Apple Watch (1st generation) vs Apple Watch Ultra 3

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Watch (1st generation) compared with Watch Ultra 3

	AppleWatch (1st generation)	AppleWatch Ultra 3
Overview
Released
Released	April 2015	September 2025
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	38 mm or 42 mm	49 mm
Panel
Panel	OLED	LTPO OLED
Peak brightness
Peak brightness	–	3,000 nits
Always-on display
Always-on display	No	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Retina display with Force Touch; OLED panel, 272 x 340 pixels on 38mm or 312 x 390 pixels on 42mm (iFixit)	Always-On Retina display with wide-angle OLEDs and LTPO3; 1Hz refresh; 422 x 514 pixels at 326 ppi; 1,245 sq mm display area; 1 nit minimum brightness; Night Mode for Ultra watch faces
Screen protection
Screen protection	Ion-X glass on Sport; sapphire crystal on stainless steel, Hermès and Edition	Flat sapphire crystal front
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	Yes
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	Yes
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	No	Yes
Sleep apnoea alerts
Sleep apnoea alerts	No	Yes
High blood pressure alerts
High blood pressure alerts	No	Yes
Body composition
Body composition	No	No
Fall detection
Fall detection	No	Yes
Crash detection
Crash detection	No	Yes
GPS
GPS	None	Dual-band (L1 and L5)
Water resistance
Water resistance	–	100 m
Sensors
Sensors	Optical heart-rate sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope and ambient light sensor; Digital Crown, Taptic Engine, speaker and microphone	Electrical heart sensor; third-generation optical heart sensor; blood oxygen sensor; temperature sensor; depth gauge to 40 m; water temperature sensor; compass; always-on altimeter (–500 m to 9,000 m); high-g accelerometer; high dynamic range gyroscope; ambient light sensor
Health features
Health features	Heart-rate monitoring and Activity rings	ECG app; Blood Oxygen app; hypertension notifications; sleep apnoea notifications; irregular rhythm notifications; high and low heart rate notifications; Vitals app; sleep stages and sleep score; wrist temperature; Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates; Medications; Mindfulness with state of mind tracking; Noise
Fitness features
Fitness features	Workout tracking; route and distance measurements use the paired iPhone's GPS (TechRadar)	Customisable Action button with Precision Start; custom workouts; Training Load and Workout Effort; customisable heart rate zones; VO2 max; Race Route; Pacer; stride length, ground contact time, cadence, power and vertical oscillation; multisport workouts; offline maps with custom route creation; elevation alerts; Backtrack; swimming with water temperature; recreational diving to 40 m with third-party dive computer apps; cycling with power meters; GymKit
Safety features
Safety features	–	Emergency SOS and Find My via satellite; Emergency SOS; international emergency calling; Siren; Crash Detection; Fall Detection; Last Emergency Call Availability Waypoint; torch; noise monitoring; Backtrack
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 18 hours	Up to 42 hours
In low-power mode
In low-power mode	–	Up to 3 days
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	Yes
Works with
Works with	iPhone	iPhone
Chip
Chip	S1	S10
Storage
Storage	8 GB	64 GB (better)
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Rechargeable battery; maker's up-to-18-hour rating varies with use and configuration	Up to 42 hours of normal use; up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode
Charging
Charging	Magnetic charging cable	Fast charging to 80% in about 45 minutes; 15 minutes for up to 12 hours of normal use; 5 minutes for up to 8 hours of sleep tracking
Connectivity
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n at 2.4GHz; Bluetooth 4.0; Apple Pay; requires iPhone 5 or later	GPS + Cellular only (model A3281) with 5G RedCap and LTE; satellite connectivity; Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) at 2.4GHz and 5GHz; Bluetooth 5.3; second-generation Ultra Wideband chip; NFC for Apple Pay; L1 and L5 precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou)
Storage
Storage	8 GB onboard storage and S1 system-in-package identified by iFixit	–
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	25 g (better)	61.6 g
Software
Software	watchOS	watchOS
Case materials
Case materials	Anodised aluminium with composite back (Sport), stainless steel with ceramic back (including Hermès), or 18-carat yellow/rose gold with ceramic back (Edition); IPX7 splash and water resistance under IEC 60529, not for submersion	Grade 5 titanium case (100% recycled titanium) with ceramic and sapphire crystal back; water resistant to 100 m (ISO 22810:2010); EN13319 recreational diving to 40 m; IP6X dust resistant; tested to MIL-STD 810H
Size
Size	38mm case is 38.6 x 33.3 x 10.5 mm; 42mm is 42.0 x 35.9 x 10.5 mm. Case weights are 25/30 g (Sport), 40/50 g (stainless steel), 55/69 g (yellow-gold Edition) or 54/67 g (rose-gold Edition), for 38/42mm respectively	49 x 44 x 12 mm; 61.6 g (natural) or 61.8 g (black)
Bands
Bands	Sport Band, leather straps, Link Bracelet and Milanese Loop; Hermès Single Tour, Double Tour and Cuff joined the range in 2015	Fits 130–210 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	Sport in Silver, Space Grey, Gold or Rose Gold; stainless steel in polished steel or Space Black; Edition in yellow or rose gold	Natural or Black titanium
In the box
In the box	Watch, band, 2 m magnetic charging cable, 5W USB power adapter and quick start guide; Edition also includes a magnetic charging case and Lightning to USB cable	Apple Watch Ultra 3, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m)