The Apple Watch Ultra series has had a good share of the spotlight over recent years. When it arrived in 2022, it was a huge change from the standard Apple Watch and received acclaim from users who could a) afford it, and b) got on with its bigger screen and bulkier casing.
Two years later, is the Apple Watch Ultra 3 still going to feel as much a revelation as the original did? The short answer: probably not, judging by the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s iterative update.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is not expected to have many major design upgrades over the Ultra 2. And even that second-gen model’s biggest leap was in display brightness, while we were fairly happy with the searing intensity of the original Watch Ultra’s OLED. With the upcoming Apple event on September 9 rumored to contain an Ultra 3, the question everyone is asking is this: should I wait and buy the Ultra 3, or just buy the Ultra 2 now?
Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Ultra 2: Release date and price
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 was released in September 2023. In standard Apple fashion, we expect to see the Ultra 3 this year, during the Apple event on September 9 2024.
There have been no major news stories or predications on the Ultra 3 price, and that suggests pricing is likely to be the same as it is at present. The Watch Ultra 2 starts at $799/£799/$1399AU, and we expect to see the same or similar for the third version.
Unlike the standard Apple Watch family, pricing here is blissfully simple too. There are no sizes to worry about, no pricier or cheaper casing materials. It’s titanium all the way, and the price stays the same whether you pick an Ocean Band, Trail Loop or Alpine Loop as your starter strap.
Could that change with the Ultra 3? Perhaps, if we get new luxe bands.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Ultra 2: Design
Don’t expect the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to look obviously different to the Ultra 2. Those upset by the prospect should chart back into the history of the “normal” Apple Watch, which has looked extremely similar since the series began bar a shrinking screen bezel.
One change Apple could make, which we’d quite like to see, is a choice of casing color. But we can’t honestly say this would necessarily be a good idea.
The Apple Watch Ultra casing is a titanium alloy with a relatively raw finish, meaning there’s no color layer to scrape through and reveal the shiny metal underneath. If we were to get, say, a Space Grey Watch Ultra 3, damage would likely be much more visible, more evident. And you don’t want that in a watch made for rugged outdoors use (although yes, we know plenty of people buy a Watch Ultra simply because they want the priciest Apple gear.)
This may be why the rumored black Watch Ultra 2 never materialised.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Ultra 2: Display
According to rumor, it sounds like some of you may be disappointed with the Apple Watch Ultra 3’s screen. At one point we expected Apple to release a Watch Ultra 3 with a microLED, rather than OLED, screen in 2024 or 2025. That project has now been canned according to reliable Apple leaker Mark Gurman, because costs were simply too high.
It’s not immediately clear what the real benefit would be anyway, unless microLED were able to bring massive efficiency savings. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 screen is already incredibly bright, sharp enough and super-rich.
We do believe the Apple Watch Ultra 3 may have some under-the-hood tweaks in its design to improve display efficiency, though. It’s rumoured to make greater use of low-temperature polycrystalline oxide transistor tech. According to TheElec, the new display design uses LTPO in the display driving transistors rather than just the switching transistors, as in current models. These driving transistors control the current fed to the display.
This should, with any luck, increase power efficiency. How noticeable this will be in real-world use is what we want to know.
In late 2023 Trendforce also suggested the Apple Watch 3 will have a larger 2.12-inch screen, up from the 1.92 incher the Ultra 2 has today. While we’d be happy with such an upgrade, we don’t want to see the Ultra series get significantly larger. Nor do we think it will.
There is some scope to incorporate a larger screen by trimming down the Watch Ultra 2’s display border, which is not insubstantial. It also correlates with suggestions the Apple Watch Series 10 (or Series X) will come in a larger Watch Ultra-size model with a bigger-than-ever display.
That whole report should not be taken too seriously at this point, though, as it was also presumed to be part of Apple’s since-aborted shift to a microLED panel.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Ultra 2: Health features
At least three new Apple Watch health features are known to be in the works over at Apple HQ. These are sleep apnea detection, blood pressure readings and blood glucose monitoring.
The one we absolutely don’t expect to see in the Apple Watch Ultra 3 this year is blood glucose monitoring. While non invasive blood glucose readings are something of a holy grail among wearables — non invasive blood glucose readings — this stuff is far from easy to implement using the rumored method of blood spectroscopy.
This would in effect mean letting those with diabetes monitor their condition using the same array of LEDs and light sensors on the back of the Apple Watch 2 used to analyse heart rate and blood oxygenation. This might be up to seven years away in a newsletter from 2023, as reported by MacRumors.
The report also casts doubt, more recently, on whether the other two proposed health features may arrive (or at least arrive smoothly) this year: blood pressure monitoring and sleep apnea. But there is at least some hope of these coming.
“Apple has run into some serious snags, I’m told,” Analyst Mark Gurman said of the two features. And they are different ones. The hiccups come after Apple had to remove blood oxygen analysis from the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the US because of its ongoing legal dispute with Masimo. That company claims Apple infringed upon its medical technology patents in its implementation of SpO2 readings, first introduced in 2020’s Apple Watch Series 6.
We’ll have to see how this one pans out.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Ultra 2: Power and battery life
There have been few strong or interesting rumors surrounding the Apple Watch’s processor, not least because Apple does not tend to make concrete claims about Watch series brains’ performance or specs.
It seems safe to assume it may be called the Apple S10, though, given the Watch Ultra 2 has an Apple S9 chipset. 9to5Mac posits that the new processor may pave the way for AI in a future software update. This would fit the current roll-out of Apple Intelligence. This chipset could, and perhaps should, come with some efficiency gains. However, we don’t expect Apple to alter its battery life estimates for the Apple Watch 3. Out best current guess is the 36 hours of normal use and 72 hours in the Low Power Mode will stay in place.
Early Verdict: Upgrade or wait?
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is not shaping up to be the most interesting update Apple has ever devised. A larger screen could prove alluring, but we’re not sure that will necessarily happen.
Major health features are up in the air too, and even if the Watch Ultra 3 gets a more efficient screen, we have doubts as to how much of a real-world difference it will make to the average Apple Watch fan.
Apple may have some surprises up its sleeve, though: there’s a good chance the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be locked out of some AI feature implementations, which are set to become a big part of the Apple ecosystem via Apple Intelligence. We’ll know more in a few days, but our early instinct is to say “go ahead” and buy a Watch Ultra 2 now, rather than wait for the Ultra 3.
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