Apple’s Ultra line has always been the watch you buy when you want something that can survive a mountain and still look good on a Monday commute. The Ultra 4 keeps the same titanium shell and 3,000-nit display as last year’s model—but under the hood it’s a different machine. A redesigned sensor array, an S11 chip, two-day battery life, a new Readiness score, and incoming Siri AI features make this the smartest adventure watch Apple has shipped yet. Tom’s Guide put it through a 22-mile run to see whether the upgrades actually matter.
Jane McGuire for Tom’s Guide:
I’ve been wearing the Apple Watch Ultra 4 for the past week and wore it for a 22-mile run this morning to see how the heart rate monitor compares to a physical chest strap…
The biggest difference, and the reason I think this is the best Apple Watch Ultra yet, is the new heart rate monitor loaded onto the watch. When looking at the two monitors side-by-side, the Ultra 4 and the Apple Watch Series 12 have a “32-petal design,” whereas older watches had a two-petal design. This refers to the spoke-like lines coming out of the electrode.
The green LED lights, which measure your heart rate by shining light into the skin, are bigger and more powerful…
With the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the new heart rate monitor, along with the S11 chip, measures your heart rate every five seconds, all day long. On the Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple only allowed continuous heart rate monitoring during a workout, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
I’ve been testing the new heart rate sensor alongside a chest strap and my Oura Ring 5, and have found the Apple Watch Ultra 4 to be pretty much spot on…
I’m easily getting two days of battery life on my Ultra 4. It’s 5 pm right now, and I have worn the watch all day, replying to messages from my wrist and tracking three and a half hours of workouts, and my watch has gone from 82% at 6 am to 61%.
You also get faster charging on the Apple Watch Ultra 4 — 15 minutes of charge will give you up to 18 hours of battery life…
This is, without question, the best Apple Watch Ultra yet.
MacDailyNews Take: While we wear Apple Watches for most of the day, we wear Coros Pace Pro watches during runs – due entirely to battery life. (We recommend Coros over Garmin because the OS offers markedly superior ease of use; Coros vs. Garmin is like Mac vs. Windows).
With Apple Watch Ultra 4 now lasting over two days per charge – thanks to its new 2nm S11 SoC – and with fast charging top-offs, it’s finally become a real consideration.
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