Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 gets a bigger battery while the Watch9 goes lighter

The Galaxy Unpacked 2026 by Samsung also revealed the new Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and the Galaxy Watch9 series. While both watches look familiar at first glance, Samsung focused on making them thinner, brighter, and smarter, while introducing a handful of new health and outdoor features.

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Starting with the Galaxy Watch Ultra2, it doesn’t stray too far from the original design. It still comes with the same rugged 47mm form factor and the signature bezel ring around the display, though it still isn’t a rotating bezel. Samsung says the display can now reach up to 5,000 nits of peak brightness, making it even easier to see outdoors.

The watch itself is now slimmer at just 10.7mm thick, but Samsung somehow managed to fit in a much larger 800mAh battery – a 35% increase over its predecessor. That’s a welcome upgrade, although Samsung didn’t reveal any battery life estimates during the announcement, leaving us wondering how much longer it’ll actually last in day-to-day use.

Powering the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear Elite platform, which Samsung says delivers up to 32% faster CPU performance and 19% better GPU performance. While the extra performance sounds impressive on paper, the more interesting question is whether the new chipset is also more power efficient, since battery life is arguably far more important on a smartwatch.

Samsung is also adding a couple of outdoor-focused features to the Ultra2. The new Trail Run mode records your running route and elevation while offering hydration guidance during longer runs. There’s also a brand-new Diving mode developed together with Mares, allowing the watch to track dive depth, duration, and even water temperature.

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If you already own the original Galaxy Watch Ultra, there’s also good news – existing watch straps remain compatible with the new model.

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Alongside the Ultra2, Samsung also introduced the Galaxy Watch9 in both 40mm and 44mm sizes. The overall design remains familiar, but Samsung switched to a lighter aluminium construction that’s up to 25% lighter than before. It packs a 390mAh battery and is also powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite platform.

Beyond the hardware, Samsung is placing a strong focus on health monitoring across both smartwatch families. The new preventive health features analyse long-term health data collected by the watch and provide personalised recommendations on areas that users can improve. The watches can also alert users to potential health concerns before symptoms become obvious by analysing a combination of heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, skin temperature, and respiratory rate.

Samsung is also introducing a new heart health score that combines sleep quality, daily activity, BMI, and vascular load into a single metric to give users a clearer picture of their overall cardiovascular health. One quality-of-life improvement comes from Google Gemini integration. Instead of saying “Hey Google” before issuing a command, users can simply raise their wrist and start talking, making voice interactions feel much more natural and seamless.

Preorder Info

Pre-orders begin on July 22, while general availability starts on August 14.

Preorder links are also live for online purchases:

• Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2: https://www.samsung.com/my/watches/galaxy-watch-ultra2/buy/
• Samsung Galaxy Watch9 series: https://www.samsung.com/my/watches/galaxy-watch9/buy/