Hang around the Tom’s Guide fitness desk long enough, and we’ll probably strap a fitness tracker to your wrist and ask you to go and count your steps. Sure, step counting isn’t the best measurement of how fit you are or how good a fitness tracker is, but our thinking is that if a watch can do the basics right, it’s probably doing the bigger things well too.

Next up on our list of trackers to test was the new $799 Apple Watch Ultra 4 and the $1099 Garmin Fenix 9 Pro. Apple says it made the pedometer more accurate with its new rugged adventure watch, and while both high-spec watches do a lot more than just count steps, I was keen to put them head-to-head.

To find out more, I strapped one to each wrist and used my trusty clicker tool to manually count 10,000 steps. Read on to find out which watch came out on top.

I walked 10,000 steps with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Garmin Fenix 9 Pro

If you’ve read one of my walk tests, you’ll know we always start with the basics. For this test, I manually click every time I take a step, because counting to 10,000 while navigating traffic and a deaf dog is too overstimulating to describe in words.

I manually click every time I take a step. For this test, I wore the Apple Watch Ultra 4 on my left wrist and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro on my right. Both trackers count your steps using an internal accelerometer, which measures arm swing.

Each swing counts for two steps, and it doesn’t matter whether you wear your watch on your dominant or non-dominant hand. It doesn’t matter if you walk with your hands in your pockets or hold a cup of coffee; the accelerometer should still measure your body’s movement.

As with all the best Apple Watches, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 still doesn’t tell you the number of steps you’ve taken during a specific workout; instead, you see an overall number of steps throughout the day, which you can now pin to your home screen.

This is probably because steps aren’t actually that useful a metric beyond a certain point, but annoying for me when writing these articles. For this comparison, I downloaded a third-party Pedometer+ app onto my Apple Watch.

I split this test into three walks, and when I got home, I downloaded all the data. Here are my results:

In all my years of doing these walk tests, I think this is the closest one yet. As you can see, there’s only a difference of 32 steps between the two watches, which is unheard of.

The average person takes 2,000 steps a mile, so 32 steps is nothing. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 was ever so slightly more accurate, only missing 43 steps, making it pretty much spot on.

To really put these two watches head-to-head, you’d need to look at a lot more than just how well they count steps. Both are designed to be worn 24/7 and cope with outdoor adventures. There are some big differences, however: even with a bigger battery life of 50-74 hours, the Fenix 9 Pro still offers 29 days in smartwatch mode and up to 54 hours in activity mode. The Fenix also has a built-in multi-LED flashlight and full offline mapping.

That said, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is like having an extension of your iPhone on your wrist, and with the new heart rate sensor, it’s definitely the best Apple Watch on the market for anyone serious about training. We’ll continue to compare the two watches head-to-head, so stay tuned for more testing.

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Apple is slowly rolling out a revamped Health app for iPhone and Apple Watch, and you can try it now by downloading the iOS 27.2 public beta; you’ll also need to run watchOS 27 on your Apple Watch.

One of the coolest new features in the overhauled app is a series of at-home longevity assessments designed to be done in your living room using your iPhone’s camera and Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor.

These assessments provide insights into a user’s strength, balance, flexibility, and more. I tried both the balance and flexibility tests, which take about five to seven minutes each, and gained some valuable, surprising insights into my physical health. Here’s what I learned.

How Apple’s at-home longevity tests work

To perform one of these assessments, users are asked to place their iPhone on the ground, lean up against a wall, and then walk back ten to 12 feet, ensuring their entire body is framed within the front-facing camera’s view.

The assessments use a vision-based AI model to track your body movement as you perform each step. However, no video is actually being recorded during the assessment, and all the AI processing occurs on-device.

What I learned from Apple’s flexibility test

Once your iPhone is set up and you're well-framed in the center of the screen, it’s time to start the assessment.

An on-screen trainer demos the movements for each test with more than enough detail to easily follow along. For example, the flexibility assessment involves five different stretches to thoroughly determine your overall upper and lower body flexibility ratings. Ratings fall into one of four categories: Needs Improvement, Fair, Good, and Excellent.

So, how did I do? My upper body flexibility score was ‘Good,’ but my lower body flexibility score was only ‘Fair,’ lower than I expected. I performed the five tests in the assessment twice, just to be sure I properly followed all the instructions, and both times the results were the same.

Was I aware that my lower body flexibility could use some attention? Honestly, no, not at all. Now that I am, I plan to prioritize more workouts and stretches to improve it.

Helpfully, in addition to a rating, the new Health app also provides fairly comprehensive information on the best ways to make progress in either category, including suggested exercises to try.

My balance is better than my flexibility, according to Apple

The balance assessment is even easier than the flexibility one, involving just one test. Users are asked to stand on one foot, with their other foot suspended in the air behind them for as long as they can without touching the ground, for up to sixty seconds. You do this twice, once for each foot.

Once the countdown begins, calming music starts playing, while a voice periodically provides encouraging words. Balance is scored on the same rubric as flexibility.

Fortunately, this time around I scored an Excellent — again, I did the test twice — which was a lovely little ego boost after my mediocre flexibility performance.

Like an at-home physical exam

These are just two of the 17 longevity assessments found in the new Apple Health app. Once all the assessments are complete, the Health app generates a report based on the results to share with your doctor.

Ultimately, Apple’s new longevity assessment might be foreshadowing what the future of healthcare will look like, where users rely on a mix of AI-powered consumer tech and traditional doctor visits to better understand and improve their well-being.

What are your thoughts on Apple’s new longevity tests in the updated Health app in iOS 27.2? Are you looking forward to trying them yourself? Let me know in the comments below.

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2026 seems to be the year of the screenless fitness tracker. We’ve seen the success of the $99 Fitbit Air, as well as the launch of the Garmin Cirqa and the Oura Ring 5. And according to new rumors, Apple might be joining the party.

As reported by Bloomberg, Apple is working on a screenless health tracker, set to take on the likes of Fitbit Air, Garmin Cirqa, and Whoop. There have been rumors for months that Apple has been “exploring” the category and developing prototypes, which feature a fabric band attached to a module that rests on the wrist — similar to the Apple Watch, but without a screen.

It’s said that Tim Cook and services chief Eddy Cue are interested in the product. Cue now leads Apple’s health teams and is thought to be pushing to explore wearables with simpler interfaces. Yet as someone who has been writing about wearables for the past decade, I really don’t see this happening any time soon.

With the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4, Apple has made two of its best health trackers yet, with an updated heart rate sensor and built-in recovery tools at last. Yet part of their appeal is that they feel like an extension of the iPhone on your wrist. Without a screen, you’re left with the slightly chaotic Health app (though I’ll wait to test the new version launching in the iOS 27.2 Beta with its new user-friendly interface) and the need to check your phone constantly to see the progress of those all-important rings.

Only time will tell, but if you’re a fan of the Whoop, I wouldn’t hold your breath. The report does state that if we do see a screenless tracker from the brand, it probably won’t be till 2028, as Apple is said to be focusing on AI smart glasses and AirPods with cameras first.

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With the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, users can now view their total daily step count in real time on the watch face courtesy of Apple’s powerful S11 processor.

While there are a couple of different ways to add the Daily Steps widget to your watch face, below, I’ve explained my favorite way to do it: Using the new Siri Modular watch face in five quick steps.

Don’t have one of the latest Apple Watch models? You can still add a step count widget to the watch face using a third-party option like the Pedometer++ app.

That said, if you do have the Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4, here’s how to unlock Apple’s step count widget in less time than it takes to walk around the block.

How to add the step count widget to your Apple Watch

1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap ‘Face Gallery’ at the bottom, center of the page
2. Select the category ‘New Watch Faces' or search for “Siri Modular’
3. Select your preferred Siri Modular layout and scroll down to ‘Complications’
4. Tap on one of the complications to change it; you’ll find the ‘Daily Steps’ widget toward the top under ‘Activity’
5. With the ‘Daily Steps’ widget added, tap ‘Add to Watch’ to switch to the Siri Modular face

Read on to see full illustrated instructions for each step.

And... that's it! Your personalized Siri Modular watch face with a Daily Steps widget should now appear on your Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 (the only models that support this feature natively).

Looking for more ways to customize your Apple Watch with the latest watchOS 27 bells and whistles? Here's how to enable the new Siri AI voice assistant on your Apple Watch. Best of all, you don't need one of the latest models – just one that supports watchOS 27.

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Last week saw the full launch of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12, and both landed on my doorstep just days before I was due to tackle the Shoreditch Half Marathon in east London.

It seemed the perfect chance to test the accuracy of both watches in race conditions, especially as this particular half marathon has to fit its 13.1-mile route into quite a small area of London, so it had a lot of tight twists and turns — ideal for checking GPS accuracy.

I also strapped on a Garmin HRM-600 chest strap heart rate monitor to compare the new optical sensors on the Apple Watches, and I linked this strap to the Coros Pace 4 Pro, one of the best sports watches with multi-band GPS, for another reference point in the race.

I was impressed by the accuracy of both watches during and after the race, but each excelled in a different area — the Series 12 was a bit stronger on heart rate, while the Ultra 4 had the edge on GPS accuracy.

Let’s dive into the details.

GPS accuracy

I don’t think I’ve ever done a race with more turns than the Shoreditch Half Marathon, and while it’s not in an area of London with many tall buildings, the constant changes of direction made it a proper challenge for the GPS tracking on the watches.

The high number of turns also means I definitely ran further than the official half marathon distance of 13.1 miles, which is measured at the tightest racing line. I frequently had to take wide turns and weave around runners, so it’s not surprising that the watches registered a longer distance.

The two Apple Watches were almost in agreement on the total distance, with the Ultra 4 logging 13.31 miles and the Apple Watch 12 logging 13.33 miles, whereas the Coros Pace 4 Pro logged 13.22 miles.

I can’t say anything definitive about which of these distances is the most accurate — the Coros is closest to the official distance, but I did run further than that with all the turns.

However, looking at the GPS tracks, the Apple Watch Series 12 shows more minor errors than the others, veering off the road through buildings and the like. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Coros Pace 4 Pro produced very similar tracks for the race.

This makes sense, because the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Coros Pace 4 Pro both have multi-band GPS, which tends to outperform the all-systems GPS on the Apple Watch 12 when in tough conditions.

It’s one of the key upgrades on the Ultra 4 over the Series 12, and while I still find the latter generally good enough on GPS accuracy, there is a benefit for opting for the Ultra 4 if you want that extra level of precision.

Heart rate accuracy

The Apple Watch 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 both have Apple’s new optical heart rate sensor, which the company claims is the most accurate available in a wearable based on an internal study comparing several watches to the Polar H10 chest strap.

I’ve tested every Apple Watch and found that their heart rate sensors have been particularly good for watches since the Series 4, but I do notice a difference between the Ultra and the Series models.

Even though they have the same sensor, I usually find the Series watches have more reliable heart rate tracking for me, probably because they are smaller, lighter watches that fit more snugly on my thin wrists than the weightier Ultra.

It’s important to note that if the Apple Watch you’re wearing doesn’t have a high level of confidence in the heart rate it’s sensing, it will gray out the number and not give a reading until it does.

This is what happened for me early in the race with the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which didn’t get a reliable lock on my heart rate until I was about 13 minutes in, which you can see on the graph below, noted as a straight line.

Once locked on, the Ultra 4 stayed in line with the Garmin chest strap I was wearing for the rest of the race, but the Series 12 gets the win in this category because it was in line with the chest strap for the entire race, with no grayed out sections.

Rather than going flat out from the start in the race, I ran it as a progression effort and pushed harder and harder as the race went on, producing the gradual rise in heart rate in the graph.

I quite like this approach from Apple in general — it’s better to have no reading than an incorrect one — but it does mean I couldn’t use the Ultra 4’s heart rate reading to judge effort early in the race.

Verdict

While I’ve highlighted the differences between the watches from the race, the overall performance of both was very good. Both are great sports watches as well as being among the best smartwatches.

The Ultra 4 has some extra strengths on the sports front with its multi-band GPS, longer battery life and more rugged design, but the Series 12 might be a little more reliable for heart rate, especially if you have thin wrists like mine.

I plan to do plenty more testing of both watches to get more of an insight into their performance and accuracy. Hopefully on routes that are a little more straightforward than the Shoreditch Half Marathon.

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The Coros Pace 4 is one of the best sports watches on the market, packing all the features runners and triathletes need into its small, lightweight design. I used it for six months to train for the London Marathon, and found very little to fault about it.

One area where the Pace 4 did leave room for an upgrade was its design, and that’s where the Coros Pace 4 Pro steps in. It’s a more attractive watch with a larger, brighter display and longer battery life than the Pace 4, and the best Coros watch yet in my opinion.

I’ve been using the Pace 4 Pro for the past week and a half ahead of its launch, and I’ve loved it. It’s proved accurate during my workouts so far, and crucially the design retains the slim, lightweight feel you expect from a Coros Pace watch.

In my full Coros Pace 4 Pro review I’ll cover why it’s impressed me so much, and why I think it’s a serious rival to what has been my go-to sports watch, the Garmin Forerunner 970.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: price and availability

The Coros Pace 4 Pro launched on 22 September 2026 and costs $449 in the U.S. and £389 in the U.K. It’s a big step up in price from the Coros Pace 4, which is $249/£229 for the standard watch and $279/£249 for the aluminum model.

It does come in cheaper than its main rivals from Garmin: the Forerunner 570 ($549/£459) and the Forerunner 970 ($749.99/£629.99), and though both of those watches are often now in sales, the 970 is still usually $200 more, while the Forerunner 570 only drops to the same price as the Pace 4 Pro.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: specs compared

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: design and display

The Coros Pace line has always been focused on road runners who want a lightweight, slim watch, and the Pace 4 Pro sticks to those ideals even with its large, 1.47in display.

It’s exceptionally thin and sits snugly on even my slim wrists, and while it’s not as small and light as the Pace 4, I still found it a comfortable watch to wear 24/7, and it doesn’t snag on jackets.

The new display is notably brighter than on past Coros watches and I found it easy to read the time and other stats off my watch face even when the display wasn’t fully on.

During runs and other activities, you can see your data clearly in all conditions, even with the wild Multi-Data screen that shows 13 stats at once (this is too many stats, but still fun).

Other upgrades on other Pace models include a titanium bezel and sapphire crystal display, and the processor is also faster with 64GB of RAM — I found it’s a very snappy watch when navigating through menus or panning around maps.

Like other Coros watches, the Pace 4 Pro has a three-button design, one of which is a digital dial. I find it’s a little easier to accidentally set off dials in general than fixed buttons, but it’s not a major problem.

The Pace 4 Pro has a 5ATM water resistance rating, Coros’ latest optical heart rate sensor, and offers multi-band GPS tracking. You can connect external sensors via Bluetooth, and it has 32GB of storage, which you can use for music and maps.

