Apple announces the Watch Ultra 4, now sporting the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable

Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra 4 overnight, now featuring the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable device, smarter insights and a longer-than-ever battery life.

The Watch Ultra 4 is powered by the new Health Sensing System and S11 chip to deliver more accurate health and fitness measurements than before.  These include “the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable,” higher-frequency heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements, and a new readiness score.

The watch features larger, power-efficient green LEDs on the optical heart sensor to deliver improved heart rate and health tracking, with the watch now measuring heart rate every five seconds, all day.  This provides greater insight into the wearer’s readiness for activity and overall health profile.

Readiness is important for the serious athlete and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 combines all of its measurements, such as the user’s recent activity, training load, vitals, and sleep score, to determine their capacity for extreme load for the day ahead.

Sleep insights also improve with the addition of recovery HRV measurements, helping provide insights into sleep and overall health status.

These improvements bring even more advanced workout tracking across various activities, sleep tracking and health features, including heart health notifications and the ECG app.  Satellite communications are also now possible with the new Watch Ultra 4.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 now offers over two days, or 50 hours, of battery life, and in Low Power Mode, that extends to 84 hours.  With full GPS and heart rate readings operating, the Extended Workout Mode delivers 25 hours of battery life.  Faster charging is also now possible, with just 15 minutes of charging adding up to 18 hours of battery life. 

Using the power of the S11 chip, the Watch Ultra 4 uses its built-in microphone to provide intelligent use all day long.  This brand-new class of Audio Intelligence helps wearers stay aware of the world around them, remember key moments and catch anything they missed.

Audio Intelligence includes sound recognition, Live Rewind to recall what was said in a conversation up to 15 seconds prior, a Siri recap and Shazam to identify the music playing around you.

This data is kept in a “Secure Enclave” on the watch, a dedicated hardware-isolated compartment that processes audio in isolation from the rest of the system, providing the wearer with security and privacy.  Audio Intelligence is an opt-in feature.

watchOS 27

The new Apple Watch Ultra 4 features the new watchOS 27, complete with Siri AI, a new version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence.  

WatchOS 27 also features a dynamic app grid featuring icons for five Siri-suggested apps, a new single-handed tap gesture to open a widget in the Smart Stack by tapping your finger and thumb together, support for perimenopause and menopause in Cycle Tracking, and Workout Buddy to provide fitness data if you don’t have your iPhone nearby.

WatchOS 27 will be available for Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Apple Watch SE 3, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later on Tuesday, 15 September and requires iPhone 11 or later or iPhone SE (2nd generation or later) with iOS 27. Not all features are available on all devices or in all regions. For more information about availability, visit apple.com/au.

Pricing and Availability

Apple Watch Ultra 4 comes in natural and black titanium options. It is available to pre-order today, with availability beginning Friday, 18 September, with pricing starting at RRP A$1,349

This spring’s band line-up features new colours across the range. Trail Loop now comes in dark umber, sand, and burgundy, while Alpine Loop comes in desert, dark olive, and burgundy.

Ocean Bands are now made from a unique translucent silicone, which comes in three new colours: translucent grey, translucent kelp, and translucent black.

For high-fashion lovers, the Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 4 is available in natural titanium and includes a new Grand H titanium band with a built-in extension mechanism to adjust the band to fit over a wetsuit.