Apple launches 'most rugged' Apple Watch Ultra 2 in India

Apart from the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple has introduced the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which comes loaded with a powerful new S9 SiP chip and offers key features like the 'double tap' gesture, the brightest display, expanded altitude range, on-device Siri, precision finding for iPhone, and advanced capabilities for water adventures.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 runs on watchOS 10. This delivers redesigned apps, the new smart stack and cycling experiences, features to help explore the outdoors, and a new watch face — Modular Ultra. Apple Watch Ultra 2 also offers the same 36-hour battery life, with regular use, and up to 72 hours in low power mode.

In a first for Apple, Apple Watch Ultra 2 also offers a carbon-neutral option, in line with the US-based tech major's 2030 plan of becoming "carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 orders have opened on September 12, with availability beginning Friday, September 22. Apple Watch Ultra 2 is priced at ₹89,900.

“This year we’ve made our most rugged and capable Apple Watch even better,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “Apple Watch Ultra 2 is our most advanced Apple Watch, with great performance and feature updates. It’s perfect for anyone who wants our biggest, brightest display, longest battery life, and best GPS of any Apple Watch, all in a stunning design.”

Apple Watch Ultra 2, powered by custom Apple silicon in the all-new S9 SiP, is Apple’s "most powerful watch chip yet", which helps it efficiently do critical tasks like "new double tap gesture" and on-device Siri with the ability to access and log health data "privately and securely". The 'double tap gesture' feature allows users to control Ultra 2 using just one hand and without touching the display.

Apple says Watch Ultra 2 also has a new 4-core neural engine, which can process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast as the original Apple Watch Ultra. Users can tap the index finger and thumb of their watch hand together twice to perform many of the most common actions, including opening of the Smart Stack and scrolling through widgets.

"Double tap controls the primary button in an app so it can be used to stop a timer, play and pause music, or snooze an alarm. The gesture can be used to answer and end a phone call, take a photo with the camera remote on Apple Watch, or even switch to the new elevation view in the compass app to see the relative elevation of saved waypoints."

The maximum brightness of Apple Watch Ultra 2 has been enhanced to 3000 nits — 50 percent brighter than the first generation of Apple Watch Ultra and the brightest display Apple has ever designed.

As the name suggests, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is designed for extremes. Apple claims to have tested it for use across the largest range of altitudes for any Apple product, from 500 meters below sea level to explore the lowest valleys, and up to 9,000 meters to ascend the world’s tallest peaks.

During a freedive with the Oceanic+ app, users will see critical data like depth and elapsed time, and receive target depth alerts. Between dives, heart rate zones help users monitor and lower their heart rate, and preset alarms like surface time and elapsed session time guide users through each training session.

In the precision finding feature, a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip provides distance and direction, as well as visual, haptic, and audio guidance to a misplaced iPhone. Apple also says that select case and band combinations of Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch SE, and the new Apple Watch Series 9 will come as "carbon neutral products".