# The Moto Watch Ultra brings Motorola back to Wear OS with Polar fitness tracking

Source: https://idevice.com/motorola-returns-to-wear-os-and-rents-its-fitness-platform
Published: 2026-09-03

> The Moto Watch Ultra undercuts an equivalent Pixel Watch 5 by nearly half. The chip and the glass are where it gives ground.

Motorola announced the Moto Watch Ultra today, its first watch in years running Google’s Wear OS instead of the simpler in-house software its recent models used. The [full spec list](https://9to5google.com/2026/09/03/moto-watch-ultra-wear-os-smartwatch-motorola/) is a 46mm stainless steel body, a 1.5-inch pOLED screen, a Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, NFC for Google Wallet, LTE, and a 550 mAh battery Motorola rates at two days. It goes on sale unlocked on September 10 at $349, and reaches Verizon on September 24. Health tracking comes from Polar rather than anything Motorola wrote, which is how a Wear OS maker without access to Fitbit gets a fitness platform at all.

Android Police’s Rita El Khoury [spent a day with one](https://www.androidpolice.com/motorola-moto-watch-ultra-hands-on/) and found the compromises where you would expect them. The screen is covered in Gorilla Glass 3 rather than the Gorilla Glass 5 on the [Pixel Watch 5](https://idevice.com/smart-watches/google-pixel-watch/roadmap), and it peaks at 2,700 nits against Google’s 3,000. The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 has no satellite connectivity, though it does carry a low-power coprocessor for background work like notifications and heart rate. Those choices are what keeps the price down. An LTE 45mm Pixel Watch 5 runs $530 without an extra band, so Motorola is asking a little over half as much for a bigger watch that ships with two straps and takes any standard 22mm band.

## Sources

- [9to5Google](https://9to5google.com/2026/09/03/moto-watch-ultra-wear-os-smartwatch-motorola/) (9to5Google)
- [Android Police](https://www.androidpolice.com/motorola-moto-watch-ultra-hands-on/) (Android Police)