It has a mic and speaker, and you can use the latter to take voice notes and drop pins during activities if you spot something useful like a water fountain or restroom. I use the voice note feature after runs as a quick way to record feedback on my training and any shoes or tech I’m testing, and my notes are automatically-transcribed in the Coros app.

Overall the design of the Pace 4 Pro is a significant upgrade on what we’ve seen from the brand in the past. It’s a great-looking watch and as a slender-wristed gentleman I also appreciate the focus Coros puts on keeping its watches slim and light.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: sports tracking and training analysis

The Pace 4 Pro doesn’t bring any new sports features to the table compared with other Coros watches, but does have customizable modes for pretty much every activity, and useful training analysis including VO2 max estimates, training load analysis and race time predictions.

This training analysis data is presented well on the watch and in the partner app, and there are training plans for a wide variety of running events and time goals in the app, along with some cycling and triathlon training plans. If you set one of these up, it will send the workouts to the watch to follow.

The training analysis is not as extensive as that of Garmin’s top watches, and the Pace 4 Pro doesn’t offer a readiness score — though it does measure overnight heart rate variability which you can use to a similar end — but it does a good job of providing all the data you really need in a clear and engaging way.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: GPS and heart rate accuracy

The Coros Pace 4 Pro uses multi-band GPS in its most accurate mode, which I had on throughout testing, and has Coros’ latest optical heart rate sensor. I checked the HR readings on the watch against a chest strap during testing, and looked at the GPS tracks to see if any errors cropped up.

On both fronts, I saw very few errors. The GPS performance was right in line with top Garmin watches like the Forerunner 970 and Fenix 9 Pro, and aside from the occasional short, erroneous spike in HR, the readings from the Pace 4 Pro were right in line with the chest strap, especially during runs and bike rides.

Strength workouts provide more of a challenge to optical heart rate sensors and I did see more errors during those while wearing the Coros Pace 4 Pro, but it was never too far from the chest strap's readings.

I’ll continue to test the accuracy on the watch but having run every day with it for 11 days, along with doing bike rides and strength workouts, I’ve not noticed any concerning errors from the Pace 4 Pro.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: battery life

The Pace 4 Pro sports the largest, brightest display Coros has ever put on a watch, but it still maintains the long battery life that has become a hallmark of the brand’s devices.

It’s listed as lasting up to 21 days in watch mode, or seven days with the screen always-on, and offers 30 hours of GPS tracking in its most accurate mode.

Normally the watch mode stats given by brands are a best-case scenario, but the Pace 4 Pro actually lasted me over seven days on its first charge, even though I had the screen always-on and ran outside each day using the most power-intensive battery mode.

I also had the heart rate tracking outside workouts set to real-time, rather than taking readings every 10 minutes, which is the default setting.

For comparison, the Garmin Forerunner 970 lasts me four to five days on a charge with the same use, as does the Coros Pace 4. Some AMOLED watches do last longer, like the 51mm Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, but they’re a lot bulkier than the Pace 4 Pro, which punches above its lightweight when it comes to battery life.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: maps and navigation

Coros recently added maps to the Pace 4 via a software update, which means that all of its current line-up have the feature, and the maps look particularly good on the Pace 4 Pro’s big display.

They aren’t routable maps, which you get on Garmin watches, but still suffice in keeping you on track when following routes or trying to find your way back to your starting point, and when following routes you also get an elevation plot and Hill Alerts, which notify you of upcoming climbs and descents.

You can create routes easily in the Coros app and sync them to the watch, and get turn-by-turn notifications.

Garmin still leads the way with its routable maps, which allow you to create routes on the fly, but the navigation tools on the Pace 4 Pro are very handy and easy to use, and the maps load rapidly when panning and zooming.

During activities, you can also share a live tracking link so others can follow your progress on a map, and you can also send SOS alerts if you get into trouble. You can also create scheduled live tracking events so a link goes live automatically at the set time.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review: smart features

Smarts is one area where Coros watches are lacking, and while I don’t think that’s necessarily a dealbreaker in a sports watch, you do get better smart features if you opt for one of the best Garmins, let alone a true smartwatch like the Apple Watch Ultra 4.

You can store music on the Pace 4 Pro, but it only supports MP3 files and can’t link up with streaming services like Spotify. It also doesn’t offer NFC payments, there’s no app store and while there are a lot of watch faces available in the Coros app, they’re not as customizable as on other sports watches.

If smart features are a must for you on a watch, then the Pace 4 Pro isn’t the best pick, and a Garmin device or a smartwatch would suit you better.

Should you buy the Coros Pace 4 Pro?

The Coros Pace 4 Pro ticks all the boxes I’m looking for as a keen runner, and the upgraded design makes it the best option in the Coros line-up, with the bonus that if you’re not that fussed about the looks, the Pace 4 is a great cheaper alternative with the same software features.

It’s the strongest competitor to the Garmin Forerunner 970, which I do rate as the best sports watch on the market, unless you want the connectivity features of the Fenix 9 Pro.

The Pace 4 Pro is cheaper than the Forerunner 970, outperforms it on battery life, matches it for accuracy based on my testing, and I prefer its design — it’s thinner and lighter and has a bigger screen.

It's also actually cheaper than the previous-gen Garmin Forerunner 965 tends to drop to in sales, which is important as often Garmin's older models are the best option for those seeking value.

There are certainly reasons to upgrade to the Forerunner 970, though, which has more smart features, better maps, more extensive training analysis including readiness, and a built-in flashlight, to name some of the biggest ones.

The Coros Pace 4 Pro nails the essentials for less, though, and does it while looking great. It’s a watch that’ll stay on my wrist to track my marathon training.

I walked 5,500 steps with the new Apple Watch Series 12 on my left wrist and the Garmin Venu 4 on my right wrist (Okay, it was 5,520 steps) to determine which is the better fitness tracker.

Two of the best smartwatches in 2026, the Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399, though the 46mm 5G+GPS model I'm testing is $549, the same cost as the Garmin Venu 4. More importantly, both devices are equipped with their respective brand's latest heart rate tracking tech, along with onboard GPS and barometric altimeters for elevation tracking.

So, which of these two popular, capable devices came out on top in this fitness tracking accuracy showdown between the Apple Watch Series 12 and Garmin Venu 4? See for yourself below, along with my five biggest takeaways. I've also declared a winner at the very end.

I walked 5,000 steps with the Apple Watch 12 vs Garmin Venu 4

As noted above, I wore the Apple Watch on my left wrist and the Garmin on my right during this ~50-minute walk around hilly Seattle, Washington. As a control, I manually counted my steps, recording every 100 with a click of a tally counter, and logged the walk in the Strava app on my iPhone 16 Plus.

1. Both wearables logged my steps and distance with impressive accuracy

Strava logged the exact same number of total steps taken as my manual count: 5,520, a tally that both the Apple Watch 12 and Garmin Venu each came ridiculously close to matching as well.

Apple ended up overcounting by just 11 steps while Garmin undercounted by only two steps. Distance data is also impressively close to the control, with the Apple Watch being just a bit more spot-on than Garmin.

2. Apple was generous with climb data

I've come to expect my Apple Watch to be on the generous side when it comes to logging climb data, whether strolling around the city or hiking a mountain. That said, despite my expectations for this consistent inconsistency, the best Apple Watches still tend to be in the ballpark at logging uphill efforts, just, perhaps, the furthest corner of the upper deck.

That's the case here; Apple seemingly tacked an extra 38 feet of climb onto my walk compared to Strava, which is both forgivable and certainly better than undercounting my ascent by 38 feet.

3. Heart rate data is a perfect match

The Garmin Venu 4 sports the brand's latest Elevate V5 heart rate sensor, and the Apple Watch Series 12 — along with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 — uses Apple's newest, most powerful holistic sensor arrays.

Latest tech or not, Apple and Garmin are two brands I've come to trust when it comes to accurately logging heart rate. This is to say, I expected the Series 12 and Venu 4 to produce pretty similar HR data for my walk. Instead, they noted the exact same average and max, a rare, encouraging outcome!

4. The Venu 4 used a lot more battery than the Series 12

Garmin watches may have a reputation for outlasting their Apple rivals, but during this roughly 50-minute outdoor workout, the Garmin Venu 4 burned through four times the battery of the Apple Watch Series 12.

5. Both smartwatches did well, but Garmin wins overall

Ultimately, both watches performed extremely well in this fitness tracking showdown between the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Garmin Venu 4, but a winner must be declared, darn it.

While the Apple Watch Series 12 was closer distance-wise, the Garmin Venu 4 was slightly more precise at tracking steps, and comfortably closer to the control with regard to climb and pace data.

I am, of course, splitting hairs here. The big takeaway is that both the Garmin Venu 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 are both excellent, reliable options if you want a sleek, modern smartwatch to keep tabs on your outdoor workouts. That said, for the uphill-obsessed, the Series 12 just may be the bigger ego booster.

Which smartwatch did you expect to win this head-to-head? Let me know in the poll below.

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The popular Fitbit Air is one of the best fitness trackers of 2026 thanks to its wallet-friendly price tag, reliable tracking, and simple-to-use design. However, it’s far from the only affordable, screen- and subscription-free fitness tracker out there.

I’m currently reviewing the Luna Band, a device I initially got hands-on back in January at CES in Las Vegas, and then again in early September at IFA in Berlin.

The Luna Band is a direct competitor to not just the Fitbit Air but also the Garmin Cirqa, and notably splits the difference, cost-wise, between the two. Feature-wise, all three trackers promise no-fuss insights into your daily movement, workouts, sleep quality, and overall well-being.

I’ve already covered the key differences between the Luna Band and Garmin Cirqa. Here are the five most important things to know when comparing the Luna Band vs. Fitbit Air.

1. The Luna Band is $50 pricier

When it comes to price, the Fitbit Air has the Luna Band beat. Google’s screenless tracker starts at just $99, while the Luna Band is $149. That said, the latter is still a better bargain than the $199 Garmin Cirqa.

2. But none of Luna’s features are paywalled

While the Fitbit Air is less expensive upfront compared to the Luna Band, in the long run, the Google tracker might end up costing you more.

Unlike the higher-end Whoop 5.0, neither the Garmin Cirqa nor the Fitbit Air nor the Luna Band require you to sign up for a subscription to use basic features. However, both Garmin and Google paywall some of the more advanced features behind a monthly/annual cost.

For example, access to Google Health Premium for the Fitbit Air is $9.99 a month or $99 for the year. Meanwhile, the Garmin Connect+ plan is $6.99 monthly or $69.99 annually.

Luna takes a different approach, as noted numerous times on the Luna Band product page: All of the Luna Band’s features, including personalized AI insights, are subscription-free for the life of the device.

3. The Luna Band has better battery life

The Luna Band also has a higher battery life rating than the Fitbit Air: up to ten days per charge — the same as Garmin Cirqa — versus seven days per charge for the Google wearable. That said, I’ve personally verified the claims of the Fitbit and Garmin, but not the Luna Band, so stay tuned for real-world verification.

4. But the Fitbit Air is smaller and lighter

Of these three trackers, the Fitbit Air is by far the lightest and most comfortable, thanks in part to a narrower strap and more compact tracking tech. In terms of weight, the Fitbit Air clocks in at just ~14 g, compared to ~26 g for the Luna Band; the Garmin Cirqa weighs ~22 g.

5. The Luna Band uses haptic feedback to deliver notifications

While both the Fitbit Air and Luna Band support haptic feedback, on-device vibrations are a much bigger part of the user experience for the latter. For example, the Fitbit Air only buzzes when you set a “Smart Alarm” to wake you up via haptics at an optimal time in your sleep cycle. That’s basically it.

On the Luna Band, users can set the device to vibrate for health alerts, notifications, and alarms. Haptics can also be set to automatically “nudge” you throughout the day to stand up and/or move around.

What are your thoughts on the Luna Band? Would you consider purchasing one over the competition? Moreover, which 2026 screenless fitness tracker do you like the most? Let me know below.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just went hands-on with the new Circular Ring 3 — and it beats the Oura Ring 5 in 3 big ways
• I just reviewed the Garmin Cirqa — 5 things you need to know about Garmin’s subscription-free Whoop and Fitbit Air alternative
• Exclusive: Garmin Cirqa PM says ‘it just felt like we had all of the pieces in place’ to launch a screen-free fitness tracker

Bad news, Apple Watch power users: the latest watchOS 27 software release removes the easiest way to quickly and efficiently jump between apps.

In watchOS 26 and earlier, users could simply double-press the digital crown at any time to jump back into the previous app they were using. This functionality, unofficially called the “app switcher,” is unfortunately no longer available in watchOS 27.

Here’s everything you need to know about the removal of the app switcher function for Apple Watch in watchOS 27.

watchOS 27 removes the app switcher function

I just updated my Apple Watch Series 11 to watchOS 27, a process that took longer than expected (several hours). While I’m largely impressed with the new software — these are the 7 watchOS 27 features you should try first — it falls short in two regards.

First, Apple removed the fan-favorite Walkie-Talkie app for no apparent reason. Second, and perhaps much more noticeable, double-tapping the digital crown no longer brings you to the last app you used. Instead, it defaults to displaying the new “Dynamic App Grid” with your seven most-used apps.

Oddly, a single click of the digital crown also launches the Dynamic App Grid, which seems redundant/oddly un-Apple-like. What gives?

Apple has bigger plans for the digital crown double-tap

Apple apparently has even bigger plans for the digital crown double-tap. Later this year, several intriguing new “Audio Intelligence” features are set to be added to watchOS 27, including “Live Rewind.”

It’s designed to give users an easy and discreet way to relisten to the last 15 seconds of audio captured by their Apple Watch (Series 12 and Ultra 4 only) at any moment, and even generate a transcript. For example, if you’re bad with names, like me, Live Rewind could be a truly useful bit of tech. It's also freaking some users out.

But what does this have to do with the end of the app switcher function? When Live Rewind launches, the digital crown double-tap will default to opening the feature on compatible devices.

What comes next?

Ultimately, it’s possible that if enough folks convey their annoyance with the removal of the app switcher function for Apple Watch, the brand might add it back in future firmware, at least for the devices that don’t support the new Live Rewind feature.

What are your thoughts on Apple removing the app switcher in watchOS 27? Let me know below.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• Here's how to enable the new Siri AI on your Apple Watch
• 3 reasons why the Pixel Watch 5 Stephen Curry edition is totally worth it

The Pixel Watch 5 comes in several configurations, including the special edition Stephen Curry model with an upgraded woven sports strap and a custom watch face.

As of publication, Google only offers the Steph Curry edition in a 45mm case size with LTE connectivity. It costs $50 more than the standard Google Pixel Watch 5 45mm LTE model. Sure, you can call me crazy, but I think the higher price is totally worth it.

