Apple Watch Series 2 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

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Watch Series 2 compared with Watch Ultra 3

	AppleWatch Series 2	AppleWatch Ultra 3
Overview
Released
Released	September 2016	September 2025
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	38 mm or 42 mm	49 mm
Panel
Panel	OLED	LTPO OLED
Peak brightness
Peak brightness	1,000 nits	3,000 nits (better)
Always-on display
Always-on display	No	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Second-generation Retina OLED with Force Touch; 272 x 340 pixels (38mm) or 312 x 390 pixels (42mm); display sleeps between wrist raises (Wareable)	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 aluminium; sapphire crystal on stainless steel and ceramic	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	Single-band	Dual-band (L1 and L5)
Water resistance
Water resistance	50 m	100 m (better)
Sensors
Sensors	Optical heart-rate sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope and ambient light sensor	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 tracking, Activity rings and Breathe app; activity sharing and wheelchair workouts in watchOS 3	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	GPS and GLONASS for distance, pace and route recording without an iPhone; pool and open-water swimming workouts count laps, average lap pace and stroke type	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	S2	S10
Storage
Storage	–	64 GB
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery	Up to 42 hours of normal use; up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode
Charging
Charging	Magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter; Edition includes a Magnetic Charging Dock	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; requires iPhone 5 or later with iOS 10 at launch	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)
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	28.2 g (better)	61.6 g
Software
Software	watchOS	watchOS
Case materials
Case materials	Aluminium, stainless steel or white ceramic case; 50 m rating under ISO 22810:2010 for shallow-water swimming, not scuba diving or high-velocity water	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	Aluminium 38mm 38.6 x 33.3 x 11.4 mm, 28.2 g and 42mm 42.5 x 36.4 x 11.4 mm, 34.2 g; steel uses the same dimensions at 41.9 g and 52.4 g; ceramic 38mm 39.2 x 34.0 x 11.8 mm, 39.6 g and 42mm 42.6 x 36.5 x 11.4 mm, 45.6 g; weights exclude bands	49 x 44 x 12 mm; 61.6 g (natural) or 61.8 g (black)
Bands
Bands	Sport or Woven Nylon for aluminium; Sport, steel or leather for stainless steel; Nike Sport Band for Nike+; Hermès leather plus an additional Sport Band; Sport Band for Edition. Hermès launched 23 September 2016, Nike+ was scheduled for late October	Fits 130–210 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	Gold, Rose Gold, Silver or Space Grey aluminium; Silver or Space Black stainless steel; White ceramic	Natural or Black titanium
In the box
In the box	Watch and band, magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter; Edition adds Magnetic Charging Dock; Hermès adds Sport Band	Apple Watch Ultra 3, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m)