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
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Apple Watch Ultra 3 |
Garmin Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED |
Price |
$799 |
From $1,199 (with inReach) |
Size |
49mm |
43mm, 47mm or 51mm |
Thickness |
12mm |
13.3mm (43mm), |
Case weight |
62g |
45g (43mm), 56g (47mm), 73g (51mm) |
Display |
Sapphire crystal |
Sapphire crystal |
Connectivity |
LTE & satellite |
LTE & satellite |
Smartwatch battery life |
50 hours |
10 days (43 mm), 18 days (47mm), 31 days (51mm) |
GPS battery life (multi-band) |
18 hours |
18 hours (43mm), 32 hours (47mm), 56 hours (51mm) |
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.
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