Of course, this isn’t Google’s first collab with the basketball superstar. The brand also debuted a special edition Fitbit Air Steph Curry model for an extra $30 with a similar-style upgraded sports loop designed with athletes in mind.

When I reviewed the Fitbit Air, the Steph Curry strap quickly proved to be my favorite of the three Air straps I tested. And the same things that made me fall in love with that strap also apply to the Pixel Watch 5 Steph Curry loop.

With that in mind, here are the three biggest reasons I prefer the Pixel Watch 5 Stephen Curry edition to the standard Pixel Watch 5.

1. Quicker to dry and better breathability

First, a quick clarification: Aside from the special watch face, there are no hardware or software differences between the Google Pixel Watch 5 and the Pixel Watch 5 Steph Curry edition. The cases are identical, as are the under-the-hood components.

What truly sets the two smartwatches apart is the quality of the included strap. The Steph Curry loop is made from a soft, flexible, sweat-wicking woven polyester-elastane mix. Unlike the silicone strap that comes with most of the standard Pixel Watch 5 options, the Steph Curry strap is actually comfortable to sweat in.

Not only is the woven material highly breathable, but the strap is also treated with a waterproof coating to further add to the sweat-wicking capabilities.

2. Infinitely adjustable and all-around comfier

Another key reason I prefer the Steph Curry Pixel Watch 5 over the standard version is how the straps attach to your wrist. Google’s standard silicone strap uses a variant of the traditional pin-and-buckle style strap, which relegates you to choosing one of nine tightness options.

The Steph Curry loop, on the other hand, is secured in place via Velcro, giving users a near-infinite degree of adjustability. The underside of the upgraded strap also features raised silicone “ribs” that run parallel along its length.

These help keep the Pixel Watch 5 from moving around on your wrist, even during intense workouts and/or when sweating profusely.

3. It looks cool on the wrist

Last but not least, I prefer the Pixel Watch 5 Steph Curry special edition to the standard model because the strap simply looks a lot snazzier IMHO. I’m a big fan of the black, orange, and rye woven pattern (though a black, green, and rye would be my ultimate choice).

While this may sound superficial, at the end of the day, there’s no benefit in an unworn wearable, even if you own one of the best smartwatches of 2026 (like the Pixel Watch 5). This is to say, an aesthetically pleasing strap, in some ways, is just as important as reliable fitness tracking tech.

What are your thoughts on the Pixel Watch 5 Stephen Curry model? Do you think it’s worth the extra $50? Let me know in the comments below.

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• Fitbit Air (2026) vs Fitbit Flex (2013) — how much has wearable tech actually progressed in 13 years?

When it comes to high-end adventure watches, the Garmin Fenix has been in a league of its own for a while. No other sports watch or smartwatch can match the range and depth of features you get on a Fenix, and the strongest competition to the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro comes from past models of the watch.

The Fenix 9 Pro is the best Garmin watch yet, with upgrades on the Fenix 8 Pro including an all-titanium case and faster maps. These build on the best-in-class sports tracking, training analysis and navigation features you get on the Fenix 9 Pro, which also has some useful smart features and impressive battery life.

I’ve been testing the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro 51mm watch and it’s undoubtedly outstanding, but the high price means that the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, and even the Garmin Fenix 8, look better value to me in sales, especially as many new features on the Fenix 9 Pro are rolling back to those models.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: price and availability

The Garmin Fenix 9 Pro launched in August 2026 alongside the Garmin Fenix 9. There are a lot of different options in the Garmin Fenix 9 line-up, with three sizes and two display types to pick between, along with making the choice between a standard and Pro model of the watch.

For the standard Fenix 9, you’ll pay from $999/£859, whereas the Fenix 9 Pro costs from $1,029/£999, or $1,199/£1,029 if you want a watch with inReach connectivity.

The standard Fenix 9 only comes with an AMOLED display but you can choose from three sizes — 43mm, 47mm and 51mm.

You get the same three sizes options with the AMOLED Fenix 9 Pro, but if you want the Fenix 9 Pro Solar, which has a memory-in-pixel (MIP) screen, you can only pick from 47mm or 51mm sizes.

Along with the option of inReach connectivity, the main upgrades on the Fenix 9 Pro compared to the standard Fenix 9 are an all-titanium case, a brighter display, and a green mode on the built-in flashlight.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: specs compared

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: design and display

I’ve tested every model of the Garmin Fenix since the Fenix 5 Pro, and the Fenix 9 Pro is the best-looking version of the watch yet.

The all-titanium case makes a much bigger difference than I expected when I saw the launch notes on the watch. It doesn’t add weight, but makes the Fenix 9 Pro look and feel more impressive, and boosts its appeal for all-day wear.

I’ve been testing the 51mm Fenix 9 Pro, which has the largest screen on a Garmin watch yet, and the 1.5in AMOLED is very bright and easy to read even at an angle in always-on mode.

It’s interesting that Garmin dropped the MicroLED model from the Fenix line-up, presumably because it required a thicker watch with shorter battery life, but it’s not hugely missed given the quality of the AMOLED screen on the Fenix 9 Pro.

There’s no denying this is a big watch though, and even if you opt for the 43mm or 47mm models of the watch the Fenix is still relatively thick and heavy compared with Garmin’s Forerunner and Venu watches.

Even with my skinny wrists, I did get used to the Fenix 9 Pro 51mm and didn’t mind wearing it all the time, but I prefer the fit and feel of a thinner watch like the Garmin Forerunner 970, which also doesn’t catch on jacket sleeves as often.

There’s a built-in flashlight on top of the watch, which is one of the best features on Garmin watches in my opinion, and something that other brands are starting to introduce.

On top of the white and red modes you get on all Garmin watches with flashlights, the Fenix 9 Pro’s flashlight also has a green option, which can be useful when looking at maps and for certain sports like fishing.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: sports tracking and training analysis

It’s not easy to find ways to upgrade Garmin’s sports features at this point, but there are some new updates on the Fenix 9 Pro, many of which will roll back to older models.

These include upgrades to the rowing support on the watch, with FTP and VO2 max scores for indoor rowing, and the option to add your pack weight when rucking.

You can now also combine multiple activities into a ‘Garmin Epic’, which collates all the data from workouts you select to be included. This can be useful for looking at an entire marathon training block, for example, or for a multi-day hike or ultramarathon.

Garmin has also upgraded the Stamina feature on the watch, which aims to show your energy reserves in real time during activities to help you work out how hard you can push.

I still find this is a hard metric to trust when pushing all-out during races myself, but it can be a useful tool to stop yourself going out too hard at the start of longer events.

These updates build upon what was already an incredible array of sports tracking modes and stats, and the most comprehensive suite of training analysis tools you’ll find on a sports watch.

Along with standard stuff like chronic training load, Garmin has some unique analysis stats, like running tolerance, which gives you a total mileage for the past week of running that takes into account the intensity of your runs, and an overall endurance score.

Not everyone will want or need all of this data, but it’s all there if you do, and Garmin offers more than other sports watches. I’m a fan of its well-established Training Readiness tool as a good way to collate a lot of information into one handy score to judge the state of your body each day.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: GPS and heart rate accuracy

I checked the accuracy of the optical heart rate monitor on the Fenix 9 Pro against a chest strap for a variety of workouts, and checked its GPS tracks after runs, including during a half marathon where it measured just about the exact race distance.

Garmin has changed how it labels its various GPS modes, but the Max Accuracy option is what I used, which uses the most accurate multi-band GPS mode on the watch when required.

I found its GPS accuracy to be more or less spot on during my outdoor activities, and Garmin continues to be as good or better than everyone else in this area in my opinion.

The heart rate accuracy on the Fenix 9 Pro was also very good, matching a chest strap closely on runs and bike rides. The optical sensor is not as good as a chest strap or upper arm band for strength workouts, but even there I saw mostly accurate results.

One challenge for the heart rate accuracy of the watch could be its size if you opt for the 51mm watch, as sometimes I find it hard to get the snug fit required for reliable optical tracking with bigger watches, but I had no notable problems with the Fenix 9 Pro in my testing.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: connectivity

The inReach model of the Fenix 9 Pro offers LTE and satellite connectivity, a feature introduced on the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro.

You need a Garmin subscription to use these services, which costs between $7.99 and $49.99 depending on the level you need, which mostly relates to how many messages you plan to send and calls you might make.

There’s a free trial available of the features, after which you get free SOS messaging for 12 months, but will have to pay for other services.

These connectivity features are one of the main reasons to look at the top Fenix models over older watches, or the Forerunner line-up, and will appeal greatly to those who like to take their adventures off the grid, as well as those who just like to leave their phone behind on a run while staying in touch if required.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: battery life

The battery life of the Fenix 9 Pro varies greatly depending on which size you go for, but if you opt for the largest 51mm watch I tested, it’s incredibly long-lasting.

I had the screen set to always-on and used it for outdoor runs almost every day in the most accurate (and power intensive) GPS setting, and the Fenix 9 Pro 51mm lasted me 10-11 days on a charge.

This can easily be extended by setting the screen to raise to wake, or using the other GPS settings, or if you mainly exercise indoors and don’t use the GPS.

The only AMOLED sports watch I’ve tested that can outdo the Fenix 9 Pro on battery life is the Suunto Vertical 2, though some MIP options like the Garmin Enduro 3 and Coros Vertix 2S will last longer thanks to their less power-hungry displays.

If you opt for the 43mm or 47mm watch the battery life does drop off significantly, and the 43mm watch my colleague Jane McGuire has been testing will have you reaching for a charger every three or four days if you use the always-on screen.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: maps and navigation

A lot of sports watches now offer maps, including on relatively affordable models like the Coros Pace 4, but Garmin’s maps and navigation tools remain the best available.

That’s mainly because its watches have ‘routable’ maps that actually know where you are and can create routes for you on the fly. Other watch brands tend to have non-routable maps that just overlay your trail on an image of the map, which is more than good enough for most occasions, but not quite as handy if you’re out in the wilderness and get lost.

The Fenix 9 Pro has all of Garmin’s usual maps and navigation tools, but adds some upgrades you don’t get on other watches from the brand.

Firstly, the maps load faster when panning and zooming, and your heading updates more quickly too. Secondly, there’s a new perspective viewpoint, which tilts the maps slightly to make it clearer where you are.

These updates are useful, if not necessarily gamechangers. I don’t find that the maps load too slowly for me on other Garmins, but any boost in speed is appreciated, and I do prefer the perspective view.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review: smart features

Along with its connectivity features, the Fenix 9 Pro packs in a lot of useful smart features. It’s not as impressive on this front as true smartwatch like the Apple Watch Ultra 4, but Garmin does offer a lot more smart features than rival sports watches.

You get NFC payments through Garmin Pay, music storage with the ability to link up to several streaming services, including Spotify, for offline playback, and a lot of customization options for your watch face and widgets.

The Garmin Connect IQ app store is not as well-stocked as the App Store or Google Play, but it does contain a lot of watch faces, data fields and other widgets that can improve the experience on the watch.

While it’s still clearly a sports watch over a smartwatch, the Fenix 9 Pro does offer a lot of handy features for day to day use.

Should you buy the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro?

If you simply want the best adventure watch available, regardless of price, then the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro is the watch to go for. The new design is great, its sports and navigation features are as good as it gets, and you can pick a size to suit your wrist and battery life requirements.

However, I’m not sure it’s a big enough update on the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro that I wouldn’t recommend going for the older watch instead, and if you don’t need the connectivity feature on those watches, the Garmin Fenix 8 might be an even better value buy.

Both older models are also regularly on sale, so you could save hundreds of dollars by buying one instead of the Fenix 9 Pro. Certainly if you have one of those watches I don’t see a pressing need to upgrade, but older Fenix owners will really notice the benefits of the newer model.

The Garmin Forerunner 970 also offers most of the same great features, aside from connectivity, in a lighter, slimmer package that I prefer the fit of as a thin-wristed runner.

Outside the Garmin line-up, I think the Apple Watch Ultra 4 offers a strong alternative to the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, providing you’re not put off by its three-day battery life. It has a rugged design, good sports tracking, and LTE and satellite connectivity, and better smart features than the Fenix 9 Pro.

The Fenix is now on a yearly update cycle and Garmin made some big updates to the watch last year by adding LTE and satellite connectivity, so a smaller refresh this year isn’t unexpected.

Next year’s Garmin Fenix 10 might see bigger changes, but right now the Fenix 9 Pro is the best sports watch you can get for outdoor adventures.

"Your heart tells a story of your health, and it’s a story worth hearing," said Apple, as it announced the updated Apple Watch Series 12, with the most accurate heart rate sensor yet. It's not often a tech keynote makes me emotional, but as a health writer, this one did. Maybe I was jet-lagged, or maybe I believe that these huge health updates might make this the best smartwatch on the market.

I spend my days writing about how the best prediction of longevity is how healthy your heart is. With a new heart rate sensor, the Apple Watch Series 12 gives you a heart rate reading every five seconds, 60 times more frequent than the Apple Watch Series 11. This supports HRV readings, a new readiness score that gives you deeper insights into when to push and when to recover, and longevity features in the updated Health app.

The downsides? Everyone I talk to hates the fact that the watch has a built-in microphone for new audio intelligence features coming later this year, but I’ll get into that below. I’ve been wearing it for the past week, and I’m impressed — read my full Apple Watch Series 12 review to find out more.

Apple Watch Series 12: Quick facts

• Same 24-hour battery life: Despite the addition of continuous heart rate monitoring, the Apple Watch Series 12 has the same 24-hour battery life as the Series 11
• New S11 chip: Faster, more efficient processing with support for Siri AI features
• Redesigned holistic sensors: Apple says this is the most accurate heart rate sensor on a wearable; heart rate and HRV are sampled more frequently than before; HRV insights are now more readily displayed in the Health app
• New health metrics: Series 12 supports a new Readiness score and Health Age metric
• Siri AI features: The watch ships with support for Siri AI voice assistance; new "Audio Intelligence" features help you better remember life's important details

Apple Watch Series 12: Specs

Apple Watch Series 12 review: Price and availability

The Apple Watch Series 12 is available for preorder starting September 9, with units expected to arrive on September 18. The Series 12 has the same starting cost as the Series 11 — $399.

In addition to the standard aluminum and upgraded titanium case options, the Apple Watch Series 12 is also available in two ceramic finishes: Pearl White and Night Blue.

