Apple Watch Ultra 3 review: The luxury Range Rover of smartwatches

But first, who exactly is the Watch Ultra for? Anecdotally speaking, I’ve seen them being sported by fitness influencers and marathon runners alike, yet I’ve seen as many of them in fine dining restaurants and on the wrists of travelers in the pointy end of long-haul flights, many of whom don’t strike me as hardcore adventurers, divers or hikers.

Beyond the rugged, go-everywhere design, there are two reasons that hold universal appeal for anyone picking up the Watch Ultra: the battery life and the bigger, brighter display…and both have gotten even better with the Ultra 3. This is no longer a watch just for the outdoor enthusiast, the Ultra in the name also means you get the most features in Apple’s smartwatch lineup.

Rocking the tried-and-tested rounded squircle case that’s unmistakably an Ultra, there’s not a lot to tell it apart from the Ultra 2—it’s still available in a 49mm titanium case (in natural or black colors) with a sapphire crystal front, with the customizable orange Action Button matching the whimsy of the new 17 Pro Max color. As with the Ultra 2, it’s solidly built, whether it’s a rough trek or an even rougher commute, and even handles contact with window grills and kitchen cabinet doors with nary a scuff or a chip to show for it.

The difference is apparent when you switch it on—with Apple shrinking down the bezels ever so slightly, the Watch Ultra 3 has about five percent more screen area without a bump up in case size. Five percent doesn’t seem like a lot—it’s now 422x514 pixels/1,245 sq mm area compared to the Ultra 2’s 410x502 pixels/ 1,185 sq mm—but on the scale of a smartwatch, even the smallest of changes boost readability, and it’s most noticeable when you’re viewing full screen maps or photos on the display.

Like the Series 11, the Watch Ultra 3 benefits from the LTPO3 display, which refreshes at 1Hz, so complications and timers keep updating smoothly even if your wrist is down—this was a feature rolled out in last year’s Series 10 Watch that didn’t make it over to the Watch Ultra 2, and it immediately adds a noticeable sense of physicality to the Ultra 3. Viewing angles have been improved as well, although it has to be said that the sapphire display does get quite reflective, so there will be times when you still need to tilt your wrist to see what’s on the screen.

It gets plenty bright outdoors, with 3,000 nits peak brightness in sunny environments, much brighter than the standard Apple Watch Series 11 (2,000 nits) and Watch SE 3 (1,000 nits). Make no mistake about it—it’s still a chonky, 12mm thick watch and some may find it too bulky or oversized on smaller wrists, but that often comes down to personal preference.

Under the titanium exterior is Apple's S10 chip, which is new to the Ultra lineup, but not new to the Apple Watch—it was first seen on the Series 10. It’s not dramatically faster at anything you’d do on an everyday basis—opening apps, invoking on-device Siri, starting workouts—but it does see a significant jump in longevity, lasting well past 38-40 hours with the always on display active. As a Watch Ultra 2 user for nearly two years, the additional 5-6 hours on the Ultra 3 edges it close to two-day territory, and you can get nearly half a day’s worth of use with 15 minutes of charging with the included cable and magnetic charging puck. Or up to 72 hours if you turn on Low Power Mode.

And yes, I’m aware that some of Garmin’s adventure watches last weeks with solar charging, but if you’re a regular Apple Watch owner looking to upgrade, know that the difference is substantial, so much so that I have stopped carrying my watch charger completely on overnight trips these days.

The tricky bit is that in practically every other aspect, the Watch Ultra 3 has the same health and activity tracking features as a regular Series 11, including all the automatic workout tracking, heart rate monitoring, ECG readings, skin temperature analysis for cycle predictions, SpO2 reports, and sleep tracking. And if you’re the committed outdoorsy type, you’re going to love the new Waypoint watchface, that takes full advantage of the larger display with extra complications and detailed data that will bring a smile to a tired trekker’s face.

New to watchOS26 is hypertension alerts and sleep score, the latter somewhat similar to Activity Rings, but for sleep. Sleep score, available to Series 6 or newer watches, measures a combination of factors—sleep duration, bedtime, and interruptions—and presents them in a doughnut-shaped sleep ring along with a score, somewhere between very low, low, OK, high, or excellent. Is this the key to sleeping early and not letting the Instagram brain rot take over? Maybe so, maybe not, but having a daily nudge to sleep better certainly helps…and that better battery life will certainly encourage some more folks to wear the Ultra to bed, no matter its size. Hypertension alerts are the kind one hopes to never receive, and one wont, at least not until the feature officially rolls out to Apple Watches in India (it’s still undergoing regulatory approval).

Verdict

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 then is like the luxury Range Rovers, ready to take on the rough and tumble while still giving you the best modern conveniences when you’re seated inside. Brush off the dust from your trek (or city construction, more likely) and it’s ready to accompany you on an evening out. But does the Watch Ultra 3 reinvent Apple’s most capable smartwatch? Not really, though it does add a sense of polish and quality of life improvements to what was already the most luxurious Watch available.

I’ve slapped one on and haven’t looked back, but the size and price may not be for everyone, even as the bigger display and better battery life surely is. The obvious alternative would be to consider the equally adept but smaller Watch Series 11, but this year, the Apple Watch SE 3 is an incredible value if all you want is the core Apple Watch experience done right.