Apple today announced Apple Watch Ultra 3, featuring satellite connectivity, 5G cellular, and the largest ever display. The new watch starts at $799 and can be pre-ordered today, with shipping beginning Friday, September 19.
The display is the largest ever on an Apple Watch. Apple used LTPO3 technology and wide-angle OLEDs to make the borders 24 percent thinner while keeping the same case size. The screen now updates once per second in always-on mode instead of once per minute, so you can see the seconds hand tick without lifting your wrist. Over 20 watch faces support the faster refresh rate, including Stopwatch and Timer.
Battery life has been improved significantly. You now get up to 42 hours of normal use and up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. Meanwhile, for continuous GPS workouts, Low Power Mode now lasts 20 hours with full heart rate monitoring, and 15 minutes of charging provides 12 hours of battery life.
Otherwise, the biggest new feature is satellite connectivity. Users can text emergency services, message contacts, and share their location when they don't have cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. If the watch detects a car crash or hard fall while you're unconscious and off the grid, it automatically contacts emergency services.
You can also send regular texts, emoji, and Tapbacks to anyone you've messaged in the past 30 days, even without cell service. Apple says it had to redesign the radio and antenna to make this work – the antenna now has double the signal strength to reach satellites 800 miles overhead moving at 15,000 mph.
Find My via satellite lets you send your location every 15 minutes to contacts you've previously added to Find My. All satellite features are free for two years with Apple Watch Ultra 3. Emergency SOS works without a cellular plan, while messaging and location sharing require an active cellular subscription.
A new Waypoint watch face provides live compass navigation and quick access to satellite communications. And Night Mode helps preserve night vision during outdoor adventures.
The 5G cellular connection downloads music, podcasts, and apps faster than before, according to Apple. The company added an algorithm that uses both antennas simultaneously when signal strength is weak.
A new health feature detects signs of chronic high blood pressure by monitoring how blood vessels respond to heartbeats over 30-day periods. The algorithm was developed using data from over 100,000 participants and validated in a clinical study of 2,000 people. Apple says this could identify over one million people with undiagnosed hypertension in the first year. The feature requires FDA clearance but should be available in over 150 countries this month.
Sleep tracking gets a quality score that considers duration, bedtime consistency, how often you wake up, and time in each sleep stage. The scoring follows recommendations from sleep medicine organizations and was developed using 5 million nights of sleep data from Apple's Heart and Movement Study.
Elsewhere, Workout Buddy uses Apple Intelligence to provide spoken motivation during exercise based on your heart rate, pace, distance, and workout history. It works with Bluetooth headphones and requires an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone nearby. The feature is available in English for popular workout types.
The Workout app also got a redesign making it easier to customize sessions with Workout Views, custom workouts, Pacer, and Race Route. You can now create workouts in the Fitness app on iPhone and access them on Apple Watch. Music and podcasts can also be set to automatically play when starting specific workout types.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 includes the most accurate GPS in a sports watch and maintains water resistance to 100 meters. As before, the titanium case comes in natural or black finishes.
New band options include a Trail Loop with reflective yarn along the edges, plus new colors for the Ocean Band and Alpine Loop. The Hermès collection adds two new En Mer colors and a Scub'H Diving band in rubber with a titanium buckle.
Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UAE, the UK, the U.S., and more than 50 other countries and regions can pre-order Apple Watch Ultra 3 today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 19.