See a full breakdown of pricing for all the case options and sizes below:

• Apple Watch Series 12, 42mm, GPS (Aluminum): $399
• Apple Watch Series 12, 42mm, GPS+5G (Aluminum): $499
• Apple Watch Series 12, 46mm, GPS (Aluminum): $449
• Apple Watch Series 12, 46mm, GPS+5G (Aluminum): $549

• Apple Watch Series 12, 42mm, GPS+5G (Titanium): $699
• Apple Watch Series 12, 42mm, GPS+5G (Titanium): $749

• Apple Watch Series 12, 42mm, GPS+5G (Ceramic): $899
• Apple Watch Series 12, 42mm, GPS+5 (Ceramic): $949

Apple Watch Series 12 review: Design and display

Design-wise, the Apple Watch Series 12 looks pretty identical to the Apple Watch Series 11: it comes in two different sizes, 42mm and 46mm, but with the newer watch, there are more color and casing options to choose from. The Apple Watch 11 came in rose gold, silver, space gray, and jet black in an aluminum case, and gold, natural, or slate in titanium. You get more choices with the Apple Watch 12, which comes in dark bronze, light gold, black, and space gray in the aluminum case, radiant gold and natural in the titanium case, and pearl white or night blue in the ceramic case.

I’ve been wearing the 42 mm dark bronze aluminum Apple Watch, and I love how lightweight and comfortable it is on the wrist. In real life, the light gold Apple Watch looks like jewelry, and the ceramic cases really are beautiful.

The biggest difference, design-wise, is on the back of the watch — the heart rate sensor has been completely redesigned, but more on that below. The Apple Watch Series 12 also has that built-in microphone I mentioned above for all of the audio intelligence features coming later this year.

Apple Watch Series review: Health and fitness tracking

There’s no doubt about it: as a fitness tracker, the Apple Watch Series 12 is more accurate than its predecessor, and that’s down to the new heart rate sensor. When looking at the two monitors side-by-side, the Series 12 and Ultra 4 have a “32-petal design,” whereas the 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.

If you’ve ever worn an Apple Watch to bed and woken up in the night to a harsh green glow underneath your wrist, you’ll love this update. That glaring light is finally gone — and so is the feeling that you’re about to be abducted by a UFO.

But more than that, heart rate data lies at the heart of a lot of health features on the Apple Watch, including HRV, workouts, and ovulation prediction, so a better heart rate sensor means the watch is doing all of these, well, better. Apple also said the new heart rate monitor works better on certain skin tones, though it will still likely struggle to read heavily tattooed wrists. Your heart-rate complication can update every five seconds, 60 times more frequently than it did on the Apple Watch Series 11. Inside the Heart Rate app, there's a rolling two-minute chart. And HRV, including overnight and recovery data, is much easier to surface directly from the watch.

Previously, Apple only allowed continuous heart rate monitoring during a workout, so this is a huge step in the right direction. On the Apple Watch Series 12, you’ll be able to see your Recovery HRV score, which shows signs of stress and recovery, as well as your overall HRV, which offers insights into your overall health. You can now see from your wrist if your heart rate suddenly spiked, and through the new daytime Vitals app, you're getting a much more immediate picture of what's happening, rather than having to wait till you’re asleep.

I’ve been testing the new heart rate sensor alongside a Garmin chest strap, and have found the Apple Watch Series 12 to be pretty much spot on. Here’s a graph from my recent run:

The new sensors also feed into the new daily Readiness score, which is only available on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. Readiness provides a single score out of ten with one of four different recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. Readiness updates throughout the day as new data comes in, and is based on your overnight vitals, sleep score, recent physical activity, and training load.

To get a Readiness score, you need to wear the watch for seven nights and get at least four hours of sleep per night. I have done that, but sadly, my Apple Watch 12 got as confused as my internal body clock was on my flight back from Cupertino, and only registered two hours of sleep for my night of travel. I’ll update this review as soon as I get a score.

There are also new changes coming to the Health app later this year, including a new Health Age score that compares your physical fitness to the average for your age range, and a greater emphasis on things like sleep trends, heart data, and longevity metrics. Again, I’ll be testing them as soon as they drop.

One very minor, but exciting update I’ve found during my testing is the Steps watch face compilation you can now get on the Apple Watch 12. Again, Apple isn’t reinventing the wheel, but you can now see your daily step count from your watch face, without the need for any third-party app. Unfortunately for folks with an older Apple Watch, this is a hardware thing, as Apple says it relies on the more accurate S11 chip, so older watches won’t get the updated pedometer.

Apple Watch Series 12 review: Audio Intelligence

Now to address the elephant in the room — the Audio Intelligence features launching on the Series 12 and Ultra 4. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Audio Intelligence features, but in a nutshell, the two features everyone is talking about are Live Rewind and Siri Recap.

Neither are available for me to test just yet; they are coming later in the year, but essentially, Live Rewind allows you to double-click on the Digital Crown of your Apple Watch and get a 15-second recap of what was just said around you. The Watch will play an audible chime even if your watch is on silent and puts a microphone indicator on screen, so people around you will know you’re recording. The example Apple gave was if you’d missed the specials at a restaurant, or missed a colleague's name, you could read it from your watch. I think there’s a compelling reason here, say, if you have ADHD or struggle with auditory processing.

The trickier sell, for me and most people I’ve spoken to, is Siri Recap. This records ambient audio every 15 minutes to create an itemized summary of your day. Yep, you heard that correctly. Apple put a lot of stress on privacy when demoing this new feature — raw audio isn’t saved, uploaded, or retrievable, and Siri Recap doesn’t identify individual speakers. It’s also designed to exclude sensitive information or hate speech.

However, even with these features, there’s still the slightly blurred line around the fact that my conversation could, in theory, appear on someone else’s Siri Recap without my consent to being recorded. Although this isn’t an Apple problem, it’s a living-in-2026 problem, as the same questions are being leveled at the ambient AI, cameras, and microphones in smart glasses and other wearable devices.

Personally, I can’t think of a situation where I’d need a computer to give me a summary of my day, but I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve been able to go hands-on with the features later in the year. I’d also add that these are all features that you have to opt in to — they are automatically disabled when you unbox the watch.

Apple Watch Series 12 review: Battery life

The Apple Watch Series 12 has the same 24 hours of battery life as the Series 11, but Apple has given us faster charging as well as a bunch of new sensors. You can now get up to 80% charge in about 30 minutes, 15 minutes for up to 12 hours of normal use, and 5 minutes for up to 10 hours of sleep tracking.

If, like me, you’re a runner, you will get slightly longer GPS-mode battery life — 10 hours instead of 8 on the Series 11.

I’ve found Apple’s battery life claims to be pretty accurate, and, as someone who frequently forgets to charge her watch before bed, I have definitely noticed how much faster the Series 12 charges.

Apple Watch Series 12 review: Should you buy?

A week later, I can confidently say that it wasn’t just the jet lag making me emotional in the keynote — as someone who writes about health and fitness for a living, this is the best Apple Watch on the market for most people. In fact, it’s the first year since the Ultra launched in 2022 that I’d be torn about which to shop for.

Between the upgraded heart rate sensor, the new Readiness score — because knowing when to rest is just as important as closing your rings — and an actual dedicated step-counting app, this watch completely outclasses the Series 11. I know other brands have been doing all of the above for years, but none of them are also like having an extension of your iPhone on your wrist, and that’s why when Apple does it, it feels different.

Audio Intelligence is the flashy upgrade and Siri Recap is going to generate headlines, but personally, I think it’s the continuous heart-rate sensing and better recovery information that have changed the day-to-day feel of the Apple Watch on my wrist when testing the Series 12. Buy the Ultra 4 if you want 50 hours of battery life, you’re into diving, or you just want to make a statement, but if you’re looking for a smartwatch that’ll help you make actionable changes to your health, the Apple Watch Series 12 is a good place to start.

Apple designed the Ultra for summiting mountains and diving reefs. In reality? Most of us wearing one are weekend warriors chained to a 9-to-5, using an $800 rugged watch to track our steps on our commutes. With the Apple Watch Ultra 4, Apple makes having the watch on your wrist even better, whether you're working out or not.

The big headlines with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 are a new heart rate monitor, a readiness score to help you know when to push and when to rest, two days of battery life for the first time, and new Audio Intelligence features that will come later this year. Physically, it looks the same, but under the hood, this is a smarter watch.

But is it worth the upgrade if you already have the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on your wrist? 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. Read my full Apple Watch Ultra 4 review to find out more.

Apple Watch Ultra 4: Quick facts

• Improved battery life: lasts up to 50 hours per charge compared to 42 hours for the Ultra 3
• New S11 chip: Faster, more efficient processing with support for Siri AI features
• Redesigned holistic sensors: Apple says this is the most accurate heart rate sensor on a wearable; heart rate and HRV are sampled more frequently than before; HRV insights are now more readily displayed in the Health app
• New health metrics: the Ultra 4 supports a new Readiness score and Health Age metric
• Siri AI features: the Ultra 4 ships with support for Siri AI voice assistance; new "Audio Intelligence" features help you better recall life's important details

Apple Watch Ultra 4: Specs

Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: Price and availability

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is available for preorder from September 9, 2026. Units should hit store shelves and your hands starting on September 18.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is $799 / AU$1,349, the same price as the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and prior models.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: Design and display

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 looks physically identical to the Ultra 3, boasting the same dimensions, oversized display with 3,000 nits of max brightness, an all-titanium case, and 100 meters of water resistance. It’s still available in black and natural titanium.

There are slightly more bands to choose from: the Trail Loop is now available in dark umber, sand, and Apple’s color of the year, burgundy. The Alpine Loop comes in desert, dark olive, and also burgundy. Ocean Bands are now made from translucent silicone and come in three new colors: translucent gray, translucent kelp, and translucent black.

The big difference between the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 from a design perspective is when you flip the watch over. The heart rate sensor has been completely redesigned, but more on that below. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 also has a built-in microphone for all of the audio intelligence features coming later this year.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: Health and fitness tracking

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. Apple says it also makes the heart rate monitor more accurate on certain skin tones, although it might still struggle if you have tattoos on your wrist.

I’ve always found the heart rate monitor on my Apple Watch Ultra 3 to be a little sketchy, and while I often put this down to how it sits on my wrist, I was keen to see how things might have changed on the Ultra 4. It’s worth noting that if, like me, you have petite wrists, you’ll need to ensure the Ultra is really tight against your wrist. I’ve found that if my watch strap isn’t tight enough, the watch just doesn’t give me a heart rate reading.

Heart rate data lies at the heart of a lot of health features on the Apple Watch, including HRV, workouts, and ovulation prediction. With the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the new heart rate monitor, along with the S-11 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. Inside the Heart Rate app, there's a rolling two-minute chart.

On the Apple Watch Ultra 4, you’ll be able to see your Recovery HRV score, which shows signs of stress and recovery, as well as your overall HRV, which offers insights into your overall health. You can now see from your wrist if your heart rate suddenly spikes, and through the new daytime Vitals app, you're getting a much more immediate picture of what's happening, rather than having to wait till you’re asleep.

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. Here’s a graph from my recent run:

The new sensors also feed into the new daily Readiness score, which is only available on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. Readiness provides a single score out of ten with one of four different recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. Readiness updates throughout the day as new data comes in, and is based on your overnight vitals, sleep score, recent physical activity, and training load.

To get a Readiness score, you need to wear the watch for seven nights and get at least four hours of sleep per night. While I have done that, my Apple Watch got a little confused by moving time zones, so it only registered two hours of sleep as I travelled back to London from Cupertino. I’ll update this review soon when I’ve had a few days of Readiness scores. I’ll also look at how these scores compare to the likes of Body Battery on Garmin, and the Readiness score on the Oura Ring 5.

Later this year, the Health App will see big changes, including a new Health Age score that compares your physical fitness to the average for your age. There will also be a greater emphasis on things like sleep trends, heart data, and other longevity metrics. Again, I’ll be testing these as soon as they drop, but I’m excited to hear about these updates to make the Health app more useful to users.

Of course, it's worth noting that Apple isn’t reinventing the wheel — Garmin has had a Fitness Age score forever, but wearing a Garmin isn’t like having an extension of your iPhone on your wrist. While these little changes might not sound like a lot, a Readiness score can show you at a glance if you’re overtraining and putting yourself at risk of injury. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or training for your seventh marathon, knowing how well you’re coping with your training is imperative, and Apple makes this easier with the Apple Watch Ultra 4.

Another minor but exciting update I’ve found during my testing is the Steps watch face. At last, you can see your daily step count from your watch face. Sure, steps aren’t the biggest health metric to keep an eye on, but on rest days, I still like to make sure I’m closing my rings and keeping my legs moving. Unfortunately for folks with an older Apple Watch, this is a hardware thing, as Apple says it relies on the more accurate S-11 chip, so older watches won’t get the updated pedometer.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: Audio Intelligence

Now, to address the parts of the watch that are probably going to get headlines — the Audio Intelligence features. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Audio Intelligence features, but in a nutshell, the two features everyone is talking about are Live Rewind and Siri Recap.

Neither is available for me to test just yet; they are coming later in the year, but essentially, Live Rewind allows you to double-click on the Digital Crown of your Apple Watch Ultra 4 and get a 15-second recap of what was just said around you. The Watch will play an audible chime even if your watch is on silent and puts a microphone indicator on screen, so people around you will know you’re recording.

One example is if you’d missed the specials at a restaurant, or missed a colleague's name, you could read it from your watch. I think there’s a compelling reason here, say, if you have ADHD or struggle with auditory processing.

The trickier sell, for me and most people I’ve spoken to, is Siri Recap. This records ambient audio every 15 minutes to create an itemized CliffsNotes of your day. You can set this to record at certain times or locations, say only at work, or only after 6 pm. Apple put a lot of stress on privacy when demoing this new feature — raw audio isn’t saved, uploaded, or retrievable, and Siri Recap doesn’t identify individual speakers. It’s also designed to exclude sensitive information or hate speech.

Even with these features, there’s still the slightly blurred line around the fact that other people’s snippets of conversation could appear in my Siri Recap, without them knowing they were being recorded. This isn’t a problem Apple faces alone — the same questions can be leveled at the ambient AI, cameras, and microphones in smart glasses and other wearable devices.

Personally, I don’t think I’d ever want my watch to be silently recording in the background, but I’ll reserve judgment until I go hands-on with the features later this year. It’s also worth noting that all of these features you’ll have to opt in to — they are automatically disabled when you unbox the watch.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: Battery life

Even with continuous heart rate monitoring every five seconds, Apple has improved the battery life on the Apple Watch Ultra 4. You’re now getting more than two days of battery life in smartwatch mode, with 50 hours of battery life, up from 42 hours of battery life in the Ultra 3. In low power mode, you’ll get 84 hours of battery life in the Apple Watch Ultra 4, compared to 72 hours in the Ultra 3.

