Samsung will give the Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 five major Wear OS updates, carrying them to 2031. The Pixel Watch gets three, so the longest software support on an Android watch now comes from the company that does not make Android, and it matches what Apple offers on the Apple Watch. Android Police credits SamMobile for the policy and points at the new Snapdragon Wear Elite chip as the reason it is unlikely to reach the Exynos-based Galaxy Watch 8, which stays at four.
The Ultra 2 is also the first Samsung watch certified to EN13319 for recreational diving, tracking depth, dive time and water temperature down to 40 meters, and Samsung built the companion diving app with Mares to ship separately in the coming months, as SammyGuru detailed. The display peaks at 5,000 nits against the original Ultra's 3,000, the battery grows to 800mAh from 590mAh, the case is thinner at 10.7mm against 12.1mm, and there is still no 5G on any model.