Apple Watch Ultra 2

Apple announced Ultra 2 on 12 September 2023 and put it in stores on 22 September 2023. It’s the last Ultra without satellite, and two newer Ultras have since launched at the same $799, so the real question is what a discount buys you.

What you give up against Ultra 3 and Ultra 4

Spec	Ultra 2	Ultra 3	Ultra 4
Screen	410 × 502 LTPO2, 3,000 nits	422 × 514 LTPO3, 3,000 nits	422 × 514 LTPO3, 3,000 nits
Chip	S9	S10	S11
Normal use	Up to 36 hours	Up to 42 hours	Up to 50 hours
Low Power Mode	Up to 72 hours	Up to 72 hours	Up to 84 hours
Satellite	No	Yes	Yes
Health Sensing System	No	No	Yes
US launch price	$799 (2023)	$799 (2025)	$799 (2026)

Peak brightness hasn’t moved since Ultra 2, though Ultra 3 and Ultra 4 use a newer LTPO3 panel with more pixels. The bigger gaps are satellite, which arrived with Ultra 3, and battery: 36 hours of normal use against 42 on Ultra 3 and 50 on Ultra 4. If you never leave cell coverage and a day and a half between charges suits you, a cheap Ultra 2 gives up less than the price gap suggests.

Ultra 4 vs Ultra 2 and Ultra 3 vs Ultra 2 go through each step in detail.

The screen

Besides the 3,000-nit peak, Ultra 2’s Always-On LTPO2 OLED dims to 1 nit in the dark. It’s 410 × 502 pixels at 326 ppi, with 1,185 sq mm of active area under flat sapphire, and Night Mode works on the Modular Ultra and Wayfinder faces. Ultra 3 and Ultra 4 keep the same peak on a 422 × 514 LTPO3 panel.

Battery and charging

Mode	Ultra 2
Normal use	Up to 36 hours
Low Power Mode	Up to 72 hours
GPS workouts	Not published
Charging	About 80% in about 1 hour

Apple’s 36-hour test mixes time checks, notifications, a 60-minute workout with music and some LTE use. Apple gives no GPS workout rating for Ultra 2, so there’s nothing to set against Ultra 4’s workout modes, rated for 18, 25 and 45 hours. The Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C cable (1m) comes in the box.

Health and sleep

Ultra 2 has the third-generation optical heart sensor, the electrical sensor for the ECG app, Blood Oxygen (results show in the Health app on iPhone) and a wrist temperature sensor that Apple says isn’t for medical use. The Sleep app tracks sleep stages, and sleep apnea notifications work on Ultra 2 and Series 9 or later. There’s no Health Sensing System and no 0–10 readiness score.

The outdoor and dive kit

• Water and diving: water resistant to 100m (WR100 under ISO 22810:2010) and certified to EN13319 for recreational scuba to 40m, with a water temperature sensor beside the depth gauge.
• Dust and knocks: IP6X, and tested to MIL-STD-810H methods for altitude, heat and cold, temperature shock, immersion, freeze and thaw, ice and freezing rain, shock and vibration.
• Controls: the Action Button can start a workout with Precision Start, and there’s a siren for emergencies.
• Navigation: L1 and L5 dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou), a compass, waypoints, Backtrack, offline maps, U.S. topographic maps and curated hikes in 63 U.S. national parks.

Apple rates it for −20°C to 55°C on the wrist, dives in water from 0°C to 40°C and altitudes from −500m to 9,000m. The safety features are Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, Crash Detection, Fall Detection, a Last Emergency Call waypoint and noise monitoring, none of which needs a satellite.

Software, iPhone and connectivity

Ultra 2 launched with watchOS 10 and gets watchOS 27. S9 brings double tap and on-device Siri. Alongside LTE and UMTS cellular with international roaming, it has Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.3 and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for Precision Finding. Apple Pay and GymKit are built in.

Price and what’s in the box

Ultra 2 launched at $799 in the US, and Ultra 3 and Ultra 4 later launched at the same price. That makes Ultra 2 a buy only well below $799, and prices for older stock vary from seller to seller, so check before you buy.

The box has the watch, one band and the Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C cable (1m). Bands use the Ultra fitting (Trail Loop, Alpine Loop, Ocean Band), not a standard 22mm quick-release. Apple says Ultra 2 is carbon neutral when paired with an Alpine Loop, Trail Loop or Titanium Milanese Loop, with 30% recycled or renewable content and 95% recycled titanium.