In workout tracking, the battery is better on the Ultra 4 too. You’ll get 25 hours of battery life for tracking workouts with full GPS and heart rate tracking. This is up from 20 hours on the Ultra 3. There’s also a Max Extended Workout mode that allows the Apple Watch Ultra 4 to track outdoor runs, walks, and hikes for up to 45 hours.

I’ve found these numbers to be pretty accurate. 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.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: Should you buy?

This is, without question, the best Apple Watch Ultra yet. Sure, there are still things missing: I’d love a built-in LED flashlight or a second size option for smaller wrists, but the health improvements made to this watch with the continuous heart rate sensing and recovery information help you train smarter. Little things like a Readiness score and Daytime Vitals help me see, at a glance, how much my long run has impacted my body.

Would I upgrade if I had an Apple Watch Ultra 3 on my wrist? I’m not sure, as the heart rate monitoring isn’t bad on the older watch, but if you’re wearing an older Ultra, you want longer battery life, or you’re intrigued by the Audio Intelligence features, this is a watch worth buying.

If you’re on a budget, I’ve also been wearing the Apple Watch Series 12, which is similarly excellent and has all the same sensors and features as the Ultra 4. It’s also smaller, lighter, and more comfortable to wear for 24/7 sleep tracking.

With the Apple Watch Ultra 4, you’re getting Apple’s extreme durability, the best battery life on an Apple Watch, and that all-important Action Button, which really does make using your watch with sweaty fingers better, along with the native recovery metrics long requested by serious athletes. This stands out as Apple’s most competitive endurance wearable to date.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra series is Samsung's answer to the rugged, outdoor adventure-ready Apple Watch Ultra series, and the latest model, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, makes a strong case for being the best tough-built, full-featured smartwatch on the market today.

Two years after the launch of the original ultra-rugged Samsung Galaxy Watch, the new model adds better battery life, tons of new health and fitness insights, a brighter screen, and improved water resistance, all in a familiar design.

But can the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 actually keep up with the latest Apple Watch Ultra 4 and/or the best Garmin watches when it comes to logging adrenaline-pumping activities like mountain bike rides, hikes, and more? I decided to find out by wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for two weeks. Here's what I discovered.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Key upgrades

But first, here’s a cheat sheet to all the most notable Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 stats and upgrades.

• Price: At $699, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is $50 more than its predecessor, which launched two years ago, but still $100 less than its nearest competitor, the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
• Design: The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a tiny bit thinner than the original Galaxy Watch Ultra, but you may not notice the difference; the dimensions and weight are nearly identical to the original model
• Screen: Maximum screen brightness has been bumped up from 4,000 nits to 5,000 nits, making it remarkably visible in direct sunlight
• Health features: New 'Vitals' dashboard with key metrics including heart rate, HRV, Sp02, body temp, and breath rate in one place; new 'Heart Health' score
• Fitness features: New Cardio Load insights, new Fitness Index score out of 100 based on factors like daily step count average, V02 Max, average heart rate, BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), and average workout recovery time
• Battery life: 800 mAh battery is the largest in an Android wearable and a 35% capacity increase over the original Galaxy Watch Ultra; battery life usage averages ~25% drain per day in testing so far

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Versus competition

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 value: 3/5

• At $699, the Ultra 2 is $50 more than its predecessor but still $100 cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra 4
• The more affordable Galaxy Watch 9 offers most of the same features as the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, starting at $379

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is priced at $699, a modest $50 increase over the launch price of its two-year-old predecessor. More notably, it's a hundred bucks cheaper than the latest Apple Watch Ultra 4, its nearest non-Android competitor.

Meanwhile, the latest Galaxy Watch 9 models —which share pretty much all the same features, just in a less beefy package — range from $379 to $459.

The $699 Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is available now in stores and online.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 display: 4.5/5

• The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has one of the largest, brightest displays in any full-featured smartwatch
• Max brightness is 5,000 nits, making the Ultra 2 a breeze to read in direct sunlight

The new Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 sports a sizable 1.52-inch display that maxes out at an impressive 5,000 nits, making it one of the brightest displays in any full-featured wearable, including 2026's best smartwatches.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4, by comparison, also features a large, lovely display, but it only maxes out at 3,000 nits. Real-world translation: the new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a lot easier to read in bright sunlight than the newest Apple Watch Ultra.

I also wore both the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Garmin Instinct 3 — my go-to GPS sports watch — while e-mountain biking and also found the former more legible while on the move.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 design and durability: 4/5

• Unlike its predecessor, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is now officially scuba dive-certified
• The case is a little slimmer than before, but you might not notice; ultimately, the Galaxy Watch Ultra feels pretty chunky on my 6.5-inch wrist
• The included strap is softer and more flexible than the strap for the original model

The original Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra promises 100 meters of water resistance, but unlike its Apple Watch Ultra counterpart, Samsung's rugged model wasn't intended for use while diving or even snorkeling.

Samsung no doubt caught some flak for this shortcoming. Thankfully, the new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is thoroughly dive-ready. In fact, Samsung partnered with the industry-trusted Mares diving app to turn the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 into a fully-fledged dive computer, complete with speed monitoring and safety-stop alerts. The app costs $8.99 a month or $69.99 for the year.

The Ultra 2 is rated for 100 meters of water resistance and is EN13319-certified for scuba diving and IP69K-certified against dust and moisture.

Design-wise, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 looks nearly identical to its predecessor, with close-to-the-same dimensions and weight. That said, Samsung technically shaved 2mm off the case thickness, but I hardly noticed it. The case still feels very large on my 6.5-inch wrist.

There are three physical buttons along one side of the case; the center "Action" button can be customized to perform one of eight actions. I set it up to start a workout.

One less obvious but definitely welcome design change is the inclusion of a softer, more flexible strap. Also, the Ultra 2 uses the same attachment system as its predecessor, so if you prefer the older version, you can easily swap it onto the newer model.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Health tools: 4.5/5

• New Vitals tab in Samsung Health app provides useful insights into long-term health and fitness trends
• Comprehensive sleep tracking reports on par with the best smartwatches
• None of Samsung's holistic features are paywalled, unlike Google and Garmin
• New Heart Health score for monitoring cardiovascular wellness

Similar to the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 ships fully-loaded with all sorts of new health and fitness insights.

These features include a new Vitals dashboard in the Samsung Health app for viewing your most important up-to-the-minute health stats in one place, a new Cardio Load score to track your heart health, and a new Fitness Index score that compares your overall physical health to averages for your age and gender.

The Vitals tab shows your current heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen saturation percentage (Sp02), body temperature, and breathing rate.

The new Heart Health score ranges from one to 100, with the upper end being better. This metric updates dynamically throughout the day, keeping users appraised of how their everyday decisions may be impacting cardiovascular health for better or worse.

Fitness Index, meanwhile, factors in loads of fitness and wellness metrics to figure out how your overall health compares to your peers in five key categories: strength, cardio, endurance, flexibility, and body composition. You also get a dynamic score from one to 100 (mine is currently 82, or "average").

Samsung's smartwatches deliver some of the most detailed and actionable sleep reports of any smartwatch brand, and even though there aren't any shiny new features, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a mighty fine sleep tracker. That is, assuming you can get over wearing something so chunky to bed.

Like its predecessor, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is FDA-cleared for sleep apnea detection, something that can't be said for the newest Google Pixel Watch models.

Also, unlike some of the competition — cough, cough, Google and Garmin — Samsung doesn't make you pay a monthly or annual subscription to access the full suite of health insights, including AI-powered personalized training and recovery recommendations.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 fitness tracking: 3/5

• Reliable heart rate tracking
• Nearly as reliable at logging workouts as the best outdoor adventure watches, with one exception...
• The Ultra 2 tends to overinflate the 'Climb' metric when logging walks, runs, bike rides, and hikes
• Lacks tracking modes for some of the more nuanced yet popular outdoor activities like mountain biking and e-biking

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is rightfully billed as a smartwatch for outdoor enthusiasts and lovers of extreme-style sports. However, I found two shortcomings in my testing.

First, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 sometimes struggles to accurately track elevation gain when logging an outdoor workout, with a tendency to noticeably inflate climb data. I encountered this when testing the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 vs. Garmin Instinct 3 while city cycling in hilly Seattle, Washington, and again when I went e-mountain biking in Washington State's Cougar Country.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 performed extremely well in a head-to-head walk test comparison versus the Apple Watch Ultra 3. However, it once again delivered highly inflated elevation data when I hiked the Cascade Mountains with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 vs. Garmin Instinct 3 vs. Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Elevation tracking aside, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 largely performs as well as the best smartwatches and fitness trackers when it comes to reliably logging both moving and stationary workouts. Ultimately, as long as you wear the device tight enough, heart rate data should also be highly accurate.

My other criticism of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, which, again, is sold as an outdoor adventure-ready smartwatch, is a lack of tracking modes for popular activities, like mountain biking and e-biking.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 AI features: 3.5/5

• Google's useful Gemini AI voice assistant is built-in and can be launched via a handy, new 'Raise to talk' gesture control

In addition to AI playing a part in some of Samsung's flagship new health features, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 ships with Google's Gemini AI voice assistant built-in. It's the best smartwatch voice assistant I've tested so far, though that may change after I thoroughly test the latest Siri AI on the Apple Watch Series 12.

With access granted to apps like Gmail and Google Calendar, the Gemini assistant is more than capable of answering super-specific questions like, "When did my sister say her flight is landing next week?" as well as more generic ones like "What's the cheapest, easiest way to soften a stiff T-shirt?"

Better yet, you can launch the Gemini assistant using the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 by simply raising your wrist (you will need to first turn it on in the settings menu). Samsung's "Raise to talk" gesture control is remarkably effective, on par with Google's version for the Pixel Watch 4 and 5.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 battery: 4.5/5

• The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 exceeded its 60-hour-per-charge battery life rating in testing, lasting closer to 72 hours per charge with the always-on display enabled
• This makes it one of the longest-lasting full-featured smartwatches for Android in 2026 and longer-lasting than the latest Apple Watch Ultra 4

Not only did Samsung equip the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 with a higher-capacity battery — 590 mAh for the old model vs. 800 mAh for the new one — but the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is also more power-efficient than its predecessor, despite a brighter display.

The original Galaxy Watch Ultra had a battery life rating of 48 hours per charge, a claim we verified in our testing. The new model is rated to last up to 60 hours per charge, but in my testing, it comfortably surpassed that, cruising for closer to 72 hours per charge.

By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 gets 40 hours per charge at best (44mm). Meanwhile, the latest Apple Watch Ultra 4, the nearest competitor to the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, lasts for about 50 hours per charge.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 review: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a meaningful update to the original Galaxy Watch Ultra. The newer model is even tougher, with legit scuba-diving-ready specs and features, longer-lasting, with up to three days of battery per charge, and ever-so-slightly more comfortable thanks to a thinner case and a softer, more flexible strap.

The screen brightness has also been increased, giving the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 the brightest display in any full-featured smartwatch for Android. Plus, new health and fitness tracking metrics help to bring long-term holistic trends into sharper focus.

As an outdoor adventure watch, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 proved mighty capable, with one exception: faulty elevation data. However, I'm hoping this is just a minor hiccup that will eventually be fixed with future firmware.

Ultimately, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a tougher, smarter, longer-lasting take on what was already one of the best Android smartwatches ever made. That, I think, is worth the $50 price increase.

At last, an AI-powered version of Apple's Siri voice assistant is available for the Apple Watch thanks to the public release of watchOS 27, the newest Apple Watch software.

In my experience so far, Siri AI is more natural in its tone, making conversing less awkward. More importantly, the feature is much better at answering complex, context-based questions with a reasonable degree of reliability.

Here's how to load Siri AI on your Apple Watch and add a dedicated Siri AI widget to your watch face in seven easy steps. Plus, a list of eligible models.

How to enable Siri AI on your Apple Watch

1. Make sure your Apple Watch and iPhone are compatible with Siri AI
2. Update your phone to iOS 27; update your Apple Watch to watchOS 27
3. Turn on Siri in your phone’s settings and join the Siri beta waitlist
4. Turn on Siri in your Apple Watch’s settings
5. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap Display and Brightness > Face Gallery
6. Tap “New Watch Faces” and/or search for the “Siri Modular” face
7. Customize the Siri Modular face to your liking and tap “Add to Watch” when finished

Read on to see full illustrated instructions for each step.

And there you have it. Siri AI is now enabled on your Apple Watch, and the Siri AI assistant app is now fixed on your watch face for easy access. Of course, you can also open Siri by double-tapping the Digital Crown or using a gesture control like wrist raise.

Siri AI is still in beta, so your experience with the AI assistant might not be as smooth as the final product. Moreover, getting off the Siri AI beta waitlist can take anywhere from a few minutes or hours to several days. So, be patient.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• I’ve been writing about the Apple Watch for the past decade: Here’s the rumored update I’m most excited about for the Apple Watch Ultra 4

The Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Garmin Forerunner 970 sit at the top of their respective trees within the Garmin line-up, and both are among the best sports watches available.

They’re pitched at slightly different athletes, with the Forerunner 970 being a lightweight, slim watch built for the keenest runners and triathletes, while the all-metal Fenix 9 Pro is aimed at adventurers, offering epic battery life, LTE and satellite connectivity.

However, they do share a lot of features, even including some of the new ones introduced with the Fenix 9 Pro that will roll back to the Forerunner 970, and many people will be picking between the two when buying one of the best Garmin watches.

I’ve worn the Garmin Forerunner 970 for over a year myself and have had the Fenix 9 Pro strapped on for a few weeks since its launch, and I tested the two head-to-head at a half marathon.

Here’s my full Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970 comparison, looking at price, accuracy, design, battery life and other key differences between the pair.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Price

The Garmin Forerunner 970 has been out for over a year, which means you can often find it for less than its full price of $749. It comes in one size and three colors, keeping things nice and simple compared with the sprawling Fenix 9 line-up.

I’m testing the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro 51mm AMOLED with inReach, which costs $1,299, but you have three sizes and two display options to pick from with the Fenix 9.

The standard Garmin Fenix 9 starts at $999, whereas the Fenix 9 Pro starts at $1,099. The Pro has an all-titanium case, the option to add inReach connectivity, plus a choice of an AMOLED or MIP display.

Whatever version of the Fenix 9 you go for, it’s going to be considerably more expensive than the Forerunner 970.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Specs

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Design and display

The two watches share a lot of common design features, including a sapphire crystal screen, built-in flashlight, five buttons, and Garmin’s Elevate v5 heart rate sensors.

For me, the key difference is certainly the size and weight. The Forerunner 970 is slimmer and lighter than any Fenix model, especially the 51mm model of the Fenix I’m testing.

Having three options of the Fenix 9 to pick from is an advantage, though, with the 43mm model perhaps a little more suitable for thin wrists than the 47mm Forerunner 970, though the latter is still lighter and thinner.

