Apple Watch Ultra 4: specs, price and full review

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 finally lasts two full days away from its charger: a claimed 50 hours, up from 42 on the Ultra 3, along with a heart rate sensor rebuilt from scratch and the S11 chip. Neither the titanium case nor the price has moved: €899 (about 590,000 FCFA). For an athlete with an iPhone, this is the Apple watch to buy this year. Ultra-trail runners and anyone carrying an Android phone can keep looking at Garmin.

Introduction: the fourth Ultra bets everything on endurance

Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra 4 on 9 September 2026, during the autumn keynote that also launched the iPhone 18 Pro and the Apple Watch Series 12. Nine days later it was in shops.

It sits at the top of the range, at twice the price of the aluminium Series 12, which is listed at €449 (about 295,000 FCFA). One 49 mm case, cellular as standard. The price is the same as in 2025, in a year when soaring memory chip prices have pushed up the cost of plenty of devices.

A word of warning before going further: no unit has passed through our newsroom. This page cross-checks Apple’s technical documentation, the first reviews from the US press, led by Tom’s Guide and PCMag, and the findings of specialist French sites. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is aimed at outdoor athletes who own an iPhone. And at everyone who is tired of charging a watch every single night.

Verdict in brief: our Apple Watch Ultra 4 review, 2026 edition

Three lines of that table matter more than the rest. The 50 hours come first: eight more than last year, with no extra bulk. Then the pace of the heart rate sensor, which now takes one reading every five seconds in the background. Last comes the weight: 63 grams, barely more than the Ultra 3. Nobody will feel it.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 design: the 2022 blueprint, give or take a gram

Put an Ultra 4 next to an Ultra 3 and good luck telling them apart. The measurements are unchanged: 49 mm tall, 44 wide, 12 thick. Tom’s Guide says so bluntly: the newcomer is a near carbon copy of the watch it replaces.

Natural or black titanium, and only one size

The case of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is cut from grade 5 titanium, offered in a natural or black finish and protected by flat sapphire glass. It fits wrists from 130 to 210 mm around, which leaves a fair number of people out: on a slim wrist, 49 mm spills over the edges. Garmin makes its Fenix in three diameters.

Action button, siren and dust resistance

The orange Action button on the left edge starts a workout or marks a lap without a glance at the screen. Everything else goes through the touchscreen. That is the known limit of the formula: in a downpour or with gloves on it responds poorly, whereas the five buttons on a Garmin never leave you guessing.

Water resistance to 100 metres under ISO 22810, an IP6X dust rating, MIL-STD 810H testing. The laterite of a track between Bafoussam and Foumban, or sand carried in by the harmattan, should not trouble it. A built-in siren, audible from 180 metres according to Apple, lets you signal your position if things go wrong.

Display: 3,000 nits, and nothing new under the sapphire

The panel is the one from the Ultra 3. A wide-angle LTPO3 OLED, always on, with 422 x 514 pixels and a density of 326 ppi. At its peak it puts out 3,000 nits; at its lowest, just one.

Each extreme has its use. The peak keeps your pace readable at noon on the Corniche in Dakar, no squinting required. The floor means you can check the time at a bivouac without waking the whole tent.

Rivals have caught up with Apple, though. The Fenix 9 Pro also climbs to 3,000 nits. The display on the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is still excellent; it is no longer enough to set the watch apart.

Performance: sensors, GPS, sport and health tracking, the real work of 2026

S11 chip: headroom for on-device AI

Inside the S11 sit two 64-bit processor cores and a Neural Engine with four of its own, backed by 64 GB of storage. According to iPhoneSoft, memory has doubled to 4 GB, a figure Apple does not publish. The expected benefit fits in one sentence: the Apple Watch Ultra 4 handles more on the device itself, with no round trip to a server.

Dual-frequency GPS: a clean track, without GLONASS

The receiver picks up the L1 and L5 bands and relies on four constellations (GPS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou). GLONASS does not appear on the official spec sheet.

Tom’s Guide ran a half marathon with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 on one wrist and the Series 12 on the other. The result: 21.42 km for the first and 21.45 km for the second, while a Coros Pace 4 Pro used as a reference showed 21.28 km. The gap is slim. In places the Series 12 track cut straight through buildings; the Ultra’s did not.

A heart rate sensor that never lets go of your pulse

Apple has redesigned the back of the watch: larger green LEDs, a revised optical sensor, a third-generation electrical sensor. Heart rate is read every five seconds in the background, and heart rate variability every five minutes. Until now the latter was only measured roughly every two hours, iDevice points out.

