Samsung hasn’t exactly been discreet, with its latest Galaxy Watch Ultra’s moniker itself bringing some Appley flavor. So, understandably, I was beyond excited to see what Samsung’s most premium smartwatch was made of. It also automatically begs the question of how Ultra Samsung’s new offering is compared to Apple’s best. I have been testing out the Galaxy Watch Ultra for a week now and borrowed a coworker’s Apple Watch Ultra 2 to pit the best of both worlds against each other. Which is the more ultra smartwatch? Let’s find out in this detailed comparison!
Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Apple Watch Ultra 2: Design and Build
I have with me the Titanium Gray variant of the Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s sole unpainted Titanium color option (thanks Akshay).
Talking about the design of the watches, in a lickety-split, the Galaxy Watch Ultra borrows a bit of its Apple counterpart’s aesthetic wizardry. Well, it’s called the Ultra too, which couldn’t be any more apparent. But, yes, the orange highlights throughout are an exaggeration of the Apple Watch Ultra’s subtle orange accents at the digital crown and Action Button.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra has that accentuation on its new Quick Button and back buttons too, which extends to embrace the dial with orange markings. The button placement of the Apple Watch Ultra is also better with the three buttons nicely divided and placed on either side of the frame. On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch Ultra fits all three on the right.
Apple Watch Ultra’s Digital Crown is also rotatable, which makes it pretty damn cool and actually functional, rather than the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s mostly aesthetic crown.
The shape difference is where the major difference lies. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra has this circle-on-squircle design that triggers my OCD like no other, the Apple Watch Ultra’s clean rounded-off rectangular design looks much neater.
The base of the Galaxy Watch Ultra is also a tad too curved and always seems strangely lifted off the skin. On the other hand, the Apple Watch Ultra rests gently on your wrists.
However, what struck me dumb was that, despite weighing more at 61.3 grams, the Apple Watch Ultra felt less hefty on my wrist. On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s 60-gram body took me quite some time to get used to, uncomfortably anchoring onto my wrist. My best guess is that since the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s base is smaller and curvier, the pressure gets concentrated, causing a slight disturbance in the weight distribution.
Like all things in life, once you get used to it, you’re gold. But, that’s not the case with the Apple Watch Ultra, and my wrists felt right at home from the get-go.
Both the Ultra watches are made out of aerospace-grade titanium though, so there’s some solid durability here. Akshay has been using his Watch Ultra 2 without any case or protection of sorts, and there’s not a single scratch or dent in the body. And, I have been giving the Galaxy Watch Ultra equal treatment with some added clumsiness and there are not even micro scratches here.
There’s also some commendable dust and water resistance on these Ultras. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra offers an IP68 rating, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 brings an IP6X rating to the table. For the most part, the ratings are not so different. Most importantly, both watches offer 10 ATM water resistance as well, which is good news for swimmers and scuba divers.
Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Apple Watch Ultra 2: Display
Talking about the displays, since the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s display on the circular dial doesn’t extend into the squircle cushion, it’s smaller at 1.46 inches. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Ultra’s rectangular form factor has more room for the bigger 1.92-inch display that it features.
The displays are AMOLED though, capped at 60Hz, so you will see vibrant colors and smooth transitions throughout. Both indoors and outdoors, the two displays are equally bright and I didn’t have any visibility problems either.
Now, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra has a smaller display, it packs more resolution at 480 x 480 pixels. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Ultra features 410 x 502 pixels. But, then again, the Apple Watch Ultra makes up for the lower pixels on one side with slightly more pixel density (335 PPI in comparison to the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s 320 PPI).
Ultimately, they offer the same quality in one way or the other, with these subtle changes being mostly imperceptible. It all boils down to which aspect ratio is more appealing to you.
Health and Fitness Tracking Features
There’s no denying that the Apple Watch Ultra’s tracking is considered to be one of the best (if not the best) you can get on a smartwatch. While Samsung Galaxy Watches have also been held in high regard for fitness tracking, with the BioActive sensor this time, the Ultra Watch takes it a step further.
I’m no athlete, and given how off-track my fitness levels and lifestyle are, sleep and step tracking are the two most important things I look out for on a smartwatch. So, I did a sleep test on the two Ultra watches and they showed pretty much the same results.
There was around a 7-minute difference in the sleep duration. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra showed that I slept at 12:31 AM and woke up at 7:07 AM, the Apple Watch Ultra displayed the duration from 12:29 AM to 6:59 AM.
As soon as I woke up, I checked the watch and yes, I woke up at 7 AM, but I tossed and turned for about 10 minutes before getting up for real, which is probably what the Galaxy Watch Ultra recorded. So, in a way, both the smartwatches are right.
However, the Galaxy Watch Ultra gets an extra brownie point for the new One UI 6’s AI Energy Score feature. Now, with this feature, every morning, after analyzing your sleep and heart rate monitoring, you get an insight into how your energy levels are looking for the day. So, you will know if you are ready to face the day or not. And, surprisingly, it very well aligned with how I felt after waking up. Pretty cool, I’d say!
