Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 vs Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Smartwatch Head-to-Head

In addition to new foldables, Samsung also announced two new smart watches at the company’s latest Galaxy Unpacked event: the Galaxy Watch 9 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Both watches advance the company’s wearables offerings, but in different ways. 

Much like with previous generations, the Watch 9 is designed to be an everyday health companion. It comes in 40mm ($380) and 44mm ($410) options with a round aluminum body. The Watch 9 offers plenty of health and fitness features, such as activity and sleep tracking.

The Watch Ultra 2 ($700), however, is meant to be more of a sports performance watch. It’s built for the outdoors and has extra features designed to assist the aspiring athlete, such as real-time hydration guidance and trail-running assistance.

We’ve compared the two new Galaxy Watches below. 

Pricing for Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 vs. Galaxy Watch Ultra 2

The Galaxy Watch 9 comes in two sizes and prices: The smaller 40mm for $380 and larger 44mm for $410. If you want cellular connectivity, you’ll pay $50 extra: The 40mm LTE version is $430, while the 44mm LTE version is $460. 

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 comes in a single 47mm size and is priced at $699.

Like other devices coming out this year, Samsung’s smartwatches suffered a price jump from their predecessors. The Galaxy Watch 9 is $30 more, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is $50 pricier.

In terms of color, the 40mm Watch 9 ships in cream and graphite and the 44mm ships in silver and graphite. The Watch Ultra 2 comes in suitably utilitarian colors such as titanium gray and titanium silver. 

Design and display

The Galaxy Watch 9 looks and feels very similar to its predecessor, the Galaxy Watch 8. It has the same aluminum build that ships in both 40mm and 44mm, with a round display set in a slightly square base. The Ultra 2, on the other hand, is available in just 47mm and is built out of a much beefier titanium grade 4. It too has a squircle-esque design — a round display set inside a rounded square base.

The Galaxy Watch 9 is water-resistant up to 50 meters, while the Watch Ultra 2 is water-resistant up to 100 meters. 

The Watch 9’s 40mm option has a 1.3-inch Super AMOLED display with a 438 x 438 resolution, while the 44mm has a 1.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 480×480-pixel resolution. The Watch Ultra 2 has a slightly larger 1.52-inch Super AMOLED display with a 498×498-pixel resolution. The Watch 9 has a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, while the Watch Ultra 2 has a peak brightness of 5,000 nits, which is up 2,000 nits over its predecessor.

As it’s built out of titanium grade 4 instead of aluminum, the Watch Ultra 2 is also thicker and heavier than the Watch 9. The Watch 9 measures only 8.6mm thick, while the Watch Ultra 2 is 10.7mm thick. As for their weight, the 40mm Watch 9 weighs in at 31.5 grams, the 44mm Watch 9 is 34 grams, and the Watch Ultra 2 is much beefier at 61.5 grams.

That said, while the Watch 9’s design remains the same as the Watch 8, the Watch Ultra 2 is 12% thinner and 25% lighter than its predecessor, making it a better choice if you’re looking to upgrade from the first Watch Ultra. 

Health and safety features

The Watch 9’s features are identical to those of the Watch 8, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It has a slew of sensors, including a bioelectrical impedance analysis sensor, an electrical heart sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an infrared temperature sensor, an optical heart rate sensor and a light sensor. It also has a skin analysis feature that tracks carotenoids (antioxidants in the skin) via different color LEDs. 

The Watch Ultra 2 offers the same features, but adds to that with a few more adventure-specific modes. It has hydration guidance, which can predict sweat loss and offer suggestions to drink water to prevent dehydration. It has a trail-running feature that lets you download maps and monitor elevation and terrain. If you’re into diving, the Watch Ultra 2 has a diving app that helps you track depth and temperature. However, the diving app isn’t preloaded at launch, so we’re not sure how helpful it is just yet. 

Both the Watch 9 and the Watch Ultra 2 have emergency SOS and fall detection features. The Watch Ultra 2 offers a siren as well. 

Battery and specs

The Galaxy Watch 9 has a 20% larger battery compared with its predecessor. The 40mm version now has a 390-mAh battery, while the 44mm has a 445-mAh battery. According to Samsung, they should last up to 30 hours on a single charge with their always-on display mode enabled. 

If all you want is a larger battery, however, the Watch Ultra 2 wins out. It has an 800-mAh battery, which is a big 35% jump up from the 590-mAh battery on its predecessor. According to Samsung, it should last up to 60 hours with regular use, up to 48 hours in a low-power exercise mode and up to 100 hours in a power-saving mode. 

Both watches now have a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite processor instead of the Exynos W1000 chip that was in the Watch 8. The Watch 9 has 2GB of memory and 32GB of storage, while the Watch Ultra 2 has 2GB of memory and 64GB of storage. 

I started my career with CNET all the way back in 2005, when the (original) Motorola Razrs were all the rage. Since then, I’ve written about everything from consumer electronics to internet culture for outlets like CNET, Engadget and Yahoo. Outside of work, I’m a big fan of baseball, board games, tabletop RPGs and improv comedy.

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