Apple has announced Apple Watch Ultra 2, replacing the top-end model first introduced a year ago.
The new model gets improved internals – shared with the Apple Watch Series 9 …
The original Apple Watch Ultra
It had been rumored for some time that the Cupertino company was working on an Apple Watch Pro, which turned out to be branded as the Apple Watch Ultra.
It had the largest ever Apple Watch face, at 49mm, and at 2000 nits, the display offered twice the brightness of the standard model.
It was the first product to include a customisable Action button, ahead of the feature making the move to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
Battery life was touted as 36 hours, with a lower-power mode extending it to 60 hours. Speaker and microphone were boosted for loud environments, including an 86dB siren for calling for help, along with an ultra-precise GPS.
The Apple Watch Ultra doubled as a dive computer for scuba divers, operating at up to 40 meters depth, some ten meters more than the usual 30M limit for recreational divers.
Apple Watch Ultra 2
As with the Series 9, this year’s Apple Watch Ultra gets the same S9 processor for “super-smooth animations”; and U2 ultra-wideband location chip.
Siri is now processed on-device thanks to a new neural engine in the S9 chip. Siri can now also provide access to your health data, available “later this year.”
The new U2 chip can find your iPhone with ultra-precision, along with media suggestions when you get close to a HomePod – or Now Playing controls if the speaker is already playing something.
The Watch also introduces a double-tap gesture for things like answering and ending phone calls and snoozing alarms, again in common with the S9 model.
Battery life in low-power mode is now up to 72 hours.
Apple says Apple Watch Ultra 2 production is 100% carbon neutral.
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