The Forerunner 970 has a titanium bezel but is mostly made from plastic, whereas the Fenix 9 Pro has a full titanium case, which gives it a premium look and feel that’s a little less sporty.

You also get a higher water resistance rating with the Fenix 9, which is diveproof to 40m and has a 10 ATM rating compared to 5 ATM for the Forerunner 970.

Other differences to note are that the Fenix 9 has a brighter display than the Forerunner 970, though this was rarely something I noticed when using both watches, and the flashlight on the Fenix 9 Pro has a green option, which you don’t get on the cheaper Fenix 9 or Forerunner 970.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: GPS and heart rate accuracy

My testing of the accuracy of the watches extends well beyond the half marathon I ran wearing both, but it was representative of the results I’ve had with them, in that both were very accurate in the race.

The GPS tracks were nearly identical when I checked them after the event, and both watches measured almost the exact half marathon distance of 13.1094 miles.

This was a measured course for my local county’s championship race, and I was able to run the most direct line almost the entire time, so I expected the watches to be very close to the official distance, and they were.

Things were similarly impressive with regard to heart rate, which I checked by comparing the watches’ measurements with a Garmin HRM 600 chest strap.

Aside from the Fenix 9 Pro having a short, erroneous spike near the start of the race, both watches matched the readings from the chest strap beat for beat throughout.

I have run thousands of miles with the Garmin Forerunner 970 and have racked up almost 200 miles with the Fenix 9 Pro so far, as well as doing a lot of other workouts with the watches, and they have been consistently excellent for both GPS and heart rate accuracy.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Battery life

Battery life is an area where the Fenix 9 Pro outdoes the Forerunner 970, especially with the largest 51mm model.

The Forerunner 970 generally lasts me four or five days on a charge with the screen always on, running outdoors every day, whereas the Feinx 9 Pro 51mm has been lasting me 10 or 11 days with the same use.

It’s closer when comparing the 47mm Fenix 9 to the Forerunner 970, but the Fenix is listed as lasting longer in watch and GPS modes. However, if you opt for the smaller 43mm Fenix 9, the Forerunner 970 will outlast it.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Connectivity

The inReach models of the Fenix 9 Pro offer LTE and satellite connectivity, which allow you to stay in touch with the world without carrying your phone, even when you’re in the wilderness and outside cellular coverage.

This is one of the biggest extra features you get on the Fenix 9 Pro compared with the Forerunner 970, and it will be a huge draw to the most adventurous athletes in particular.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Maps

Both watches offer Garmin’s routable maps and navigation tools, which are the best in the business, but the Fenix 9 Pro has a couple of small upgrades in this area that won’t be coming to the Forerunner 970.

The first is simply that the maps load a little faster when panning and zooming, and the second is the new perspective view you can use on the Fenix 9, which tilts the map slightly in line with your perspective.

Both upgrades are welcome, but I wouldn’t classify them as dealbreakers when picking between the two watches myself.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro vs Garmin Forerunner 970: Which should you buy?

The Garmin Forerunner 970 remains my favorite sports watch overall, and I’d pick it over the Fenix 9 Pro because of its lighter, slimmer design and the fact that it’s a lot cheaper.

However, this is also because none of the feature upgrades you get on the Fenix 9 Pro are absolutely essential for me — if you need the extra connectivity in particular, then paying more for a Fenix will be worthwhile.

The design of the Fenix 9 Pro will also appeal to a lot of people. The all-metal design is gorgeous and means the watch is a better fit for smart settings than the sportier Forerunner 970.

On accuracy and key sports and navigation features, however, the two watches are pretty much a wash based on my testing, and clearly two of the best options on the market from any brand.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• Apple Watch 11 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3 — which one should you buy?
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)

There’s a bit of a revolution happening in the wearable space right now because many of us realize we don’t want yet another screen vying for our attention. But we still need to know our metrics. That’s why the likes of the Oura Ring 5, Garmin Cirqa, or Whoop 5.0 have surged in popularity, and we get constant questions about which is the right one to buy.

Casting the longest shadow, though, is the Fitbit Air, which was released for $99 / £84 and scored 4 stars when my colleague Jane reviewed it in March.

The Fitbit Air is a simple, discreet tracker with no screen and no subscription, and it allows you to go about your routine and almost forget you’re wearing it. Of course, if you’re training for an Ironman, you need something a little more hardcore, but for the vast majority of us, the Fitbit Air feels like the right device at the right time. But the fact is, we’ve been here before.

Back in 2013, Fitbit was an up-and-coming wearable tech company that had yet to be swallowed up by the Google Empire. It made its name with the Fitbit Flex, a $99 wrist-worn pedometer and sleep tracker that landed alongside the likes of the Jawbone Up and Nike Fuelband as a way for people to track progress toward their 10,000 steps per day.

I had one of those trackers back in the day, and after a recent clear-out at home, I not only found it — but discovered it still held a charge. Earlier this year, my colleague Dan Bracaglia matched a 5-year-old Fitbit vs Apple Watch Series 11 on a 5,500-step walk to find out if your old fitness tracker is still good enough. So I decided to go one better and see how a 13-year-old fitness tracker holds up to Fitbit’s 2026 breakout success.

I wore both trackers on my wrist for a day and a night and took their readings on steps and sleep. Back in 2013, the Flex couldn’t measure anything else. But even after all this time, the results from the two devices on those two metrics were pretty close:

I continued to wear the two devices alongside each other on my wrist for a couple of days. I would have gone longer, but the brittle rubber strap of the Flex embarrassingly broke as I went to shake someone’s hand. Even so, after spending some time with my fitness tracker of yesteryear, I’ve come to some conclusions about just how good the Fitbit Air is.

Fitbit Air vs Fitbit Flex: All the improvements for the same $99 price

It's kind of incredible to think the Fitbit Flex launched with a $99 / £79 price back in the day, and now the Fitbit Air is here for that same $99. In the U.K., where I live, the £79 has ballooned to £84, but you can’t win ‘em all.

For that same price, 13 years later, instead of just getting steps and sleep, you now get heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature, a sleep and readiness score as well as workout tracking and — if you want to pay for it — a full AI coach sitting inside the Google Health app.

The improvements don’t just stop at the hardware: Google’s Fitbit Air woven loop is a breathable fabric strap that’s 10 times more comfortable than the bulky rubber strap the Fitbit Flex arrived with. And the Air will go for seven days without charge, while the Flex only manages five. After more than a decade in storage, my model lasted a little over two days before needing to be recharged.

Lastly, the fact that the Air will automatically track when you fall asleep or start a workout is a huge improvement. On the Flex, you had to remember to tap it firmly to put it in sleep mode, and it had no workout option. I remember missing many nights of sleep because I forgot to put my tracker into sleep mode before my head hit the pillow.

One thing I do like about the Flex is the little row of blinking LEDs that gives you some idea of your step progress. The Air is completely screen-free, but in a roundabout way, this might not be the panacea you think it is. If you want to see how you’re tracking against a goal, you need to pull out your phone and look — which ironically makes it all too easy to spiral into a screen-time rabbit hole if you’re not careful.

Fitbit Air vs Fitbit Flex: Step counting vs true health tracking

It was a simpler time back in 2013; all we really wanted to know was if we could hit 10,000 steps a day. Now we know that metrics aren’t as important as we thought they were, and the goal is overall holistic wellness.

That’s why the Air is powered by Gemini and can automatically provide you with a detailed sleep summary every morning or give you a cardio load score — which measures the strain on your system when you’re exercising.

But this is where we run into some of the Air’s downsides. There’s no onboard GPS for location data or altimeter for elevation insights. So if you want to go for a run or a cycle, you’ll need to bring a paired smartphone along with you.

It’s still better than what we had in 2013, though, as the Fitbit Air automatically tracks a small selection of workout types, including walks, bike rides, "sports," and other activities. It does so whether you carry your paired phone or not, but there's a catch. For an activity to be auto-logged, you have to do it for at least 15 consecutive minutes.

Also, as mentioned, to get the most from the tracker, you need to pay for the Google Health Premium subscription to unlock personalized AI-backed health and fitness insights, along with deeper dives into your holistic trends. That will cost you $9.99 a month or $99 a year.

Fitbit Air vs Fitbit Flex: Last band standing

The point of this little experiment — beyond the novelty of finding an old piece of tech that still works — is the amount of value the Fitbit Air brings to the table as a tracker in 2026. If you’re a more established athlete and training toward a goal, I would personally recommend one of the best Garmin smartwatches or the best Apple Watches over the Fitbit Air.

But for those of us who want to keep an eye on our activity without it being intrusive — just like back in the day — the Air is hard to beat. And while the RAM crisis is pushing up prices across the board, I was struck by how much more Google can offer with the Air for the same price as its predecessor was over a decade ago.

There are still some niggles, like having a proprietary charging port so you can’t charge either the Flex or the Air with a generic USB-C cable, but I know that’s due to the waterproofing requirements. Overall, despite initially thinking I was done with Fitbit after 10 years, the simplicity and comfort of the Air have pulled me right back into it.

More from Tom's Guide

• The best Fitbit trackers we've tested
• I spent two weeks with the $99 Fitbit Air
• Exclusive: Google design director says Fitbit Air reception proves they 'made the right decision'

Apple’s latest watchOS 27 software is officially out and available for free download, as long as you have a compatible Apple Watch (more on that below). The new operating system adds all sorts of new health and fitness features, AI tools, and usability improvements.

I’ve been exploring watchOS 27 all day — loaded up on my Apple Watch Series 11 — and it’s a modest yet welcome improvement to watchOS 26. That said, there is one notable downside to upgrading.

Read on for everything you need to know about watchOS 27, including compatible models, installation steps, the seven coolest new features to try first, and more.

Which Apple Watches support watchOS 27?

Apple is generally pretty good about supporting older Apple Watch models with new software. Unfortunately, this time around, the list of models compatible with watchOS 27 is frustratingly short. It includes the latest Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 (duh), along with:

• Apple Watch SE 3
• Apple Watch Series 9
• Apple Watch Series 10
• Apple Watch Series 11
• Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Apple Watch Ultra 3

Most notably missing from the list is 2022’s original Apple Watch Ultra model

How to update to watchOS 27

To update your Apple Watch to watchOS 27, you’ll first need to update your paired iPhone to the latest iOS 27 software. After that, navigate to the Settings menu, either on your Apple Watch or via the Watch app for iPhone, and open General> Software Update.

You might need to reload the update screen a few times by swiping down, but an option to download the latest watchOS 27 should eventually appear. When it does, tap Download, punch in your passcode if prompted, accept the TOS, and wait…

Depending on your internet connection, the whole installation process could take up to several hours. One more thing: Ensure your Apple Watch is on its charger during the update process and keep your paired phone close.

7 new watchOS 27 feature to try first on Apple Watch

With watchOS 27 up and running on your Apple Watch, now it's time for the fun part: exploring all the cool new features. Here's what I recommend checking out first.

1. Siri AI with dedicated Siri app

Ladies and gentlemen, a true-blue AI-powered Siri is finally available on the Apple Watch. With watchOS 27, your Apple Watch now has a dedicated Siri AI app that supports a more conversational style of interaction. The voice is also more natural and expressive, making interactions feel less awkward.

Perhaps most importantly, Siri is now actually good at answering even complex, context-based questions. The question is, can Apple's on-wrist Siri AI compete with Google Gemini AI voice assistant (as found on the latest Pixel Watch 5)? I look forward to testing both head-to-head in a coming article.

2. The Dynamic App Grid

Meet your new default home screen, the Dynamic App Grid. When you press the Digital Crown once, your Apple Watch will automatically display your five most frequently used and/or relevant apps, saving you the effort of scrolling around. As the name suggests, these update dynamically throughout the day.

But what if the app you want isn't one of those five? Simply swipe down/scroll to view the full app view.

3. New Siri Modular watch face

Apple's latest Siri Modular watch face is a personal favorite. Highly customizable, it automatically displays a complication for quick access to the most recently used widget in your Smart Stack. Best of all, this complication also updates dynamically. The new watch face additionally offers a complication to open the Siri app with a tap.

Of course, users can further customize the appearance of the Siri Modular watch face to their heart's delight with the complications and time format of their choosing.

4. Single-tap gesture control to open Smart Stack

The latest watchOS 27 introduces a handy new way to open the Apple Watch's Smart Stack and select one of the dynamic widgets: The Single Tap gesture control. Apple launched the Double Tap gesture in 2026, where users press their index finger and thumb together twice on their watch-worn hand to perform an action, like answering a call.

The new Single Tap gesture works exactly the same way, minus the second tap.

5. Call Context and Smart Stack suggestions

Apple's AI-powered Siri shows up in more places than just the dedicated Siri app. For instance, two new features, Call Context and Smart Stack suggestions, use Siri to automatically surface relevant information on the watch display when it might be useful.

The Call Context feature is designed to display relevant details when brought up during a phone call. For example, if I casually mention an upcoming flight while chatting with my mom, Call Context should then show my itinerary on the Apple Watch screen for me to reference (stay tuned for testing).

Smart Suggestions, meanwhile, generates reminders in your Smart Stack for things you might otherwise overlook/miss, like a friend's birthday, a low balance on a transit card, changes to an upcoming flight departure, and more.

6. New Find My app

One of my favorite watchOS 27 improvements is the updated Find My app, where people, objects, and devices are all consolidated into one easy-to-navigate map view.

I love to travel and use AirTags to keep tabs on all my luggage and bags. Now, instead of having to pull out my phone to make sure that my suitcase actually made it back home to Seattle and isn't still chilling in Amsterdam, I simply need to tap on my Apple Watch a few times and glance down at my wrist.

7. Improved indoor workout tracking

Last but not least, workout tracking accuracy for indoor activities like walking and running should be improved with the latest watchOS 27 release. While I'm not much of a treadmill guy — I prefer to walk and run outdoors, weather be damned — you can count on us fully testing these claims in the coming weeks.

As a big fan of Apple's overall approach to on-wrist fitness tracking, any accuracy improvements are welcomed with open arms.

Now, if only Apple would provide individual step counts for logged workouts...

watchOS 27: Goodbye Walkie-talkie app

With the good comes the bad. While watchOS 27 is brimming with a lot of cool, new features and design improvements, Apple sadly killed off one fan-favorite app in the latest release: the Walkie-Talkie app for Apple Watch.

What are your thoughts on the new watchOS 27 software, and what features are you most excited to try? Let me know in the comments below.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• I’ve been writing about the Apple Watch for the past decade: Here’s the rumored update I’m most excited about for the Apple Watch Ultra 4

Like many female runners, I tend to avoid running in the dark, especially at 5 am. Yet, unlike a lot of tech journalists, I found myself needing to sneak in a marathon training session before Apple’s keynote last week. As I woke up at 5 am to meet a fellow running-mad colleague, I noticed one pretty key feature missing from the Apple Watch Ultra 4 — a flashlight.

