Samsung has announced the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9 at the Galaxy Unpacked July 2026 event and I have been going through the spec sheets all morning with my coffee getting cold beside me.
Pre-orders opened on the 22nd July, while availability will begin from the 7th August and honestly, there’s a lot to unpack here. Not the kind of release where Samsung claims that they have revolutionized the smartwatch segment, but more of an improvement that fixes issues faced by users.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9 Launched at Unpacked 2026
Both smartwatches were formally introduced this week following many leaks that, for once, have proved quite accurate. A bigger battery on the Ultra 2, a brighter display and a chipset change to Snapdragon, all of these things were known ahead of Samsung officially announcing its new smartwatches. Not that obvious until now was just how strongly Samsung decided to focus on the AI health aspect in its latest devices.
TM Roh, CEO, President and Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics, admitted that their goal is to make people shift from treating illnesses to preventing it. It is a very strong statement indeed, but the set of features supporting it looks quite impressive.
In brief, Watch Ultra 2 will be the rugged, versatile and even dive-proof flagship smartwatch, while Watch 9 will be the device that people will buy to wear every day. Both use the new Snapdragon Wear Elite platform, are shipped with Wear OS 7 and One UI Watch 9 and offer very strong features for sleep, cardiovascular and recovery monitoring.
Key Features and Specs
AI Health Features
This is where Samsung has channeled most of its energy and it shows. With both devices receiving a Heart Health Score that condenses all the information from your cardiovascular system into one number, instead of forcing you to go through five tabs to understand if everything is fine with you. In addition to this, there is a Daily Cardio Load feature that will give you an estimation of the training stress levels you experience and the time required for recovery, as well as Fitness Index, which will provide you with a more holistic view of your fitness than just counting your daily steps.
The algorithm used for Sleep Apnea detection was improved and received FDA clearance and Vitals now monitor your baseline while you are asleep and pings you if anything seems off. It is not meant to replace a medical professional, Samsung clearly states so in the fine print, but as a person who obsessively tracks her cycle and sleep data using her Oura ring, I can state that this is an important improvement of the product.
There’s even a Hearing feature that flags unsafe noise exposure, which was a feature I hadn’t thought I’d care about but probably will end up using more than I would’ve guessed given how loud my headphones get during workouts.
The thing that I really like about Samsung is that they aren’t just throwing you numbers anymore. The idea of Vitals and Heart Health Score is to convert the biometric noise into actionable insights that you don’t need a medical background to understand. That’s where wearables should go.
Adding a heart rate monitor to the watch is an easy task for anyone. Getting something useful from it and creating an action to take from this data is a different ball game.
Endurance & Activity Tracking
Clearly, Ultra 2 is meant for those who consider sport seriously enough. It offers Trail Run which calculates the level of elevation and climbing progress. Second, Nutrition Alert, which was built on top of the existing feature of Sweat Loss, determines how much you sweat according to your body weight and when you need hydration. For those who regularly jog, do hikes and spend lots of time outdoors, this feature will surely be useful, without a separate hydration wearable attached to your body.
Now let us talk about diving. According to Samsung, the Ultra 2 is water-resistant for 69K IP, 10 ATM and EN13319 certified, it was developed with Mares, which produces diving equipment. The watch automatically tracks depth, dive time and temperature of the water right after you submerge. Samsung announced the exclusive Ultra 2 Diving App, coming out later this year with tracking ascent and descent speed. While I doubt any serious diver will switch from dive computers to this watch, this can be good for some casual diving activity.
In terms of battery life, Ultra 2 now stands at 800 mAh, an increase of 35 percent from the previous Ultra watch and somehow manages to be 12 percent slimmer. The battery life of the Watch 9 isn’t quite as dramatic as that, with around 390 mAh of capacity for the 40mm model and 445 mAh for the larger 44mm version. This means that they should all give reliable all-day tracking and not require constant recharging.
As far as bands are concerned, Samsung updated the line-up in order to ensure a comfortable wearing experience for long periods of time and this is exactly what it’s all about if we’re talking about a tracker that’s meant to be worn all day. There’s the new Marine Band that is both lighter and more breathable during long wearing sessions, the PeakForm hybrid band which is supposed to be somewhere in the middle in terms of performance and aesthetics and the Trail Band made out of fabric for runners.
None of this affects the actual functionality of the trackers themselves, but it’s crucial in order to ensure a comfortable experience and accurate data tracking results.
Display & Design
The Ultra 2 features a 1.52 inch Super AMOLED screen capable of hitting 5,000 nits peak brightness, which is being marketed as the brightest ever smartwatch screen by Samsung. I tend to be a little skeptical of “world’s first” claims, but visibility in direct sun has been a pain point on older Ultra models, so if this delivers, it’s actually a welcome fix. The Ultra 2 has a titanium 47mm case available in Titanium Silver or Titanium Gray.
