Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 review: slimmer, lighter, better

Date:
Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Description:
Samsungs biggest, baddest watch gets a true sequel, and its better in every way, from AI smarts to wrist lockdown.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: One minute review The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
might look much the same as last years Galaxy Watch Ultra, but it feels very different to wear thanks to Samsungs efficiency savings. A 12% slimmer titanium body and a lighter band (that remains the same size) mean the watch weighs less as an overall package and has better lockdown onto your wrist, so it doesnt move around as much during strenuous exercise.

Its got a new chipset under the hood: the AI-capable Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite, which, Samsung says, offers 32% faster CPU and 19% faster GPU performance compared to last years model. Its launching with three new bands, new wellness features like Vital and Heart Health, and all the usual smartwatch goodies like notifications, call accept/reject, digital wallet and third-party app support. The Ultra comes with LTE capabilities as standard to add the watch to your phones data plan, and new fitness tools tailor-made for adventurers, including trail running features with GPX routes, a Daily Cardio Load metric, mid-activity hydration alerts, professional-level diving certifications and soon a dedicated diving app. Fortunately for them (but perhaps unfortunately for Samsung) adventurers find themselves spoiled for choice these days between the Apple Watch Ultra 3 , the best Garmin watches , and challengers from brands such as Coros, Polar and Amazfit. The Galaxy
Watch Ultra 2 may be good in a vacuum, with excellent health and fitness features, but its fighting for space amid a crowd of exceptional wearables. Ultimately, its the best Galaxy Watch ever from a specs perspective, and does everything you expect a smartwatch to do (and several things you might not expect); but its also expensive, big and bulky. I do wonder how many Samsung users will opt for this over either the much cheaper Galaxy Watch9 or, at the other end of the scale, a chunky specialist tool such as the Garmin Fenix 8
if theyre really interested in wilderness exploration. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Its fast, its accurate (albeit with some niggles see the Performance section below for more details), its got the brightest screen of any smartwatch, on-device Gemini capabilities, and is packed with enough features to make any smartwatch aficionado happy. Its a terrific gadget, and if youre a Samsung user who wants the best native watch for your phones ecosystem, this is it. But if youre buying it for trails and routes, Garmin does this better, and with far better battery endurance, albeit with a less robust AI-powered interface for all your communication features. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Specifications (Image credit: Future) Swipe to scroll horizontally

Component

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2

Price

$699.99 / $649

Dimensions

47mm: 47.4 x 47.1 x 10.7mm

Weight

61g

Caze/bezel

Titanium

Display

498 x 498 Super AMOLED

Operating System

One UI Watch 9 (Wear OS 7)

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite

Memory

2GB of RAM

Storage

64GB storage

GPS

(L1+L5 Dual Frequency GPS)

Battery life

Up to 60 hours with always-on display

Connection

Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE

Water resistance

WR100 (diveproof) Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Price and availability
$699.99 in the US 649 in the UK AU TBC The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is priced at $699.99 / 649, with AU pricing TBC. This is actually a small increase of $50 / 50 in the UK over the launch price of the original Watch Ultra, likely due to the escalating price of electronics components.

While its still relatively competitively priced compared to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and premium Garmins such as the Garmin Forerunner 970 , its certainly on the higher end of the smartwatch price scale; but then again, this is a higher-end smartwatch. Value score: 4/5 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Design (Image credit: Future) 12% slimmer, but still quite bulky Titanium squircle cushion Strap is 25% lighter The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 iterates on the titanium squircle case design we first saw on the original Ultra, which Samsung calls a cushion, and which has since become a staple of the entire Galaxy Watch range. Housed within this body is the circular display, which
is, according to Samsung Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from
us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The cushion incorporates new innards, including a larger 800mAh battery and a new Snapdragon Wear Elite processor. Despite the upgrades, the chassis is actually 12% slimmer than the original Watch Ultras, which is really a blessing, as that watch was a real beast. The cushion shape looks bulbous,
but while its still a big watch thats unsuitable for small wrists, its now better suited to a slightly wider variety of wrists than 2024s enormous cuboid.

Couple this with the bands being 25% lighter this year, and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has had a serious size and weight reduction, which makes it much better for staying locked on your wrist during strenuous exercise, where the previous model was prone to moving around.

The Ultra 2 has the Samsung Galaxy Watch series standard pair of side
buttons, plus the programmable Quick Button that only the premium watches
get. This is set to opening my exercises as standard, while a long press can activate the watchs emergency siren, but you can assign a different function to this button to suit your needs. If youve used a Samsung watch before, the UI (One Watch UI, to be exact, based on Google s Wear OS) is virtually unchanged, and for beginners its easy and intuitive to use.

The redesigned, AI-forward Samsung Health app is simple to use too, and even though much was made of its big makeover, its a far cry from Google Healths chatbot -focused premium tier. Design score: 4.5/5 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Features (Image credit: Future) All the smartwatch features youd expect Parcel of new health metrics: Vitals, Vascular Load & more Diving and trail-running features The Ultra 2 offers all the usual smartwatch features youd expect from an LTE-enabled watch, so I wont list them all here, but suffice to say you can use virtual wallets, accept calls, message, control or store music, use the screen as a viewfinder for a Samsung phones camera, and even use Google Gemini via the new, easier Raise-to-Talk feature. Gemini
works across devices, so you can make a quick voice note in the moment, and have it transcribed and saved to Samsung Notes or Google Keep, to be viewed later on your phone, tablet or laptop.