Sure, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 has a flashlight that’ll allow you to stumble to the bathroom in the dark or plug your charger in without waking anyone else up, but unlike my friend’s Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, it’s not all that helpful in workout modes.

There’s one key difference between the flashlights on the two watches — the Apple Watch Ultra 4, like the Apple Watch Ultra 3 I had on my wrist, only lights up the screen. The Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, on the other hand, has a dedicated physical LED flashlight built into the watch housing. This was amazingly effective when lighting our way in the pitch-black on the San Francisco Bay Trail.

In an attempt to add to our visibility, I switched the flashlight on, but it wasn’t all that helpful, and unlike my colleague’s Garmin, I couldn't see my workout stats with the flashlight on.

Of course, this isn’t a problem I’ll encounter all that often, but it is one worth mentioning if you are deciding between the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro for an outdoor adventure. While the Apple Watch Ultra 4 offers far greater smartwatch capabilities, if you find yourself, like I did, training in the dark, you’ll probably want the Fenix 9 (or the Fenix 8, Epix Pro, or Forerunner 970) on your wrist.

More from Tom's Guide

• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• Apple Watch Series 12 hands-on: A new heart rate sensor and a readiness score (at last)
• Apple Watch Ultra 4 is official: All the upgrades explained

If you’re like me and sometimes struggle to remember names and other small bits of information on the fly, despite your best attempts, this article is for you.

At best, this shortcoming can lead to awkwardness; at worst, utter embarrassment. But what if some magical bit of tech solved this issue once and for all? Enter: Apple’s new Live Rewind feature for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4.

I’ve long dreamed of being important/wealthy enough to have a team of assistants that follow me around, whispering crucial details in my ear before I need them… like names of acquaintances. Unfortunately, rather than pursuing a career in politics or entertainment, my calling was journalism, an occupation where you’re very much your own assistant (and editor, photographer, etc.).

No worries; Apple has my back. Here’s why I’m super-excited to try out the Live Rewind Audio Intelligence feature on the new Apple Watch 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4.

At last, a smartwatch feature for the short-term memory-challenged

The whole concept behind Live Rewind is to allow users to easily and discreetly relisten to short snippets of conversations they may have missed, immediately after-the-fact. When active, Live Rewind continuously records the past 15 seconds of ambient sound from your wrist.

When you want to rewind and listen in on something that was just said, you simply need to double-tap the digital crown and hold your smartwatch to your ear (or simply listen if you’re wearing paired Bluetooth headphones).

Not only do I see this feature being useful when meeting new people and trying to remember names, but also in the presence of fast-talking servers at restaurants, when asking for directions from strangers, or when trying to recall book/movie/TV recommendations from friends.

How does Live Rewind actually work?

How exactly does Live Rewind on the Apple Watch work? The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 sport an upgraded S11 processor, which unlocks the ability to continually buffer up to 15 seconds of audio capture, day and night.

In addition to being able to play back 15 seconds of audio at a moment’s notice, the feature can generate a transcription of the audio — something I appreciate as a visual learner — as well. Users can even save said transcription for later.

Privacy isn’t an afterthought

The idea of having your smartwatch continuously record your surroundings 24/7 might seem a bit unsettling, and frankly, it is. However, Cupertino has put several actions in place to guarantee the privacy of anyone recorded by the latest Audio Intelligence tools.

For starters, the latest Apple Watches don’t actually save any audio files, on the device or in the cloud. Every 15 seconds of buffered audio is continuously replaced by new audio. Furthermore, the feature never identifies individual speakers (for better or worse). Finally, all the data used for this feature is encrypted end-to-end.

So, what are your thoughts on Apple’s new Live Rewind feature for the Apple Watch 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4? Is this something you might benefit from? Do you have any hesitations? Let me know in the comments.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• I’ve been writing about the Apple Watch for the past decade: Here’s the rumored update I’m most excited about for the Apple Watch Ultra 4

One of my favorite aspects of being a technology journalist is getting to cover the debut of exciting new products at events like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, and most recently the Internationale Funkausstellung show, aka Innovation for All (IFA) in Berlin.

With no shortage of ground to cover at each of these tech conferences, I’ve made a habit of treating each day as a marathon of sorts, tracking my stats via one of the best fitness trackers or top smartwatches I can find.

For IFA 2026, I opted to log my efforts using the new Garmin Cirqa, a screen-free tracker that’s comfortable, long-lasting, and discreet. Ultimately, it proved to be a competent wearable for the task, with one notable exception (more on that below).

With that said, here are the five biggest takeaways from logging my steps at IFA 2026 on the Garmin Cirqa.

I logged 28k steps at IFA in Berlin on the Garmin Cirqa

1. I covered way more ground than expected, especially on day 1

Much to my surprise, I walked nearly 18,000 steps on my first day of IFA, which was technically a day before the show opened to the public (the press tends to get early access).

To be fair, the Berlin Messe is an absolutely sprawling conference complex, with no shortage of seemingly secret passages and tucked-away halls that are easy to stumble upon by accident but virtually impossible to find again when you’re actually looking for them.

This partially explains why my day one step count was so much higher than day two: I spent considerable time on the ground day one simply trying to get a lay of the land (in an admittedly very jet-lagged state). Day two, I had meetings scattered throughout the complex, and I didn’t want to be wandering around like a ding-dong.

2. I logged more steps on day 1 of IFA than any single day covering MWC

At 17,902 steps, my day one of IFA coverage in Berlin beat my step count for any individual day of coverage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona back in March. That said, I spent a total of five days covering MWC compared to just two days covering IFA, for a total step count of 67,398 steps in Spain.

3. But CES day 1 was more intense than both

While day one of IFA may have been a leg-burner, it falls a bit short of my total step count from day one of the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas back in early January, where I logged a dog-barking 20,253 steps, more than double my everyday average back home.

Then again, as anyone who has been to CES likely knows, things are very spread out in Las Vegas, which also just might be the least pedestrian-friendly city in the U.S... want to cross the street? You'll need to walk another half-mile down the strip and wander through multiple casinos to do so.

4. Commuting on the U-Bahn seemingly skewed Garmin's distance and pace data

I didn’t include my distance or pace totals in the table above because it’s clear these figures are skewed. Both days of the show, I fired up a walking workout in the Cirqa upon leaving my hotel, trekked about half a mile to the nearest U-Bahn station — I am a nerd for experiencing public rail transit in new cities — and rode the metro roughly two miles to the show grounds.

Unfortunately, the Garmin Cirqa clearly interpreted this time spent riding the train as me moving at near-superhuman speed. For example, my average moving pace on day one of the show, according to Garmin, was 8 mins 41 secs per mile. Sure, I can maintain that pace when running a mile, but covering a trade show? Def not.

Garmin also said I walked 14.14 miles on day one, which would equal 1,266 steps per mile, way less than what I normally average, which is closer to 2,000 steps per mile.

5. I mostly forgot the Garmin Cirqa was even there, but might not wear it again

Ultimately, I opted to wear the Garmin Cirqa for two primary reasons. First, it’s comfortable and lightweight, so much so that I pretty much forgot it was even there. Second, I wanted to wear a mechanical watch on my left wrist to keep a constant eye on time; the nine-hour time difference between Seattle (where I live) and Berlin was my main rationale (also, I got a cool new watch I wanted to show off).

So, will I be wearing the Garmin Cirqa the next time I cover a major tech show? Honestly, probably not. While I appreciate how wrist-friendly it is, the lack of GPS means it has to piggyback off my smartphone’s signal, which isn’t necessarily ideal. Moreover, I’d rather opt for a wearable that’s capable of discerning time spent walking from time spent riding a subway.

More from Tom's Guide

• I biked 11 miles with the Garmin Instinct 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 — and the winner is clear
• I walked 4,000 steps with the Pixel Watch 5 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 — and we have a new Android champ
• I walked 7 miles with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Pixel Watch 5 — here's the winner

The Apple Watch Series 12 just dropped, and you might be wondering whether to buy an Apple Watch Series 11 on sale or wait and pre-order the new watch. Both watches will run the new watchOS 27 software, both have the same battery life, and both look pretty much identical, but there are some key differences. We’ll dive into them below, so read this before adding either watch to your cart.

Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Series 11: 6 biggest differences

Heart rate monitor

They might look the same, but flip the watches over and you’ll spot the biggest difference from a health and fitness-tracking perspective: the newer watch has a completely redesigned heart rate monitor. Apple says it’s the most accurate heart rate sensor in a wearable, with larger, more power-efficient green LEDs that measure your heart rate every five seconds, compared to every five minutes in the Apple Watch Series 11.

But why does this even matter? Continuous heart rate monitoring lets the watch provide more accurate heart rate variability (HRV) data. On the Apple Watch Series 12, you’ll be able to see your Recovery HRV score, which shows signs of stress and recovery, as well as your overall HRV, which offers insights into your overall health.

The new heart rate monitor also allows you to use Apple’s new Readiness score. More on that below.

Daily Readiness score

Readiness provides a single score out of ten with one of four different recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. Readiness updates throughout the day as new data comes in, and is based on your overnight vitals, sleep score, recent physical activity, and training load.

Charging speed

Even with continuous heart rate monitoring, both watches have the same 24-hour battery life in smartwatch mode. That said, the Apple Watch Series 12 offers faster charging and slightly longer GPS-mode battery life — 10 hours instead of 8 on the Series 11.

With the Series 12, 15 minutes of charging gives you 12 hours of battery life, making it easier to ensure you don’t miss any sleep-tracking data.

Audio Intelligence features

The third huge difference between the two devices is that the Apple Watch Series 12 has Apple’s Audio Intelligence features on board. This uses Apple Intelligence to tell you what song is playing in the background in real time, detect important sounds you might have missed, get a transcript of the last 15 seconds of conversation with Live Rewind, and take notes of your conversations throughout the day with Siri Recap.

These features will drop later in the year, and you can read more about the Audio Intelligence features on the Apple Watch here.

Processor

The Apple Watch Series 12 has the new S11 chip. As well as the features above, Apple says this chip has redesigned algorithms to improve the distance accuracy of indoor walk or run workouts, as well as a more accurate pedometer. With the Apple Watch Series 12, you’ll also be able to see how many steps you’ve taken each day from your home screen.

Durability and cases

While the two watches look pretty much identical, the Apple Watch Series 12 watches with aluminum cases have a tougher screen.

Finally, you’ll also get new finishes with the Series 12 — there’s a new radiant gold titanium casing, as well as two new ceramic casings in pearl white and night blue.

Which should you pick?

So, should you pre-order the Apple Watch Series 12, or save your money and buy the Series 11 when it goes on sale? We’re yet to fully test the Series 12, so stay tuned for our full review dropping later this month, but from the heart rate sensor alone, this seems like a worthy upgrade from a health and fitness tracking standpoint.

More from Tom's Guide

• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• Apple Watch Series 12 hands-on: A new heart rate sensor and a readiness score (at last)
• Apple Watch Ultra 4 is official: All the upgrades explained

If you’re a fan of the best smartwatches, you’ve been treated in recent weeks with the launch of the latest models of the Garmin Fenix and Apple Watch Ultra.

The Garmin Fenix 9 line-up launched in late August, with the top-of-the-range Fenix 9 Pro being Garmin’s most advanced sports watch yet.

A couple of weeks later the Apple Watch Ultra 4 was announced at Apple’s September event, boasting new features like continuous heart rate tracking and a readiness score.

We’ll thoroughly test both watches and compare them in our full reviews, but for now here’s a breakdown of how the pair stack up with regards to their key specs, features and price.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Specs compared

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Price

The price is simple when it comes to the Apple Watch Ultra 4; it will set you back $799, the same price as its predecessor. There’s also only one model of the watch, which comes in either black or natural titanium,

Things are a lot more complicated with the Garmin Fenix 9 line-up, with three sizes, two display options and standard and Pro models to consider.

The standard Garmin Fenix 9 costs from $999, whereas the Fenix 9 Pro costs from $1099 and has a full titanium case and the option to add inReach connectivity as its key upgrades. I’m going to focus on the Fenix 9 Pro for this comparison, because it’s the top model in Garmin’s line-up.

Whatever Fenix you opt for, however, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is going to be the more affordable option, and it’s $400 cheaper than a Garmin Fenix 9 Pro with inReach.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Design and display

Both watches have rugged, durable designs with full titanium cases and sapphire crystal displays. The Apple Watch Ultra has a square 49mm case, whereas with the Fenix 9 Pro you can choose between circular 43mm, 47mm and 51mm case sizes.

Another choice you get with the Fenix 9 Pro is the display type, because there is a memory-in-pixel Fenix 9 Pro Solar with solar panels on its face to boost battery life.

The standard Fenix 9 Pro has a 3,000 nit AMOLED display, matching the brightness of the Apple Watch Ultra 4’s Retina display.

Both watches stick with their classic button layouts — the Ultra 4 has three buttons, one of which is a digital dial, while the Fenix 9 Pro has five buttons.

They have equivalent waterproof ratings and both can be used for diving to depths of 40m.

A big design advantage for the Fenix 9 Pro is its built-in flashlight, which has white, red and green modes and is brighter and more useful than the flashlight option on the Ultra 4, which uses the watch face itself to light the way.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Health and fitness features

Both watches are packed with useful sports and activity tracking features, and the Apple Watch Ultra 4’s new continuous heart rate monitor and readiness feature are two big improvements that bring it into line with features that have been available on Garmin watches for some time.

We’ll be testing Apple’s claims that the new heart rate monitor on the Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 is the most accurate on the market, but I have been impressed by the heart rate accuracy on the Fenix 9 Pro so far in testing, and on past Apple Watch models.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 has more health tracking features, like alerts for signs of an irregular heart beat and hypertension, whereas the Garmin’s strengths are in more extensive training analysis, with additional metrics rating your overall endurance and predicted race times.

Both watches have all the sports modes and stats you need to track workouts, and are also comprehensive daily activity and sleep trackers.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Smart features and connectivity

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is a true smartwatch and offers more useful day-to-day features than the Fenix 9 Pro, especially with its new Siri AI-based features, like Live Rewind, Sound Recognition and Siri Recap.

There’s also a wealth of useful third-party apps available for the Apple Watch, whereas Garmin’s Connect IQ app store is much more limited, and Apple Pay is easier to set up and use than Garmin Pay.

The Fenix 9 Pro’s smart features do include music storage and the ability to link up with streaming services including Spotify, but the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is certainly smarter all round.

Both watches offer LTE and satellite connectivity though, which can be useful for staying in touch with others when you don’t have your phone, or to send SOS alerts if you get into trouble when adventuring off-the-grid.

