Apple Watch SE (1st generation) vs Apple Watch Ultra 4
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleWatch SE (1st generation) | AppleWatch Ultra 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | September 2020 | September 2026 |
| Display | ||
| Case sizes | 40 mm or 44 mm | 49 mm |
| Panel | LTPO OLED | LTPO OLED |
| Peak brightness | 1,000 nits | 3,000 nits (better) |
| Always-on display | No | Yes |
| Display detail | Retina LTPO OLED; 40mm 324 x 394 pixels and 759 sq mm; 44mm 368 x 448 pixels and 977 sq mm | 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 | Ion-X glass | Flat sapphire crystal front |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | No | Yes |
| Blood oxygen | No | Yes |
| Skin temperature | No | Yes |
| Sleep apnoea alerts | No | Yes |
| High blood pressure alerts | No | Yes |
| Body composition | No | No |
| Fall detection | Yes | Yes |
| Crash detection | No | Yes |
| GPS | Single-band | Dual-band (L1 and L5) |
| Water resistance | 50 m | 100 m (better) |
| Sensors | Second-generation optical heart sensor; compass, always-on altimeter, accelerometer up to 32 g-forces, gyroscope and ambient light sensor | Health Sensing System with third-generation electrical heart sensor, always-on optical heart sensor, blood oxygen sensor and 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 | High and low heart rate notifications; Noise app; sleep tracking and automatic handwashing detection in watchOS 7 | Readiness app; Vitals app (heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen, sleep duration and HRV); Recovery HRV; high-frequency background heart rate tracking; ECG app; Blood Oxygen app; irregular rhythm notifications; high and low heart rate notifications; hypertension notifications; sleep apnoea notifications; sleep stages and sleep score; Cycle Tracking with fertile window and retrospective ovulation estimates, perimenopause and menopause support; Medications; Mindfulness; Noise |
| Fitness features | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS; GymKit; Activity rings; elevation and compass information; dance, functional strength and core workouts in watchOS 7 | Customisable Action button with Precision Start; custom workouts; Training Load and Workout Effort; customisable heart rate zones; VO2 max; Race Route; Pacer; cadence, stride length, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and running power; multisport workouts; offline maps with custom route creation; elevation alerts; Backtrack; swimming with water temperature; recreational diving to 40 m with Depth app and third-party dive computer apps; cycling with power meters; GymKit |
| Safety features | Fall Detection and Emergency SOS; international emergency calling on cellular versions in supported regions | Emergency SOS and Find My via satellite; Emergency SOS; international emergency calling; Siren; Fall Detection; Crash Detection; Check In; Backtrack; Last Emergency Call Availability Waypoint; torch; noise monitoring |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 18 hours | Up to 50 hours |
| In low-power mode | – | Up to 84 hours |
| Mobile data option | Yes | Yes |
| Works with | iPhone | iPhone |
| Chip | S5 | S11 |
| Storage | 32 GB | 64 GB (better) |
| Battery life detail | Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery | Up to 50 hours of normal use; up to 84 hours in Low Power Mode; up to 18 hours of outdoor workout, 25 hours in Extended Workout and 45 hours in Max Extended Workout |
| Charging | Magnetic charging cable; retail packaging updated to USB-C in September 2021; USB power adapter sold separately | Fast charging to 80% in about 45 minutes; 15 minutes for up to 18 hours of normal use; 5 minutes for up to 10 hours of sleep tracking |
| Connectivity | W3 wireless chip; Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n at 2.4GHz; Bluetooth 5.0; cellular versions add LTE and UMTS; requires iPhone 6s or later with iOS 14 at launch; Family Setup allows a family member without an iPhone to use a cellular watch managed from an organiser's iPhone | GPS + Cellular only (model A3579) with 5G RedCap and LTE; satellite communications; Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) at 2.4GHz and 5GHz; Bluetooth 5.3; second-generation Ultra Wideband chip; NFC for Apple Pay; precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou) |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 30.49 g (better) | 63 g |
| Software | watchOS | watchOS |
| Case materials | Recycled aluminium case; ceramic and sapphire crystal back; 50 m water resistance under ISO 22810:2010 for shallow-water swimming | Grade 5 titanium case (100% recycled titanium) with ceramic and zirconia back; water resistant to 100 m (ISO 22810:2010); EN13319 recreational diving to 40 m; IP6X dust resistant; tested to MIL-STD 810H |
| Size | 40mm 40 x 34 x 10.7 mm, GPS 30.49 g or cellular 30.68 g; 44mm 44 x 38 x 10.7 mm, GPS 36.20 g or cellular 36.36 g; case weights exclude bands | 49 x 44 x 12 mm; 63.0 g (natural) or 63.1 g (black) |
| Bands | Compatible with Apple Watch bands including Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop; Nike editions have exclusive bands and faces | Fits 130–210 mm wrists |
| Colours | Silver, Space Grey or Gold aluminium; Nike Silver or Space Grey | Natural or Black titanium |
| In the box | Watch, band or loop and 1 m magnetic charging cable; no USB power adapter; later packaging supplies a USB-C cable | Apple Watch Ultra 4, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m) |
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