Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

[MacRumors]

The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support.

Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode​

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you send text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable. This feature will work without an iPhone, he said.

Gurman also expects the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to support a special version of 5G for smartwatches. The existing Ultra models support LTE.

Last year, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 received a black titanium case option, but otherwise the Ultra model has not received any hardware upgrades since 2023.

Other likely upgrades for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 include an S10 chip or newer, faster charging, and a wide-angle OLED display that is brighter when viewed from an angle and offers a higher refresh rate for the always-on display mode. All of these improvements were already introduced on the Apple Watch Series 10 last year.

In March, Gurman said Apple was still experiencing issues with a planned blood pressure monitoring feature for the Apple Watch, so it is unclear if that will be ready in time for the Ultra 3, which should launch in a little over two months from now.

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Article Link: Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

 

[jz0309]

well, if those 2 are the main upgrades - I certainly will NOT upgrade my Ultra 2.
For me, they fall in the "nice to have" category.
And the other features mentioned? meh, I'll take 'em ...

IF Apple does not come out with a new health sensor - AW will go thru a dire year ...

 

[Think|Different]

Sooooo, much ado about nothing? Sad, my 1st gen’s battery is on its last legs.

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

well, if those 2 are the main upgrades - I certainly will NOT upgrade my Ultra 2.
For me, they fall in the "nice to have" category.
And the other features mentioned? meh, I'll take 'em ...

IF Apple does not come out with a new health sensor - AW will go thru a dire year ...

Im tempted with a trade in...but its not nessesary. Im just annoyed they wont put a facetime camera in the watches. I want my dick tracy style watch allready lol. but im going to be waiting a long time on that one.

 

[AppleMango]

I’m so ready for this. My S6 was a lovely companion but I need an upgrade.

 

[JPack]

Doesn't really bode well for the S11.

If Ultra 3 gets satellite and RedCap only, what does S11 get?

 

[BarrettF77]

They still haven't brought back the 02 sensing in the USA. Not buying some gimped version of a watch from Apple again. And a "special version" of 5G. Just another excuse for the carries to justify some silly price hike on what limited functionality we use a watch for anyways. $10 per month was respectable. $15 a month for LTE is just dumb.

Apple has really just sunk in our opinion and not what we wanted from them at this point. The new Samsung watches will be great to try out this year as well as the new Fold 7 since Apple is stuck in 2018 for the time being.

 

[GrassShark]

The only real improvements I want to see are a meaningful bump in battery life across the range and then some improvement in sustaining battery health over time. I’m sure it’s got to do with charging speed but it feels like modern Apple batteries just fail faster than they used to.

 

[Sergio The One]

I got an Apple Watch recently and before buying it I asked some athlete friends of mine & watched a ton of videos and reviews, and what most people have been missing from the AW that keeps them using a competitor is

1. battery life
2. Less reliance on the touch screen while in a workout
2. A better Health app with actual insights into your data, like Whoop does (which is a terrible product btw but the app is more useful).
3. Better support for offline maps and routes.

So mostly software stuff really. If Apple can overcome those things, I know a lot of people would switch from Garmin and others.

 

[7thson]

Doesn't really bode well for the S11.

If Ultra 3 gets satellite and RedCap only, what does S11 get?

I’m wondering if Apple will punt on the S11 until next year, like they did with the Ultra 3.

 

[Sergio The One]

They still haven't brought back the 02 sensing in the USA. Not buying some gimped version of a watch from Apple again. And a "special version" of 5G. Just another excuse for the carries to justify some silly price hike on what limited functionality we use a watch for anyways. $10 per month was respectable. $15 a month for LTE is just dumb.

Apple has really just sunk in our opinion and not what we wanted from them at this point. The new Samsung watches will be great to try out this year as well as the new Fold 7 since Apple is stuck in 2018 for the time being.

Until the legal dispute is over, it’s not really up to them.

The recent Samsung watches infamously have terrible accuracy for health features. So if that’s important to you, I’d advise you to really research any that you plan on buying before getting it.

 

[555gallardo]

Sooooo, much ado about nothing? Sad, my 1st gen’s battery is on its last legs.

How could you drain the battery’s life so fast? I have a Series 6 model and it runs as long as it did in the days I bought them.

 

[ELman]

Doesn't really bode well for the S11.

If Ultra 3 gets satellite and RedCap only, what does S11 get?

A snap your fingers gesture.

 

[conshok26]

Are these still locked out in the US from the blood oxygen monitor? I remember that tool from Masimo left.

 

[Mr. Nice]

And will there be real improvements this time?

- longer battery life (hello Garmin)

- more sports metrics (hello Garmin again; Apple has so much data and does absolutely nothing with it!)

- a nice design wouldn't be bad either

A suggestion from me:
Apple could gladly buy Polar.

 

[hieranonymous]

I really hope they sort out the pulse-ox patent issue. Apple can’t ship watches with disabled sensors indefinitely—it’s ludicrous.

 

[rgeneral]

Right now. No blood no money to Apple 🤣

 

[UltimaKilo]

Apple should consider moving the AW to an 18 month upgrade cycle.

 

[Momof2.1107]

I’m good with my 7 month old AWU2 that still has the O2 sensor activated. I have a 100% battery capacity, so I’m good for the next 3.5 years unless Apple comes out with a new meaningful health sensor that’s worth upgrading. These 2 features are not me worth upgrading for.

 

[ececlv]

How could you drain the battery’s life so fast? I have a Series 6 model and it runs as long as it did in the days I bought them.

I would imagine if you check your battery health you'll realize thats not 100% accurate. Not sure all of the difference but perhaps ultra owners use more high battery drain activities such as ultra long workouts with gps running. My uw1 battery health is at 84%

 

[klemsaba]

I want the Ultra but will stick with my SS S7 until the O2 sensor returns. I have the feeling I'll be waiting to upgrade for years.

 

[locoboi187]

“long awaited”

bring on more health stuff, and accurate

 

[HouseLannister]

Make it thinner and bring back blood ox in the US

 

[mblm85]

I don't see 5G being a big sell, even if it's a special version for smartwatches.

Everyone I know turns off 5G on their gadgets to improve battery life.

4G / LTE is perfectly fine.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Other likely upgrades for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 include an S10 chip or newer, faster charging, and a wide-angle OLED display that is brighter when viewed from an angle and offers a higher refresh rate for the always-on display mode. All of these improvements were already introduced on the Apple Watch Series 10 last year.

"oh"

Sort of deflates the excitement a bit.

Not really a lot "new" going on here.

Also not sure a newer processor is much to get excited about.

AWU2 will be 2 years old this Fall.
I'd sure hope the new one has a newer processor.

That's table stakes.