Samsung watches have always had strong health credentials, and the Ultra 2 is no different. It retains more esoteric features like blood-pressure
monitoring (which requires an inflatable cuff for regular calibration, then uses your biometrics to predict fluctuations) and body composition (which
uses electrical signals to estimate your fat and muscle mass) alongside the usual heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, ECG scan functionality (which is medically certified, according to Samsung) and more. Running Coach,
introduced last year, also makes a welcome return, along with its advanced analytics for runners.

New health features include Vitals, which looks at readings of five different heart-related metrics while you sleep and lets you know of any baseline deviations, a Daily Cardio Load score that estimates how much stress your exercise routine is putting your heart under, and Vascular Load, which measures stress and arterial stiffness.

Finally, new features have been added in the shape of two adventure-themed activity profiles. The watch is now a working dive computer or will be when its companion app is released later this year in partnership with diving company Mares. The Apple Watch Ultra has a similar app, so Im sure Samsung
has been working overtime to catch up.

The Trail Running profile now includes the ability to save GPX routes into
the workout activity itself, so you can follow turn-by-turn directions and
see maps on your watch with a swipe of your finger. You can download routes yourself, or you have the option to save previous outdoor runs as a route to test yourself against later on, if you want to try to beat your own personal best. What you cant do is create your own routes in-app, as you can in Garmin Connect for example. Features score: 4.5/5 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Performance (Image credit: Future) Heart rate had some drift compared to
Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Polar H10, but tightened up after 10-15 minutes of wear Watch is more comfortable to wear than its predecessor Accurate sleep tracking I wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for five days and four
nights before writing this review, and I'll update it when Ive logged enough nights sleep for features like Vitals to calibrate with seven-day averages. I was dreading wearing the Ultra 2 to bed given its bulkiness and size, but the slimmer, lighter Watch Ultra 2 was surprisingly comfortable for all-day wear although Im a man of fairly average build, and those with slimmer wrists may still find it uncomfortable.

Battery life was as described, with the Ultra 2 lasting the as-described 60 hours with always-on display enabled before needing a charge. Sleep was estimated accurately, with the watch and app correctly identifying my wake-up times during the night, and generating numbers corresponding with my energy levels.

To test GPS and heart rate accuracy, I went on a 30-minute run with the Watch Ultra 2 on one wrist, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on the other, and a Polar H10 electrical heart-rate monitor (the gold standard for wearable heart-rate accuracy) strapped to my chest.

I was initially quite surprised at the difference in heart-rate readings the Watch Ultra 2 recorded at the start of the workout compared to the other two devices, with the Samsung watch sometimes reading 20 beats per minute lower than the Apple and Polar devices. However, after 15 minutes of exercise, I found that the Ultra 2s readings were closely matching those of the other devices, as you can see from the corresponding graphs and readings below / above.

Initial heart rate drift is a known problem with many optical heart-rate sensors (used by all smartwatches) in comparison to electrical ones, although Apple seems to have ironed out much of the problem with its Ultra 3. Still, even if the Samsung Ultra 2 does show some deviation at the beginning of a workout, if youre exercising for any length of time your results are likely
to be broadly accurate. I repeated this test during an indoor HIIT workout, and the results were the same: accurate after a brief warm-up period.

I also tested Body Composition, which uses the same method as the best smart scales an electrical pulse moving through fat, muscle and water at a variety of speeds. I tested this against an industrial scale at my local gym after my run, and the ticket the scale produced showed that I was at 19% body fat. The smartwatch estimated 9%, a huge difference. It wasnt until I did the test again later that day, after hydrating and adjusting my technique by raising
my arms, that the watch showed 16% a much closer result, and within the
range of deviation Id expect from two different devices.

I also tested the Ultra 2s water lock feature by dunking it in a glass of water after all, Ive been burned before by so-say dive-ready watches and it worked just fine afterwards. (Image credit: Future) Performance score: 4/5 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Scorecard Swipe to scroll horizontally

Category

Comment

Score

Value

On a par with similar devices in its category.

4/5

Design

Bulky, but much improved over its predecessor, with an intuitive UI.

4.5/5

Features

Absolutely stacked.

4.5/5

Performance

Some health feature are fiddly to use, but generally very accurate.

4/5 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Should I buy? (Image credit: Future) Buy it if Youre a runner

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is awash with terrific running features, and now trail runners are well catered for too.

Youre a Samsung phone user

Unsurprisingly, the Watch Ultra 2 works perfectly within the wider Samsung ecosystem.

Youre a Gemini user

Use AI for everything? Samsungs Raise-to-Talk functionality and true on-watch Gemini makes using the smart assistant a doddle. Dont buy it if You need ultimate battery life

If you prioritize battery life and fitness features over connectivity, consider a Garmin or Coros watch.

Youre a casual exerciser and gym-goer

The Samsung Galaxy Watch9 is a much better-value fitness tracker for those
who wont use all the extra adventuring, diving, and safety features.

Youre an Apple user

The Watch Ultra 2 doesnt work with Apple phones. Also Consider

Garmin Forerunner 970

A similarly-priced, adventure-ready Garmin watch with lots of running features.

Read our full Garmin Forerunner 970 review

Google Pixel Watch 4

Not as rugged, but a solid alternative for Wear OS users.

Read our full Google Pixel watch 4 review How I tested I wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for the better part of a week, running the battery down and using it as my daily driver to accept and reject calls, check notifications and messages, use Gemini and control music. I tested it against devices such as the Apple Watch Ultra 3, the Polar H10 electrical heart rate monitor, and an industrial smart scale, and I dropped it into a glass of
water to test its water lock feature.

First reviewed: July 2026 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Price Comparison No price information Check Amazon We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/smartwatches/samsung-galaxy-watch-ult ra-2-review


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