Samsung has officially unveiled its next generation smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, at Galaxy Unpacked in London. Pre-orders for both devices went live immediately following the announcement, with an official release date of August 7, coinciding with the launch of Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series announced at the same event.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 arrives more than two years after the original Galaxy Watch Ultra, giving Samsung’s premium outdoor focused smartwatch its first true generational update following prior competition from devices such as the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the Garmin Venu X1. The new Ultra model comes in a single 47mm size and carries a larger 800mAh battery, a 35 percent increase over its predecessor that could allow the watch to run beyond three days under typical use. It also gains an IP69K durability rating and a casing that has been slimmed down by 12 percent to 10.7mm, along with a display capable of reaching 5,000 nits of peak brightness, a level Samsung says currently has no equal among competing smartwatches.
The Galaxy Watch 9 is available in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm, though only the larger model receives a battery upgrade, moving to a 390mAh cell for a 20 percent increase, while the smaller 40mm version retains its previous battery capacity. Both new watches move away from Samsung’s own Exynos chips in favor of the Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, marking the company’s shift toward Qualcomm silicon for its wearable lineup, a change expected to improve overall responsiveness. Health tracking has also been expanded across both models, with new metrics including Vitals, Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, and Fitness Index designed to compete with dedicated fitness devices from Whoop and Fitbit.
Pricing has increased on both models compared with their predecessors, with the Galaxy Watch 9 starting at $379.99 for the 40mm version and $409 for the 44mm model, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 starts at $699.99, a $50 increase over the original Ultra. Samsung has not released a Galaxy Watch 9 Classic alongside this launch, with the company expected to maintain its established biennial schedule for that model. Both new watches remain compatible with other Android smartphones, though certain features, including body composition scanning, will only function when paired with a Samsung device.
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