Which rugged smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 or the new Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, is the better device for tracking outdoor workouts and adventures? I decided to find out by manually counting 4,000 steps with one on either wrist.
Aside from the obvious — the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is for iOS users, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is for the Android faithful — these two smartwatches are remarkably evenly matched. Of course, they also track a whole lot of other, more exciting activities, including scuba diving, but for the sake of our comparison, I’m going to stick with a good old-fashioned walk.
With my manual count as the primary control for this comparison, as a control for distance, climb, and pace, we’ll rely on ol’ reliable, the Strava app.
Read on to find out which smartwatch came out on top in this fitness tracking accuracy showdown with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3
Before diving into the results, here are the biggest differences between the Apple Watch Ultra 3, one of the best smartwatches in 2026, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 (review pending). For starters, the Apple Watch is $100 more than the Galaxy Watch, $799 vs $699.
The Galaxy Watch, meanwhile, boasts a brighter display, better battery life, and a genuinely useful onboard AI assistant that's backed by Gemini and accessible via a wrist raise.
Design-wise, I find the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to be a lot comfier than the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Not only is the Apple Watch thinner, but it's also narrower. That said, the two weigh roughly the same.
When it comes to logging workouts, Apple and Samsung's best are evenly matched. They each boast dual-band GPS for location tracking, barometric altimeters for elevation monitoring, accelerometers and gyroscopes for motion tracking, and tons of health sensors to monitor your heart rate, body temperature, calories burned, and more.
With that out of the way, on to the result of my 4,000-step walk test comparison with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2!
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Walk test results
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 |
Apple Watch Ultra 3 |
Control |
|---|---|---|---|
Steps |
4,023 steps |
3,924 steps |
4,000 steps (manual count) |
Distance |
2.09 miles |
2.11 miles |
2.17 miles (Strava) |
Climb |
358 feet |
372 feet |
362 feet (Strava) |
Average pace |
17 mins 05 secs |
17 mins 09 secs |
16 mins 48 secs (Strava) |
Average heart rate |
128 bpm |
130 bpm |
n/a |
Max heart rate |
160 bpm |
158 bpm |
n/a |
Calories burned |
237 calories |
299 calories |
n/a |
Battery usage |
3% |
1% |
n/a |
I took exactly 4,000 steps during my ~35-minute walk, a tally that's backed up by Strava, which also logged precisely 4K. As always, any step count total within 100 steps of my actual tally is considered excellent and well within a reasonable margin for error.
Both the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 performed exceptionally well in this test, not just in terms of accurately counting my steps, but also logging distance, elevation gain, pace, and even heart rate.
Of course, when it comes to steps, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 beats the Apple Watch Ultra 3 by a modest margin compared to the control. The same goes for climb and pace. The Apple Watch, meanwhile, was a little bit closer to the control for distance.
Both devices registered roughly the same maximum and average heart rates, though the Apple Watch calculated more calories burned and used less battery to log my efforts.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3: Winner
By a teeny-tiny margin, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 gets a win versus its main competitor, the Apple Watch Ultra 3. Ultimately, though, both devices performed with impressive accuracy during this test, and I would not hesitate to use either to log my next workout, whether it's a walk around the neighborhood or a recreational dive in Puget Sound.
Stay tuned for my full Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 review, to be published soon. In the meantime, which smartwatches would you like to see me test the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 against next? Let me know below.
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