The Galaxy Watch Ultra also offers Wellness Tips on the basis of your tracking data, and that comes in pretty handy too, especially if you’re like me who’s trying to get your lifestyle back on track.
I also did a quick 12-minute brisk walking test to see how well the watches tracked my steps and imagine my despair when I found out that the indoor walk run mode on the Apple Watch Ultra didn’t even show me my steps.
Yes, I tried going over to the Apple Health app, and while I could see my average steps for the day, I couldn’t see it for the workout mode. Everything else, from the calories burnt to my heart rate, was visible, except for the steps.
On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch Ultra showcases all the data. However, I did notice that the automatic workout detection worked better on the Apple Watch Ultra, as it instantly paused and resumed my walking accordingly. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch Ultra took an extra second or so to do so.
The heart rate monitoring and calorie burnt data were also very close, suggesting that the latest Galaxy Watch Ultra is as good as the Apple Watch Ultra, if not better.
However, do note that while the Apple Watch Ultra 2 features a dedicated depth gauge to embrace its 10 ATM water resistance, the Galaxy Watch Ultra doesn’t. So, that’s a big thing to note for scuba and free divers.
Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Apple Watch Ultra 2: UI and Performance
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is powered by the Exynos W1000, just like the Galaxy Watch 7. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 packs the S9 chipset, which is still the most powerful smartwatch processor right now. However, there are some UI optimization issues on the Galaxy Watch Ultra, which brings some minor stutters and lags in the UI, while there are none on the Galaxy Watch 7. I’m guessing it’s a problem specifically with our review unit.
On the other hand, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ran buttery smooth and I didn’t notice any lags whatsoever. So, understandably, the overall experience was more satisfying with the performance being a bit more seamless.
But, I will say, that after using the Galaxy Watch 7 which didn’t have those UI optimization issues, this is peak Wear OS right here as of now. The One UI 6 interface paired with Wear OS 5 is superb and extremely fluid. The touch bezel is also super satisfying to use, although I would have liked to see a physical rotatable dial on the Galaxy Watch Ultra.
Overall, while the Apple Watch Ultra’s UI animations and stability are still unparalleled, Samsung comes very close, thanks to the new generation of Galaxy Watches. You will see quite a few similarities though.
For example, the new Quick Button on the Galaxy Watch Ultra summons My Exercises by default, which is similar to the Apple Watch Ultra’s Action Button function that summons different workout modes.
As for the companion apps themselves, you will need at least two apps on both ecosystems to fully utilize the tracking capabilities of both the Ultras. That’s a bit of a hassle, but it is what it is. In terms of app UIs though, I feel Samsung has done a better job of keeping things cleaner and better organized.
I had to dig deeper into the Apple Health app to get to the exact data that I was looking for. It got cumbersome at times, so there’s that.
Now, while both watches have LTE, the Galaxy Watch Ultra brings the benefit of useful features like AI-suggested replies, this came in handy when I was too busy to reply to texts or walk outside. Galaxy AI analyzes your conversation and gives you contextual replies and suggestions to use. The Apple Watch Ultra, on the other hand, doesn’t have any such assistive features to complement its LTE capabilities. So, there’s that.
Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Apple Watch Ultra 2: Battery and Charging
By and large, the battery capacities of both the Ultra watches are similar. While the Galaxy Watch Ultra packs a 590mAh unit, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 comes with a 564mAh unit. In terms of backup, both watches can last around 2 days with normal usage. While Samsung promises 60 hours of battery life with AOD turned on, Apple says Watch Ultra 2 can last up to 36 hours.
With the Always-On display turned on, listening to some music by connecting my earbuds to the Ultras, taking a couple of calls, and even with LTE turned on, that’s the most backup you can expect out of these watches. In the power-saving modes, with everything turned off, you can easily expect around 4-5 days of backup on the watches, which is great for when you’re out on longer trips.
Despite the claims from Samsung, Galaxy Watch Ultra as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2 lasted around 2 days with AOD turned on. As for charging, the Galaxy Watch Ultra takes around 2 hours, while the Apple Watch Ultra 2 does it in around 1 hour and 15 minutes. So, that’s quite the difference there.
Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Apple Watch Ultra 2: Verdict
From the looks of it, Samsung has really outdone itself, coming super duper close to finally match up Apple’s top-of-the-line Watch Ultra series. The additional perks like AI Energy Score, Wellness Tips, Suggested Replies and whatnot make it a solid Apple Watch UItra alternative for Android users out there.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are, by all means, the best of both ecosystems. Besides, going by the price difference of Rs 59,999 (Galaxy Watch Ultra) to Rs 89,900 (Apple Watch Ultra 2), I’m surprised by how well the former holds its own against the latter.
While there’s no straightaway winner here as it depends upon the ecosystem you are in; you cannot connect Galaxy Watch Ultra to an iPhone and vice versa. It can be said for sure that these are not watches meant for those looking to just track their sleep and check their notifications and heart rate every once in a while.
Instead, it’s for those who like living life a little on the edge, and need that kind of power and fuel to accompany them in the journey ahead. If you’re one such person and have an Android or iOS device, well, these Ultra smartwatches are for you.