The company claims the most accurate measurement ever offered on a wearable. That claim rests on an in-house study. Published reviews partly back it up: on an outing of about 35 km, the Tom’s Guide tester found values in line with those from a chest strap.

It is not flawless. During the half marathon mentioned above, the watch took almost thirteen minutes to lock on to a reliable rate, probably because the case was too big for the runner’s wrist. Tattoos still interfere with optical readings. And external sensors connect over Bluetooth only: ANT+ accessories are not recognised.

Sport and health: plenty of measurements, no diagnosis

Readiness score: Apple finally takes recovery seriously

Every morning your form gets a mark out of 10. The watch works it out from your sleep, the previous day’s activity and your overnight vitals. Tom’s Guide likes the idea: it answers the only question that matters before you lace up your trainers.

Garmin and Whoop have offered this kind of indicator for years. Apple is late.

ECG, hypertension, sleep apnoea: read the small print

The list of health features on the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is impressive. Each one comes with conditions, which Apple spells out in footnotes:

• ECG: a single-lead trace, not recommended for anyone under 22.
• Hypertension notifications: live in France and across the European Union from launch, but delayed in 29 countries, including Canada and South Africa, while the new sensors are certified. Apple rules out users under 22, pregnant women and anyone who already knows they have high blood pressure.
• Sleep apnoea: the watch spots moderate to severe signs in adults, and nothing beyond that.
• Blood oxygen: a wellness measurement, with no medical use.

None of these features delivers a diagnosis. An alert is a reason to see a doctor. The absence of an alert proves nothing at all. If you buy the watch outside Europe, check on Apple’s website first what is switched on in your country.

Diving, falls and rescue by satellite

The depth gauge and the subscription-based Oceanic+ app turn the Apple Watch Ultra 4 into a recreational dive computer down to 40 metres, compliant with the EN 13319 standard. Technical diving calls for a dedicated instrument.

The watch also detects falls and car crashes. With no network, it reaches the emergency services by satellite through the Globalstar constellation. The service stays free for two years from activation, and its availability depends on the country.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 battery life: two days without doing the maths

Fifty hours. The figure matches a precise scenario described by Apple: 38 hours of everyday use followed by 12 hours of sleep tracking, with two one-hour workouts and ten hours on the cellular network. The Ultra 3 stopped at 42 hours under the same conditions. In Low Power Mode, the total goes from 72 to 84 hours.

Early feedback does not contradict the promise. PCMag calls it an endurance monster. At Tom’s Guide, the gauge dropped 21% in eleven hours, including more than three hours of training. At that rate, two days look achievable.

On the run: 18, 25 or 45 hours, depending on what you are willing to give up

With every sensor active, an outdoor workout drains the Apple Watch Ultra 4 in 18 hours. The extended workout mode stretches that to 25 hours by switching on power saving. The new ultra-extended mode targets 45 hours at the cost of serious concessions: outdoor running or hiking only, iPhone left at home, alerts turned off.

On paper that is enough for a 100-miler. The competition plays in another league all the same: WatchGeneration notes that the Fenix 9 Pro reaches 87 hours in its most frugal mode. The same site spotted no Apple Watch among the watches identified on the top fifty finishers of the 2026 UTMB, which the winner wrapped up in 18 h 16. Released three weeks later, the new Ultra would not have turned the tables.

Charging: a quarter of an hour to get through the day

This is the most underrated step forward of the generation. Fifteen minutes on the puck give back 18 hours of normal use, and five minutes are enough for a night of sleep tracking. Allow around 45 minutes to reach 80%, and an hour and a quarter for a full charge.

Those times were measured with a 20 W adapter, which is not in the box. Apple supplies only the one-metre magnetic USB-C cable. For anyone living with load shedding, in Douala or in Conakry, a short window of power is enough to get the watch going again for the day.

Software: watchOS 27, delivered in instalments

The watch ships with watchOS 27. Pressing the Digital Crown no longer opens the app list but a dynamic grid where Siri sits alongside suggestions suited to the time of day.

The features reserved for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and the Series 12 revolve around audio. Live Rewind transcribes the last fifteen seconds of what was heard, handy when a station announcement has passed you by. Siri Recap is meant to summarise a recorded meeting, and a Health Age to set your fitness against the age on your passport.

“Meant to” is deliberate. Those last two will come later, Siri Recap in English only. The new AI-powered Siri is not available in the European Union at launch, Mac4Ever reports. So buy this product for what it does today, not for a software roadmap.