This feature is only available on the more expensive Fenix 9 Pro model with inReach connectivity, and you will need a subscription with both watches to use these services, except for SOS alerts, which are free on both (for one year with the Fenix 9 Pro, for two years on the Apple Watch Ultra 4).

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: navigation

Garmin’s on-watch navigation tools are the best in the business, and you can quickly create and follow routes on the Fenix 9 Pro thanks to its routable maps, as well as getting specific info on what’s ahead of you when tackling long climbs or descents.

You can also view and use these maps with your sports modes, so you can see your activity stats and a map at the same time, unlike on the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which has its maps and routing features in a separate app to Workouts (though you can use third-party apps to shows maps during an activity).

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Battery life

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 got a battery life bump that means it now offers up to 50 hours on a charge with the always-on display enabled, and 18 hours of GPS tracking in its most accurate mode.

However, this is an area where the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro certainly has the edge, no matter what size of the watch you opt for.

The Fenix 9 Pro 43mm lasts up to 10 days in watch mode and has 18 hours of GPS tracking. The 47mm watch lasts up to 18 days in watch mode and has 32 hours of GPS tracking, and the biggest 51mm watch I’m testing can last a whopping 31 days in watch mode and has 56 hours of GPS tracking.

Both watches can extend these ratings by using various low-power modes during activities, but if it’s battery life you want, the Fenix is the watch to go for.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 vs Garmin Fenix 9 Pro: Which should you buy?

The Garmin Fenix 9 Pro is built to be the ultimate adventure and sports watch and focuses more on battery life and training features than the Apple Watch Ultra 4, and it also offers more design choices and the flashlight, which I find invaluable.

For its part the Apple Watch Ultra 4 looks to be a very capable sports watch with more smarts and health features than the Fenix 9 Pro, and it also comes in a lot cheaper.

Both are among the best options in their category, but which suits you better will largely depend if you’re mainly looking for a sports watch, or a smartwatch.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• Apple Watch 11 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3 — which one should you buy?
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)

Apple has once again launched new Apple Watches, including the flagship Apple Watch Series 12 and premium Apple Watch Ultra 4. The question is, which one is right for you?

I'm here to help you answer that. Below, I've compared the Apple Watch Series 12 vs. Apple Watch Ultra 4 across seven categories, including cost, design, display, health and fitness, safety, AI, and battery life. Here's everything you need to know before you buy.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Specs compared

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Price

This is an easy one; the Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399, half the $799 cost of the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Even the priciest Series 12 configuration, 46mm with 5G+GPS, is $250 less than the latest Ultra model.

That said, if you opt for the Series 12 with an upgraded ceramic case (vs standard aluminum), it surpasses the Ultra 4 in cost: $899 for the 42mm and $949 for the 46mm. Note: there is no ceramic Apple Watch Ultra 4.

Both the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 are available for preorder from September 9 with a September 18 ship date.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Design and durability

Even though the Apple Watch Series 12 features an upgraded Ceramic Shield 2 screen coating — which is 60% tougher than the Ion-X glass used on the Series 11 — the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is hands-down the more rugged model.

The Ultra 4, like those before it, boasts 100 meters of water resistance, enough for scuba diving and double that of the Series 12. Additionally, the Ultra 4 sports a sapphire crystal display, which is more scratch-resistant than even Ion-X glass.

From a usability standpoint, the Ultra 4's design includes an additional, customizable "Action" button on the side of the case opposite the digital crown and side button.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Display

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 each use the same display as their respective predecessors. Ultimately, the Ultra 4's display offers slightly more real estate than the 46mm Apple Watch Series 12, and a noticeable amount more than the 42mm model.

You'll find LTPO3 wide-angle OLED panels with 326 pixels per inch of resolution in both the latest flagship and Ultra models, but the latter's display is more powerful than the former's.

While the Series 12 maxes out at a respectable 2,000 nits, which is generally bright enough for viewing in bright sunlight, the Ultra 4 reaches 3,000 nits of max brightness. In my experience, that's bright enough to read the screen in even direct sunlight.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Health and fitness features

When it comes to onboard health and fitness tech and features, the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are essentially a match. They both have Apple's new, redesigned holistic sensor array, which promises far more accurate heart rate tracking, ECGs, and heart rate variability insights compared to prior Apple Watches.

Both watches support a wide range of trackable workout types, along with onboard GPS for logging outdoor activities without a paired phone, but the Ultra 4 has a more advanced dual-band antenna compared to a single-band GPS on the Series 12.

Translation: In settings with obstructed skies, like cities or forests, the Ultra 4 will likely generate slightly more accurate location-based data than the Series 12.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Safety features

Apple's latest smartwatches are each jam-packed with useful safety features, including fall and crash detection, high/low heart rate alerts, Hypertension Alerts, and sleep apnea notifications. However, the Ultra 4 (and Ultra 3) have one unique safety tool not found on any other Apple Watch: Emergency SOS via satellite.

This feature allows users to connect to a satellite, even without a paired smartphone and/or a cellular signal, and send a message to friends and/or emergency responders with location and other details.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: AI features

The Apple Watch 12 and Ultra 4 support the latest, greatest Siri AI-based features, including the onboard voice assistant itself, along with Live Rewind (lets you ‘go back in time’ up to 15 seconds), Sound Recognition(alerts users to sounds like sirens and alarms), and Siri Recap (takes high-level notes of conversations and generates summaries).

Some are concerned about potential privacy issues, but Apple stresses that Live Rewind only activates when you deliberately double-press the Digital Crown. In addition, audio is not recorded or stored for either feature and Siri Recap offers only AI summaries and not transcripts or speaker names.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Battery life

If you want the best battery life in an Apple Watch, your best bet is the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which is rated to last up to 50 hours per charge, more than double the 24-hour rating of the Apple Watch Series 12.

Apple Watch 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Which should you buy?

Apple has long been careful to differentiate the flagship Apple Watch series from the pricier Ultra series, and that's still the case in 2026. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is tougher-built with double the water resistance, twice the battery life, a brighter screen, better GPS, and more impressive safety tools.

On the flip side, the Apple Watch Series 12 is much more affordable than the Ultra 4, with all the same cutting-edge health and fitness tools, AI features, and nearly the same-size screen (in the 46mm model). Oh, and it's also more comfortable on the wrist thanks to a slimmer case.

For most of us, the Apple Watch Series 12 is going to be the more sensible option. But if you fancy yourself to be a rugged, outdoor adventurer or hardcore athlete, then the extra cost of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 may be worth it.

Which new Apple Watch would you rather rock? Let me know in the comments.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 first impressions: 5 reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip Apple’s new rugged model
• Apple Watch 11 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3 — which one should you buy?
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)

One of the big revelations at yesterday's Apple event was the new Siri AI features, and in particular, what these features mean for the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. The two new watches have built-in microphones and can now automatically detect music playing in the background and silently take notes on your conversations throughout the day to give you a recap.

Let's dive into all the new audio features coming to Apple Watch:

Sound recognition

Arguably the most helpful feature — especially for anyone hard of hearing or deaf — is the sound recognition feature. This allows your watch to detect important sounds like sirens, alarms, and doorbells and alert you, even if you don’t have your iPhone nearby.

Automatic music recognition

If you’ve ever tried to Shazam a song and not been fast enough to catch it, this feature is for you. Music recognition automatically detects the song playing in the background and displays the name of the artist and the title in the Smart Stack.

Live Rewind

Live Rewind allows you to double click on the Digital Crown and receive a transcript of what was said in the last 15 seconds. It’s designed to allow you to catch something you missed in a conversation, or to save yourself from awkwardness when you immediately forget your colleague’s name. Once recalled, you can ask Siri for more information, or save it to the Siri app.

When you press the Digital Crown for this feature, a chime will sound, even if your watch is on silent or you’re wearing headphones. Apple says this is to alert those nearby that you are using the feature.

Siri Recap

Finally, when turned on, Siri recap will take notes of your conversations throughout the day and create Apple Intelligence-generated summaries you can use later. Summaries auto-delete after seven days if you haven’t saved them and you can set Siri recap to only record in certain locations, like at work, or during particular times of the day.

If all of this sounds like something you’d rather not use, Apple have stressed that each Audio Intelligence feature is automatically disabled on the watch: you have to opt-in to the ones you want to use.

The company also stressed that any data collected using Live Rewind or Siri Recap will be encrypted — you won’t be able to see who said what, and it doesn’t store voice recordings. Siri Recaps will also omit potentially harmful content, such as language promoting self-harm or hateful speech, and sensitive information, such as financial data.

These features will be available later in the year, and we’ll be sure to test them and bring you our verdict.

More from Tom's Guide

• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• Apple Watch Series 12 hands-on: A new heart rate sensor and a readiness score (at last)
• Apple Watch Ultra 4 is official: All the upgrades explained

Shiny and new, shiny and new, we all love things that are shiny and new. Then again, just because something is fresh on the scene doesn’t necessarily mean it’s meaningfully better than its predecessor.

Hi, I’m Dan, and I review smartwatches. I’ve been covering the Apple Watch Ultra series ever since the first model launched. As you might expect, I had a long wishlist of upgrades for the fourth generation, many of which came to fruition!

Of course, not all my desires were fulfilled by the cult of Cupertino. With that in mind, here are the five biggest reasons I’m excited about the new Apple Watch Ultra 4 (i.e., the five biggest reasons to buy it).

And for all the contrarians out there, I've also included the two biggest letdowns, aka why you might want to skip the Ultra 4.

Buy: Better heart rate tracking

Apple went ahead and completely overhauled every aspect of the on-wrist holistic sensor array, including making the heart rate tracking LEDS more powerful and increasing the size of the electrode surface used for ECG readings.

Moreover, after extensive internal testing against the competition and a traditional chest-mounted heart rate monitor, Apple says that the Ultra 4 and Series 12 (which share the new holistic tech) are the most accurate heart trackers in any wearable on the market.

That’s not all; the new tech now takes heart rate readings every five minutes (60x times more frequently than the Ultra 3) and HRV readings every 15 minutes (24x more frequently than its predecessor) to better understand your long-term health trends.

Buy: New ‘Live Rewind’ feature

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 are the first two Apple Watch models to ship with true-blue Siri AI features built-in, including my personal favorite, Live Rewind.

Are you someone who forgets names moments after they're told to you? Did you just zone out while the server read off tonight’s specials? Live Rewind allows you to discreetly listen back to the past 15 seconds of audio at any given moment with a double-tap of the digital crown.

Essentially, the watch is constantly buffering 15 seconds of ambient audio from your wrist. However, actual recordings are never saved, individual voices aren’t identified, and all of the data used for the feature is encrypted end-to-end.

Buy: Improved battery life

This is a biggie and an upgrade that tends to top my wishlist for pretty much every anticipated smartwatch release. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is now rated to last up to 50 hours per charge, a noteworthy increase over its predecessor’s 42-hour rating.

For extreme athletes, there’s also a new Max Extended workout tracking mode that increases longevity from around 18 hours with full-time GPS and continuous heart rate tracking to a whopping 45 hours without sacrificing cardiovascular and location insights.

Buy: More accurate distance and step count tracking

As one of TG’s resident smartwatch walk testers, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that the Apple Watch Ultra 4’s onboard pedometer software has been completely overhauled for better step count and distance tracking accuracy, thanks in part to machine learning.

Stay tuned for countless head-to-head walk test comparisons with the Ultra 4 versus the competition; let me know in the comments which smartwatch I should test it against first!

Buy: No price increase

Unlike those nerds over at Google and Samsung, Apple opted to keep its pricing for the 2026 line of smartwatches exactly the same as before, inflation and RAM crisis be damned!

This is commendable and, frankly, not very Apple-like. But, hey, there’s a new CEO in charge, so maybe the Apple of today and tomorrow will be a little more budget-minded than the Apple of yesterday.

Skip: Same display

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 sports the same exact display as its predecessor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic panel that’s easy to read at just about any angle. It also boasts an impressive max brightness of 3,000 nits.

That said, the Apple Watch Ultra 4’s nearest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, boasts a max screen brightness of 5,000 nits. Ultimately, it would’ve been nice to see some sort of upgrade to the display in the Ultra 4, if only to keep up with its rivals.

Skip: It’s still gigantic

Every year, come late August, I close my eyes and pray to Steve Jobs, asking him for the one thing that would make the latest Apple Watch Ultra a total slam-dunk: A smaller size option. And every year, I’m disappointed.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is the same dimensions as its predecessor, and even though it isn’t quite as chunky as the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, it still wears rather large on my fairly average-sized 6.5-inch wrist.

Ultimately, in addition to the 49 x 44mm standard Ultra model, I’d loooove to see a second 45 x 40mm offering for those who prefer smaller wrist candy and/or have daintier extremities.

What are your thoughts on the new Apple Watch Ultra 4? What do you love, and what do you hate? Let me know below.

More from Tom's Guide

• I went hands-on with the Apple Watch Series 12: A new heart rate sensor, ceramic colors and a readiness score, at last
• We asked 368 people what they want from the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Here’s the resounding answer (and it’s not AI)
• I’ve been writing about the Apple Watch for the past decade: Here’s the rumored update I’m most excited about for the Apple Watch Ultra 4

"Your heart tells a story of your health, and it’s a story worth hearing," said Apple, as it announced the updated Apple Watch Series 12, with the most accurate heart rate sensor yet. It's not often a tech keynote makes me emotional, but as a health writer, this one did. Maybe I'm jet-lagged, or maybe I believe that these huge health updates might make this the best smartwatch on the market.

I spend my days writing about how the best prediction of longevity is how healthy your heart is. With a new heart rate sensor, the Apple Watch Series 12 gives you a heart rate reading every five seconds, 60 times more frequent than the Apple Watch Series 11. This supports HRV readings, a new readiness score that gives you deeper insights into when to push and when to recover, and new longevity features in the updated Health app.

With a built-in microphone for audio intelligence features and new ceramic colors, there's a lot to like about this new watch. Read my hands-on review of the Apple Watch Series 12 below to find out more.

Apple Watch Series 12: Quick facts

• Same 24-hour battery life: Despite the addition of continuous heart rate monitoring, the Apple Watch Series 12 has the same 24-hour battery life as the Series 11
• New S11 chip: Faster, more efficient processing with support for Siri AI features
• Redesigned holistic sensors: Apple says this is the most accurate heart rate sensor on a wearable; heart rate and HRV are sampled more frequently than before; HRV insights are now more readily displayed in the Health app
• New health metrics: Series 12 supports a new Readiness score and Health Age metric
• Siri AI features: The watch ships with support for Siri AI voice assistance; new "Audio Intelligence" features help you better navigate life's fine details

Apple Watch Series 12 hands-on: Specs