H methods.

Apple said the original’s dual speakers were 40 percent louder than Series 8’s, alongside a three-microphone array. Ultra 4 has dual speakers and the same kind of microphone array, plus media playback.

In 2022 Apple pitched the Action Button for workouts, intervals, multisport legs and track running. Ultra 4 lists dedicated run, hike, cycle, swim and dive tools, including running power, cycling power-meter support and hiking maps for 63 U.S. national parks, and it’s rated for minus 20 to 55 degrees Celsius on the wrist.

What the difference buys

Both launched at $799: the original on 7 September 2022 and Ultra 4 on 9 September 2026, with bands and a cellular plan extra. The 2022 price says nothing about what a used one costs now. Whatever the gap, it pays for S11, 64GB, the 3,000-nit LTPO3 screen, satellite, 5G, the longer battery, the Health Sensing System and current software. It doesn’t pay for the Action Button or the 40-meter dive rating, which the original already had. Check apple.com for Ultra 4 and the seller’s price for an original before you buy.