That leaves support. The company promises no set number of years of updates, but the first Ultra, released in 2022, has just been denied watchOS 27. Four years of major versions, then. At this price we would like better.

Compatibility: the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Android, the answer is no

Setting up the Apple Watch Ultra 4 takes an iPhone 11 at the very least, updated to iOS 27. No exceptions. With an Android phone you cannot even get past the welcome screen.

That constraint weighs heavily in West and Central Africa, where Android sits in the vast majority of pockets. If that is you, the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro works with both systems. Samsung loyalists should read our Apple Watch Series 11 versus Galaxy Watch 8 face-off instead, which poses the same dilemma one rung down.

In France, the cellular side requires a watch plan. Apple’s page on compatible networks lists Orange, SFR and Free, with 5G mentioned only for the first. Prepaid offers are often excluded.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 or Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, or even the Series 12: where to put your money

Against the Series 12, the contest is closer than it used to be. Men’s Health observes that the gap is narrowing: same S11 chip and same health sensors, for €449. The little sister tops out at 24 hours of battery life and 50 metres of water resistance, with no satellite link. The 2025 Series 11, when you can find it on promotion, does even better on budget.

Then there is the Fenix 9 Pro, at €1,099.99 (about 722,000 FCFA). It costs €200 more, lasts up to 18 days in 47 mm according to Garmin and plots routes on its topographic maps. For calls or apps it remains far behind. Two philosophies. Pick the one that looks like your weekends.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 price and availability: France, imports, West and Central Africa

In France: €899 everywhere, discounts will follow

The official price starts at €899 (about 590,000 FCFA) on the French Apple Store, with a textile loop or the Ocean Band. The titanium Milanese bracelet adds around a hundred euros to the bill. There is no non-cellular version of the Apple Watch Ultra 4, so you pay for the modem even if you never use it.

In early October, the big French retailers are matching Apple’s price. In the United States, Amazon knocked off 20 dollars the day after release, according to MacRumors. The Ultra 3, for its part, shed up to €150 on some versions in under a year. If nothing is pressing, wait for Black Friday.

Where to buy the Apple Watch Ultra 4 at the best price

La montre de sport et d'aventure d'Apple, en titane, avec 5G, SOS par satellite et jusqu'à 50 heures d'autonomie, réservée aux utilisateurs d'iPhone.

• AmazonSee at Amazon
• Fnac899.00 € Best priceSee at Fnac
• Darty899.00 €See at Darty

Prices checked on October 1, 2026. Prices and availability may change.

Some links on this page are affiliate links: Wanda-techs may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. This does not influence our opinion.

In West and Central Africa: imports, no eSIM to be had, warranty to check

There is no Apple Store in Yaoundé, Abidjan or Dakar. The watch arrives through authorised resellers, such as the iCenter opened in Douala in 2022, or through parallel imports, in the suitcase of a relative back from Paris. We have found no local price on display so far. Between shipping, customs and then the seller’s margin, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 will go well beyond 590,000 FCFA.

The sore point is the network. The carrier list published by Apple includes no African country: the watch’s eSIM therefore cannot be activated locally, and the 5G you pay for by default is a dead letter. The Ultra then behaves like a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi watch tied to the iPhone.

Two checks are in order before buying. The satellite link and hypertension notifications depend on the country. The warranty is handled by an authorised service centre, and not all of them will take on a watch bought abroad: put the question in writing. Finally, be wary of cut-price Ultras. Fakes are everywhere.

Pros and cons

What we like

• A claimed 50 hours of battery life, finally enough for a whole weekend.
• Continuous heart rate tracking, praised by the first independent reviews.
• Express charging: 15 minutes for 18 hours.
• A stable price, 5G and satellite included.

What holds it back

• Neither the design nor the display changes, and there is still no torch.
• AI features running late, and the new Siri absent in Europe.
• Running endurance still well short of Garmin and Coros.
• iPhone compulsory, and no watch eSIM in West and Central Africa.

Each complaint has its answer. The Series 12 settles the question of price and size, the Fenix 9 Pro that of endurance and Android.

Conclusion: should you buy the Apple Watch Ultra 4?

Yes, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is worth its price if you tick two boxes: an iPhone in your pocket and a sporting life that goes beyond the gym. Apple has fixed what people have held against it since 2022, without touching the price. Two days of battery life change everything: you sleep with the watch on, you leave for the weekend without a cable.

The answer becomes no in three cases. You own an Ultra 3: keep it. You are aiming at races longer than a day or week-long treks, and Garmin remains several lengths ahead. You use Android. End of debate.

Frequently asked questions