Apple Watch Series 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleWatch Series 4 | AppleWatch Ultra 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | September 2018 | 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 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 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 | – | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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; 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 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 | Hard-fall detection can call emergency services after immobility and notify emergency contacts; Emergency SOS | 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 | S4 | S11 |
| Storage | 16 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 and USB power adapter | 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 with a compatible plan; GPS requires iPhone 5s, cellular iPhone 6, both with iOS 12 at launch | 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) | 30.1 g (better) | 63 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 (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, 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; 63.0 g (natural) or 63.1 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 |
| 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 or Black titanium |
| In the box | Watch and band, magnetic charging cable and USB power adapter | Apple Watch Ultra 4, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m) |
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