The Apple Watch Ultra 2 reinforces the Apple Watch’s role as the company’s pioneering product in terms of being carbon neutral and having a significantly reduced environmental impact.While it is up to us and the general public to investigate these claims further, we wasted no time and decided to take a hands-on look at the new Apple Watch Ultra 2 here in Cupertino, California.
Hands-on image by Ripley Sellers.
We’ve reviewed the Apple Watch Ultra in detail here, but it’s worth remembering that the Ultra was the first entirely new collection in the Apple Watch world. It’s bigger, bulkier, and more rugged, designed for outdoor adventures and not suitable for the office – though if you can stomach its decidedly larger size compared to other Apple Watches, it’s suitable for the office too. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but again, it’s also a key milestone in Apple’s commitment to its “Apple 2030” plan to be carbon neutral across its business, manufacturing supply chain, and product lifecycle by 2030.
These are the main features of the Apple Watch Ultra 2:
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 uses the latest S9 SiP, Apple’s custom silicon, to enable new features such as the double-tap gesture. This makes it easier to control various functions (such as answering a call or snoozing an alarm) without having to reach for your Apple Watch with your non-watch hand. Apple even goes so far as to say, “The new double-tap gesture is made possible by Apple Watch Ultra 2’s faster Neural Engine, which uses new machine learning algorithms to process data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart rate sensor. The algorithms detect the unique signature of small wrist movements and changes in blood flow when you double-tap with your index finger and thumb.” The double-tap gesture will be available in a software update next month. Thanks to the S9 SiP, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 also gets on-device Siri, which gives you private and secure access to your health data.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 introduces the brightest display ever made on an Apple-designed device, with a maximum brightness of an incredible 3,000 nits, 50 percent brighter than the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra. The display can also be made super-dimmable in just 2 nits, making it easy to see when waking up in a dark room or navigating in the darkest of environments. The new display is accompanied by a new watch face, Modular Ultra. Designed exclusively for Apple Watch Ultra, Modular Ultra takes advantage of the larger display and uses the outer edge to show real-time data, like seconds, altitude, and depth.
Apple emphasizes that “Apple Watch Ultra 2 is designed for extreme environments and has been tested at the widest range of altitudes of any Apple product, from 500 meters above sea level to exploring the lowest valleys to 9,000 meters climbing the world’s highest peaks.” In terms of more common usage scenarios, Apple Watch Ultra 2 supports water sports, such as kite surfing and recreational scuba diving, up to 40 meters deep. That’s an actual 40 meters, not 10 meters more than the “30 meters” some watch makers rate it at.
Like the Apple Watch Series 9, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is powered by the same S9 SiP chip and supports highly accurate location finding when used with iPhone 15 series smartphones that support Ultra Wideband (UWB). It gets the same software updates and features as the Apple Watch Series 9 (more on that here ), plus of course a selection of Ultra-exclusive gizmos, including an updated compass with real-time elevation reading and a 3D view of waypoints showing relative elevation, a new topographical map in the Maps app that shows important details like points of interest and trailheads, and helpful details like hill shading, contour lines, elevation, cellular and Emergency SOS waypoints.
Certain case and strap combinations for Apple Watch Ultra 2 are classified as carbon neutral products. As part of the Apple 2030 initiative, emissions from the three largest sources of greenhouse gases associated with Apple Watch Ultra 2 have been reduced: materials, electricity, and transportation. The small remaining emissions are offset with high-quality carbon credits from nature-based projects. Apple Watch Ultra 2 with Alpine Loop or Trail Loop uses 95% recycled titanium. In comparison, the original Apple Watch Ultra contained no recycled titanium. The new Carbon Neural logo on Apple Watch Ultra 2 packaging denotes carbon neutral models.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 comes in a 49mm case and is carbon neutral when paired with the new Trail Loop or Alpine Loop bands, as these bands are carbon neutral and also contain more than 30% recycled material. Apple Watch Ultra 2 is priced at $799 and customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, UAE, UK, US, and more than 40 other countries and regions can order Apple Watch Ultra 2 today. It will be available in stores starting Friday, September 22. For more information, visit the brand’s website.