The Watch 9 continues Samsung’s traditional design language, featuring a cushion-shaped aluminum body in 40 mm and 44 mm sizes with displays going up to 3,000 nits in terms of peak brightness. Again, nothing much from the design perspective, but that is probably the purpose because it’s already working for their customer base. Why fix something that isn’t broken?
Both devices come equipped with an Always-On display featuring full-color capabilities and gesture controls which is very useful for outdoor hikes.
There are new bands in the Watch 9 with a slimmer Sports Band for regular use, the Misty Band, which comes in a gentle two-tone design that actually looks better than many standard watch bands out there and the Fabric Band, which Samsung says is so comfortable you could wear it while sleeping. Color choices are quite decent too, with Cream/Graphite for the 40mm and Graphite/Silver for the 44mm version. Nothing wild but enough variety that it doesn’t feel like you’re stuck with one look for the next 2-3 years.
Connectivity & Platform
Both smartwatches have Wear OS 7 and One UI Watch 9 on top of that, while both feature LTE connectivity and eSIM option if you wish to leave your phone at home. You also get Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 6.0 and NFC on all of them, as well as GPS (with multi-band compatibility L1+L5), GLONASS, GALILEO and BDS for better accuracy during outdoor exercise.
Overall app experience is quite similar to what users of Samsung Health are used to, even though it takes a little bit of searching to learn the new health dashboards.
Ultra 2 vs Watch 9: What’s Different
Which one you choose between the new launches, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 vs Watch 9, depends on what kind of user you are. The Ultra 2 is built for people who are hardcore athletes and people who like to dive, run trails and spend a lot of time outdoors, regardless of the weather conditions. The watch is bulky at 61.5g and costs $699.
On the other hand, the Galaxy Watch 9 is more of an everyday smartwatch and is targeted at those who want reliable health monitoring and not just activity stats. This watch is lighter at 31.5g for 40mm and 34g for 44mm. The Watch 9 starts at $379. The most obvious difference between the models lies in the battery life where the Ultra 2 boasts an 800 mAh cell that almost doubles the capacity of the Watch 9. The Ultra 2 will also stretch up to 100 hours with Power Saving mode on.
Regarding the features, both the watches come with the same health-oriented AI suite, which means that neither of them lacks such advanced functions as Heart Health Score and Sleep Apnea detection. However, the differences lie in ruggedness, brightness and sports-related functionalities like diving and trail monitoring.
Pricing & Availability
The Watch 9 with a 40mm case is priced at $379 for the Bluetooth version, $429 for LTE. The 44mm is priced at $409 for Bluetooth and $459 for LTE.
The Ultra 2 is priced at $699, which is a price jump from the Watch Ultra and it definitely puts it in a category of “you really need to actually want the endurance and training features” territory rather than an impulse buy.
Pre-orders are currently available in selected countries with a general availability date of August 7. The two watches also come with a 60-day Strava trial period as well as a 2-month iFIT trial period, which is very handy if you have not yet signed up.
It should also be noted that Samsung Care+ can be purchased for both watches if you are the type of person who often breaks your devices, such as accidentally dropping your smartwatch on a concrete sidewalk (guilty!). Samsung Care+ covers the accidental damage warranty and extended warranty.
Who Should Buy and Who Should Avoid
| Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 Pros | Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 Cons |
| Comfortable and familiar design | Brightness is the same as previous model |
| AI health suite at a lower price point | Aluminum finish is less premium as compared to Ultra 2 |
| Good battery life | |
| Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Pros | Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Cons |
| Massive battery upgrade while being slimmer than previous model | Expensive |
| Brightness is great for outdoors | Still heavy and bulky for people with smaller wrists |
| Dive and endurance features are great for serious athletes | |
| Titanium built is solid and looks premium |
Ideal Users:
The Watch 9 is ideal for:
- People who want an everyday smartwatch
- Budget conscious buyers
- People who want sleep and health tracking and not just fitness and activity tracking
The Watch Ultra 2 is ideal for:
- Athletes and people who are into serious training
- People who want a longer battery life
- People who enjoy hiking and outdoor activities
Not Ideal For:
Neither of these watches are ideal for people who:
- Want a minimalist, screenless fitness tracker that tracks their health metrics in the background
- Are looking for a dedicated tracker to track their sleep
- Are in the Apple ecosystem
Wrap Up
Samsung has not done anything groundbreaking with these watches, but that’s fine. The fact of the matter is that Samsung has made improvements to address actual problems that their users faced with better displays, better battery life and a truly useful health-oriented AI layer that is not just limited to counting the number of steps taken.
If you have an active lifestyle and you actually put your body through the rigors of a tough workout, the Ultra 2 is the watch you should be getting. In any case, these seem to be Samsung’s most well-rounded Galaxy Watch lineups yet and I’m keen to check out the diving app and the new AI features once we get our hands on them.
Keep an eye out for our Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 review!
