At its latest Unpacked event, Samsung showed off the Galaxy Watch 7 and the new Galaxy Watch Ultra. Both watches offer some exciting upgrades for those in the market for a new Samsung smartwatch, but the latter is also a serious shot at Apple's premium smartwatch crown.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is a brand new model aimed at those looking for a more rugged smartwatch that can go toe-to-toe with the Apple Watch Ultra. The Watch Ultra only comes in one size, 47mm, and has a 1.47-inch Super AMOLED display (meaning it's slightly brighter and more vivid than past Samsung AMOLED displays).
The watch uses Grade 4 Titanium materials and is IP68 water and dust-resistant. It can also be used at high altitudes (up to 9,000 meters) and can withstand up to 10ATM of pressure. For those planning on using the Watch UItra while hiking, the watch has a built-in siren in case of emergencies, and there will be an LTE variant of the watch available.
Powering the watch is the Samsung Exynos W1000 chip, which should make navigating Wear OS much smoother. There's also 32GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM. The battery in the Galaxy Watch Ultra is 590 mAh with Fast Charging support, so the watch should easily last days. Sensors are on par with the current Watch 6 lineup. The Galaxy Watch Ultra will be available in Titanium Grey, White and Silver color options. Sadly, it doesn't have a rotating bezel, so you'll have to resort to a touch bezel instead.
You can pre-order the Galaxy Watch Ultra starting for $649 today and it'll launch on July 24th.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7
If you don't need such a big and rugged watch, there's the Galaxy Watch 7. The watch comes in two sizes: 40mm with a 1.31-inch screen and 44mm with a 1.47-inch screen. It also lacks the rotating bezel, but there is a touch bezel to control your watch without using the touchscreen.
The Galaxy Watch 7 is powered by the Exynos W1000 chip with 2GB of RAM along with 32GB of storage. The battery in the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7 is 300 mAh, while the 44mm has a 425 mAh battery, but both have Fast Charging support. The Watch 7 is also IP68 water and dust-resistant and is made from aluminum materials. Like the Ultra, sensors are on par with both Galaxy Watch 6 options, so you won't lose any readings by choosing the 7 over the Ultra. Color choices for the Galaxy Watch 7 include Cream, Silver and Green
Pre-orders for the Galaxy Watch 7 start today for $299 and ship on July 24th.