Apple made the Series 12 a little easier to repair and left the Ultra 4 alone. On both, the glued screen still comes off first.
Photo: iFixit
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Ask about the Apple Watch Ultra 4
Released Guide updated
Apple made the Series 12 a little easier to repair and left the Ultra 4 alone. On both, the glued screen still comes off first.
Photo: iFixit
Read the storyIt is accurate enough to train by on runs and rides, but one tester says it is no better than recent Garmins, and a chest strap is still the pick for HIIT.
Photo: Tom's Guide
Read the storyDC Rainmaker's Ray Maker found Apple's new Readiness Score tracks hard days and sick days well, but it sometimes shows no value. Battery was weak in week one, then settled at a day to a day and a half.
Read the storyElectrical and optical heart sensors, blood oxygen and temperature cover your health, and heart rate stayed spot on against a chest strap.


Comparison
Compare watchesCost over 3 years
$799
Device price plus up to three years of optional subscription.
Weight
63g
Grams on your wrist. Lower is lighter.
Battery life
~2.1 days
How long it lasts on its own, away from a charger.
Google Health Premium costs $9.99 a month. It is optional. Over 3 years that is $360.
A personalized health coach, plus the fuller sleep and readiness analysis and the workout and mindfulness libraries.
DeviceOptional subscription
Case only, without a strap, as officially quoted.
Battery life can vary based on usage, settings and firmware version.
If not this one
Built-in GNSS records distance and pace on every run, and wrist-based running power shows the effort you put into the trail or road.
Smartwatch mode runs up to 12 days on the 45mm and 10 days on the 41mm between charges.
Brighter screen: up to 5,000 nits, against 3,000 nits here.
Quick answers
All FAQsThere is one review and it has a score, but one score is not an average. It takes two scored reviews from two different publishers.
Reveal to on sale
The gap has ranged from 9 days (Apple Watch Ultra 4) to 16 days (Apple Watch Ultra).
CURRENT MODELApple Watch Ultra 4
PREVIOUS MODELApple Watch Ultra 3
It's new and prices rarely drop this early, so buy it if you want it.
Apple Watch Ultra 4
On sale since Sep 18, and no new model is close. Buy it if you want it.
Five sales since September. The best was $699.99 in October, 12% off the $799 list price.
Returns
Warranty
Covered
Not covered
Good to know
Some things change with the version you buy. Here is what you get.
Apple Watch Ultra 4
Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable
Alpine Loop
Trail Loop
Titanium Milanese LoopFrom Apple. Checked Sep 22, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Apple made the Series 12 a little easier to repair and left the Ultra 4 alone. On both, the glued screen still comes off first.
It is accurate enough to train by on runs and rides, but one tester says it is no better than recent Garmins, and a chest strap is still the pick for HIIT.
DC Rainmaker's Ray Maker found Apple's new Readiness Score tracks hard days and sick days well, but it sometimes shows no value. Battery was weak in week one, then settled at a day to a day and a half.
Gizmodo's review of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 finds better heart-rate accuracy and no price increase, but key Apple Intelligence health features aren't live yet.
Ray Maker found Readiness arriving up to four hours late on the Ultra 4 and Series 12. Apple told him fixes are coming, with no date.
Apple's new 10 W Watch charger adds 12 hours to a Series 12 and 18 hours to an Ultra 4 in 15 minutes. Old 5 W pucks won't do it, and the new puck doesn't speed up older watches. MacRumors confirmed the wattage.
Apple's feature availability page says hypertension notifications on the Series 12 and Ultra 4 are waiting on regulatory clearances in 33 countries and regions, with no date. Older watches that already have the feature keep it. The Mac Observer found the footnote.
Satellite is one of the few things Ultra 4 has that a Series 12 owner cannot add later, and Apple has published no price for the service once its included years end.
The accuracy claim now has named rivals, a chest-strap reference and a result, though it's still a study Apple ran on its own watch.
Apple put visible signals and short retention on the new watches' listening features, though some of the processing still happens in the cloud.
Losing GLONASS probably costs Ultra 4 owners little, since the watch still reads four other satellite systems on two frequencies. Nobody has tested it yet, and Apple has not said why it changed.
The decision for an Ultra 3 owner is the sensor and the battery, because nothing on the outside of the watch changed.
Live Rewind and Siri Recap need a microphone running all day, and some of the audio features arrive only in beta this fall.
Apple Watch Series 11 matched Stanford's medical lab sleep tracking to the minute; Ultra 4 can't even confirm what sensors its blood pressure feature needs.
Apple is finally adding blood pressure tracking Samsung shipped first. FDA approval not included.
Apple's watchOS 26.5 adds the Pride Luminance face with 70-plus colors and 11 preset designs as part of its annual June release.