Apple has announced its newest flagship smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The Ultra 2’s design looks quite similar to that of the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra, which means the most significant upgrade is on the inside.
The Ultra 2, like the new Series 9, will be powered by Apple’s new S9 SiP, which has a four-core neural engine, as well as a second-generation ultra wideband location chip. This will enable new advanced features, including on-device Siri processing (which can be used to access data from the Health app) and more precise location tracking. The neural engine will make dictation “up to 25 percent” more accurate.
On the outside, the watch has an upgraded display from the previous Ultra model, rated for 3,000 nits, which is 50 percent brighter than the first Ultra got and which Apple says is the brightest display an Apple Watch has ever had.
Apple claims that users will get 72 hours to a charge when the device is in low-power mode. It can be used for recreational scuba diving as low as 40 meters as well as free diving — and the Depth app now saves logs of each session.
While the Ultra’s hardware has seen an upgrade, some of the biggest changes that Apple Watch users will see this year will come with watchOS 10, which brings widgets, redesigned app icons, and new mapping and cycling features to the watch interface. An additional watchface called Modular Ultra will make use of the outer edge of the display “to present real-time data, including seconds, altitude, or depth.” And a new double-tap gesture will enable users to more easily start and end phone calls.
The Ultra 2 can be preordered today for $799 and will ship on September 22nd. Apple introduced the new watch at Apple Park in Cupertino as part of its “Wonderlust” launch event. Updates to the Apple Watch Series 9 and the cheaper SE were also announced.