Apple Watch Series 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 2
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleWatch Series 4 | AppleWatch Ultra 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | September 2018 | September 2023 |
| 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 with Force Touch; 40mm 324 x 394 pixels and 759 sq mm; 44mm 368 x 448 pixels and 977 sq mm; display wakes by wrist raise (PhoneArena) | Always-On Retina LTPO2 OLED display; 410 x 502 pixels at 326 ppi; 1,185 sq mm display area; 1 nit minimum brightness; Night Mode with the Modular Ultra or Wayfinder watch face |
| Screen protection | – | Flat sapphire crystal front |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | Yes | 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 | Electrical and optical heart sensors; barometric altimeter; accelerometer up to 32 g-forces, improved gyroscope and ambient light sensor | Electrical heart sensor; third-generation optical heart sensor; temperature sensor; depth gauge to 40 m (±1 m accuracy); water temperature sensor; compass; always-on altimeter (–500 m to 9,000 m); high-g accelerometer (up to 256 g); high dynamic range gyroscope; ambient light sensor |
| Health features | ECG capability, high and low heart-rate alerts and irregular-rhythm notifications; ECG app was not available at hardware launch and reached the UK in March 2019 | Vitals app (heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen and sleep duration); irregular rhythm notifications; high and low heart rate notifications; low cardio fitness notifications; sleep stages and sleep score; Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates; Medications; Mindfulness with state of mind tracking; Noise |
| Fitness features | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS; swimming, yoga and hiking workouts, automatic workout reminders, cadence, pace alerts and rolling mile pace in watchOS 5; GymKit | Customisable Action button with Precision Start; custom workouts; Training Load; Heart Rate Zones; Race Route; Pacer; stride length, ground contact time and vertical oscillation; automatic track detection; multisport workouts; offline maps with custom route creation; elevation alerts; swimming with custom pool workouts, stroke type tracking and SWOLF; recreational diving to 40 m with the Depth app or a dive computer app from the App Store; cycling power zones and cadence with Bluetooth accessories; GymKit |
| Safety features | Hard-fall detection can call emergency services after immobility and notify emergency contacts; Emergency SOS | Emergency SOS; international emergency calling; Siren; Last Emergency Call Availability Waypoint; Check In; Backtrack; torch; noise monitoring |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 18 hours | Up to 36 hours |
| In low-power mode | – | Up to 3 days |
| Mobile data option | Yes | Yes |
| Works with | iPhone | iPhone |
| Chip | S4 | S9 |
| Storage | 16 GB | 64 GB (better) |
| Battery life detail | Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery | Multi-day figure tested over 36 hours with 600 time checks, 180 notifications, 30 minutes of app use and a 60-minute workout with music, including 8 hours on LTE; built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery |
| Charging | Magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter | Fast charging to 80% in about 1 hour |
| Connectivity | W3 wireless chip; Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n at 2.4GHz; Bluetooth 5.0; cellular versions add LTE and UMTS with a compatible plan; GPS requires iPhone 5s, cellular iPhone 6, both with iOS 12 at launch | L1 + L5 precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou); 4G LTE and UMTS; Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n); Bluetooth 5.3; second-generation Ultra Wideband chip; Apple Pay |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 30.1 g (better) | 61.4 g |
| Software | watchOS | watchOS |
| Case materials | Aluminium or stainless steel case; ceramic and sapphire crystal back; water resistance under ISO 22810:2010 for shallow-water swimming | Grade 5 titanium case (95% recycled titanium) with ceramic and sapphire crystal back; water resistant to 100 m (ISO 22810:2010); EN13319 recreational scuba diving to 40 m; IP6X dust resistant; tested to MIL-STD 810H |
| Size | 40mm 40 x 34 x 10.7 mm, 30.1 g aluminium or 39.8 g steel; 44mm 44 x 38 x 10.7 mm, 36.7 g aluminium or 47.9 g steel; weights exclude bands | 49 x 44 x 12 mm; 61.4 g (natural) or 61.8 g (black) |
| Bands | Compatible with earlier Apple Watch bands of the corresponding size; Nike+ includes Nike bands and watch faces; Hermès includes leather bands and exclusive faces. Nike+ became available 5 October 2018 | Fits 130–210 mm wrists; Alpine Loop, Trail Loop and Ocean Band, plus Titanium Milanese Loop from September 2024 |
| Colours | Silver, Space Grey and Gold aluminium; Silver, Space Black (DLC) and Gold (PVD) stainless steel; Nike+ Silver or Space Grey; Hermès polished stainless steel | Natural titanium; Black titanium from September 2024 |
| In the box | Watch and band, magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter | Apple Watch Ultra 2, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m) |
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