Apple unveiled Watch Ultra 4 with up to 50 hours of battery life and the S11 chip

Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra 4 – a new generation of rugged smartwatches for sports and outdoor activities. The model features the S11 chip, an updated health sensor system, up to 50 hours of battery life, and up to 45 hours of continuous workout recording with second-by-second GPS coordinate tracking.

Design and display

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 retains its 49mm titanium case and is available in Natural Titanium and Black Titanium colors. The screen is protected by flat sapphire glass.

The watch measures 49×44×12 mm and weighs approximately 63 grams. The Always-On Retina Display is built on an LTPO3 OLED panel with a refresh rate up to 1 Hz. Resolution is 422×514 pixels, peak brightness reaches 3000 nits, and minimum brightness is 1 nit.

The case meets the WR100 rating per ISO 22810:2010 and is dust-protected to IP6X standard. The watch is suitable for swimming, high-speed water sports, and recreational diving to depths of up to 40 meters under EN13319 standard. The accuracy of the built-in depth gauge is ±1 meter.

Ultra 4 also passed MIL-STD 810H testing for resistance to temperature, pressure changes, shocks, vibration, freezing, and other external factors. The case retains the Action button, Digital Crown, side button, siren, two speakers, and a three-microphone system.

Trail Loop is available in Dark Umber, Sand, and Burgundy; Alpine Loop comes in Desert, Dark Olive, and Burgundy. Ocean Band is now made from translucent silicone in Translucent Gray, Translucent Kelp, and Translucent Black.

Performance and Connectivity

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is built around the S11 chip, featuring a 64-bit dual-core CPU and a 4-core Neural Engine. The internal storage capacity is 64 GB.

The watch supports Wi-Fi 4 in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, Bluetooth 5.3, second-generation Ultra Wideband, LTE, and 5G RedCap.

Navigation uses dual-frequency GPS L1+L5 with support for Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou. Apple states that Ultra 4 offers the most accurate built-in GPS among sports watches, citing its own comparative tests. Satellite connectivity is supported for Emergency SOS, Messages, and Find My. Availability varies by country and region.

Health

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 received the Health Sensing System with updated optical and electrical heart sensors, a blood oxygen sensor, and a temperature sensor.

The optical sensor measures pulse every five seconds throughout the day. Heart rate variability, or HRV, is measured up to 24 times more frequently than before.

The Heart Rate app now includes two metrics: Recovery HRV for assessing recovery and stress, and Overall HRV for analyzing long-term trends. Vitals also allows comparison of daily and nighttime readings.

The watch supports ECG, blood oxygen measurement, notifications for high and low heart rate, irregular rhythm, hypertension, and signs of sleep apnea, as well as sleep tracking, wrist temperature monitoring, and menstrual cycle tracking. Availability of medical features depends on the region.

Readiness

The Readiness feature assesses the body’s readiness for exertion on a scale from 0 to 10. It takes into account recent activity, training load, Vitals metrics, and sleep quality.

Depending on the result, the watch displays one of four recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. The score can change throughout the day after workouts or updates to your body metrics.

Workouts

In normal mode, Apple Watch Ultra 4 can record an outdoor workout for GPS hours with heart rate monitoring up to 18 hours.

Extended Workout extends battery life to up to 25 hours, while Max Extended Workout supports up to 45 hours for running, walking, and hiking. In the latter mode, GPS coordinates continue to be recorded every second, but some notifications and training metrics are disabled.

For hiking, the compass, altimeter, incline meter, waypoints, Backtrack, and offline maps are available. For diving, a depth gauge, water temperature sensor, and automatic dive detection are provided.

Apple also redesigned the step-counting algorithm using machine learning. The new Steps widget displays the count directly on the watch face.

Battery life

During normal use, Apple Watch Ultra 4 lasts up to 50 hours, and in low-power mode, up to 84 hours.

• up to 18 hours of regular training with GPS;
• up to 25 hours in Extended Workout mode;
• up to 45 hours in Max Extended Workout mode.

Fast charging restores up to 80% of the battery in about 45 minutes. In 15 minutes, the watch gains enough power for up to 18 hours of use, and five minutes of charging provides up to 10 hours of sleep tracking.

Apple Intelligence and watchOS 27

Apple Watch Ultra 4 received Audio Intelligence features that use the watch’s microphones, S11, and Apple Intelligence models on a compatible iPhone.

Sound Recognition detects sirens, alarms, doorbells, a baby’s cry, and other important sounds.

Live Rewind allows you to get the text of the last 15 seconds of a conversation with a double press of the Digital Crown, while Siri Recap generates a brief summary with key points. Both features will appear in a beta version later in 2026, initially in English and without support for the European Union.

Secure Enclave is used to process the original audio. Apple states that audio data is deleted after processing.

watchOS 27 also received Siri AI with personal context support, a Modular Siri watch face, an updated Smart Stack, and a new single tap gesture for one-handed control.

Cycle Tracking has added features for tracking perimenopause and menopause. Workout Buddy can operate without an iPhone nearby when the watch is connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network, although the feature still requires an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone.

Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 4

Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 4 are released with a Natural Titanium case. The new Grand H titanium strap features an expansion mechanism that allows wearing the watch over a wetsuit.

A Fathom and Wonder watch face with four ocean depth visuals that can be switched using the Digital Crown has also been added.

Materials

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is made of 45% recycled materials. The case is produced via 3D printing from 100% recycled titanium, and the battery contains 100% recycled cobalt and 95% recycled lithium.

During the watch’s production, electricity from renewable sources is used, and the packaging is entirely made from fiber-based materials.

Price and release date

Preorders for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 opened on September 9, 2026, in more than 50 countries and regions. Sales will begin on September 18. In the United States, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799.

To operate the watch, you need an iPhone 11 or a newer model, or an iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later with iOS 27.