1-minute news: Apple Watch Ultra 2 unveiled with (even) brighter screen and hands-free controls
Everything you need to know about Apple Watch Ultra 2, readable in one minute
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
What’s the story?
Applehas revealed theApple Watch Ultra 2, the follow-up to its first ever diving/hiking/general-hardcore-outdoorsing watch at theApple September Event 2023, alongside theApple Watch 9andiPhone 15– follow ourApple event 2023 live blogfor the latest from the show.
It’s available to order today, September 12 2023, and will actually be released on September 22, 2023. It will cost from $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, which is the same as the previous model.
What do I need to know about it?
This wasn’t a major upgrade for the newest model ofApple Watch. The design is essentially the same, but the screen is brighter, now reaching 3,000 nits – that’s 50% brighter than before. It also comes with Apple’s new S9 chip, which is more powerful, and can do a lot more smart on-device processing.
That means Siri can respond to your requests without needing to contact the cloud, including options such as getting a GPS waypoint from a voice command. It also has Ultra Wideband wireless tech, which means it can literally point you towards where your phone is if you misplace it.
And it supports Apple’s new ‘Double Tap’ gestures, which means you can tap your index finger to your thumb twice to action something on the screen – such as accept a phone call, or stop an alarm. That means if you only have your Watch-hand free, you can still control it – very handy when you’re hanging from a cliff, as Apple’s video suggested.
What do we think of it?
This isn’t amajorimprovement to the Apple Watch Ultra. The upgrades are nice, no question, but the screen was already extremely bright. We do love the look of Double Tap, though.
But maybe that will make people who splashed out on the first version last year happy – they’re not missing out on the rumored larger screen and lighter body.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Further reading
Matt is TechRadar’s Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he’s in charge of persuading our team of writers and reviewers to watch the latest TV shows and movies on gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It’s a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he’s also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He’s always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he’s explaining the offside rule.
Fitbit Charge 6 is back down to under $100 in Amazon’s pre-Black Friday sales
Get the Fitbit Versa 4 for a record-low price at Amazon ahead of Black Friday
Belkin’s Travel Bag for Vision Pro has pockets and is way cheaper than Apple’s own case
