The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is slimmer and has a huge battery, Watch9 arrives in 40mm and 44mm sizes

Two years after the introduction of the original Watch Ultra, Samsung is bringing out the Galaxy Watch Ultra2. It’s also upgrading the vanilla Watch, but this year we’re not getting a new Classic. The new models use the Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset over Samsung’s own Exynos W-series chips. They feature bright displays and bigger batteries.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 boasts the largest battery yet and the brightest display ever on a Galaxy watch. We’ll get to the display in a moment, but we want to call out the 800mAh battery first – this is a huge upgrade over the 590mAh battery of the original Ultra. While it’s not the largest watch battery on the market now (which is not something that we expected from Samsung, anyway), the 35% increase in capacity is great.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2

What makes this even more impressive is that the Ultra2 is 12% slimmer than its predecessor. It now measures 10.7mm (vs. 12.1mm), which took serious re-engineering of the internals. The weight is technically unchanged at 61.5g, but that’s for the watch body only – Samsung built new, lighter (and softer) watch bands, so the overall weight is slightly lower. More on the bands later.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 has a 47mm shock-resistant titanium casing. The squircle body houses a circular 1.52” OLED display (498 x 498px). It blasts out up to 5,000 nits of brightness – this is huge for a watch.

The Snapdragon Wear Elite is a 3nm chipset with a 5-core CPU. It supports dual-frequency GPS (L1+L5), LTE, Bluetooth 6.0, dual-band Wi-Fi and NFC. On the Watch Ultra2, it is paired with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It runs One UI 9 Watch out of the box.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is built for diving and trail runs

This watch is rated IP69K for resistance against hot water jets and is rated for 10 ATM water resistance. More importantly, it is EN13319 certified, which means it is dive-ready. The moment you hit the water, it will automatically start to track depth, time and water temperature. Samsung has been working with scuba equipment maker Mares on the Diving app, which is expected later this year. This app will offer advanced diving features such as ascent and descent speed tracking and safe dive limits.

With Trail Run, the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 can track climb elevation, climbing progress and terrain impact on your runs. The Sweat Loss feature has been improved and now has real-time hydration guidance (it estimates sweat loss and tells you when and how much to drink).

The Samsung Galaxy Watch9 comes in two sizes – 40mm and 44mm. Well, if you want to be precise, the squircle bodies measure 42.7 x 40.4mm and 46.0 x 43.7mm, respectively. In both cases they have aluminum casings that are 8.6mm thick, which is effectively unchanged from the Watch8 generation. The two versions weigh the same as before too, 31.5g and 43.0g, respectively.

The two sizes feature circular OLED displays that put out 3,000 nits peak brightness. The 40mm watch has a 1.34” display (438 x 438px), while the 44mm watch has a 1.47” display (480 x 480px). Like the Ultra2, the displays are protected by a sapphire crystal.

Samsung Galaxy Watch9

However, the Watch9 duo has lower water resistance – they are rated only IP68 and 5 ATM. That is okay for swimming, but they are not intended for diving.

The 40mm watch has a decent battery upgrade – from 325mAh on the Watch8 to 390mAh. That’s 20%, so not as impressive as the Ultra2 battery bump, but it’s still solid. The 44mm watch has a 445mAh battery, which is only 10mAh more than the 44mm Watch8 had.

The Watch9 duo is powered by the same Snapdragon Wear Elite chip with 2GB of RAM and the same connectivity features. The only real difference here is that you only get half the storage, 32GB. This may or may not matter, depending on how many maps and podcasts you like to have downloaded on your watch.

Samsung has designed three band types for the Galaxy Watch9. The Sports Band is thinner and softer than previous bands and it’s the all-rounder design. The Misty Band is made of soft silicone and offers a secure, bounce-free fit. The Fabric Band is lightweight and breathable.

Samsung Galaxy Watch9

The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 gets different band designs, which are better-suited to its adventurous spirit. The Marine Band is a light, breathable silicone band designed for all-day adventures and extreme conditions. The PeakForm Band is made of a hybrid material that balances elegance and athletic performance. Finally, the Trail Band is a fabric band focused on breathability and long-lasting comfort.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra2 are available for pre-order now and will go on sale on August 7. The 40mm Watch9 comes in Cream and Graphite, the 44mm version is offered in Graphite and Silver. The Watch Ultra2 comes in Titanium Silver and Titanium Gray.

Along with the watches, you will get a 60-day free trial for Strava and a 2-month free trial for iFIT.