Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025): What we know about its surprise return

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) appears to be the official name for the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, the successor to the expensive Samsung flagship watch launched last year.

We fully expected the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic to take the Galaxy Watch Ultra's place this year, as Samsung tends to alternate releases by year. Instead, it seems Samsung will rerelease the Galaxy Watch Ultra. The only question is whether anything has changed with this version.

Here's everything we know so far, from pricing and design to any new features.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) price and launch

Samsung has announced that the summer Galaxy Unpacked takes place on July 9 at 10 a.m. ET. We expect Samsung to announce the Galaxy Watch 8, Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7, and Project Moohan at the event, though none have been officially confirmed yet.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) would appear alongside the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic. And according to this WinFuture pricing leak, the Watch Ultra (2025) will have an "unchanged" price from last year, €699, in Europe. By contrast, the Watch 8 will allegedly cost about €50 more than last year.

Presumably, the Watch Ultra (2025) would still cost $649 / £599 / CA$879 in other territories, making it expensive for a smartwatch but still cheaper than an Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Last year, Samsung held Unpacked on July 10 and released its devices two weeks later on the 24th. Following this pattern, we could see the new Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) on July 23rd, but this is speculation for now.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) design

We've seen several leaked renders of the upcoming 2025 lineup of Galaxy Watches, shown above and below. The Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic will allegedly follow in the Ultra's footsteps with a more squircle-shaped case, while the Ultra (2025) will return with the same general design as last year.

Evan Blass posted Galaxy Watch renders showing that the Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) could sport a new deep blue colorway and silver titanium bezel, paired with the same 1.5-inch AMOLED display, orange Quick button, and BioActive sensor as the previous generation.

The full lineup of watches, shown in the render above, shows how the standard Watch 8 has a thicker, less rounded bezel than before, but not as large as the Ultra's and made of aluminum. The Watch 8 Classic will have a rotating, ridged steel bezel sitting atop the squircle case, which contrasts with the smooth, colored titanium bezel on the Ultra (2025).

The Watch Ultra (2024) launched in Titanium Silver, Gray, and Black. The 2025 model could add Titanium Blue while keeping the other colors, replace one of them, or come with other new colors. We'll find out soon enough.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) design may have slight measurement changes that aren't visible in these renders. But otherwise, it should have the same band mechanism and about 60g of weight.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) hardware and specs

Considering the Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) isn't the Watch Ultra 2 (according to these leaks) and has an unchanged price, we don't expect any significant changes to the hardware. But that doesn't mean Samsung won't change anything.

Last year, the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Watch 7 shared the same 3nm Exynos W1000 chipset with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, plus the same health sensors and connectivity standards like Bluetooth 5.3, dual-band GPS. They both had MIL-STD-810H certification for durability and sapphire glass protection.

So it's fair to say that the Watch Ultra (2025) will only get upgraded in these areas if the Watch 8 also gets an upgrade. So far, we haven't heard anything, and we may only see minor differences in specs this year. But we can't say anything definitive until Unpacked next month.

The Watch Ultra (2024) did have a brighter display at 3,000 nits, plus built-in LTE; the 2025 model will bring back these upgrades, at least. It also had a 590mAh battery; the 2025 watch will (at least) bring this extra capacity back for an estimated 60 hours per charge with AOD.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) software

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The Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) may launch with One UI 8 Watch, as the beta will launch this month with health features like the Antioxidant Index, Running Coach, Bedtime Guidance, and Vascular Load. If the stable update isn't ready, it'll first run One UI 6 Watch, like the current Ultra.

Leaked One UI 8 Watch data has shown it'll support features like a Now Bar you can summon with a gesture, adaptive charging, and new app shortcut icons. But we'll get official confirmation on these features soon.

Samsung and Google have also confirmed that Gemini is coming to Wear OS soon. The new Samsung lineup seems like the ideal launching point for the new Assistant replacement, but perhaps Google will save this update for the Pixel Watch 4, which should arrive a couple of months later.

The Watch Ultra (2025) should get four years of One UI Watch version and security updates through 2029, whereas last year's Ultra loses support in 2028. But we'll wait for official confirmation on this.

Hoping for more Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) upgrades

Most of this information is very speculative, but we should be able to provide much more definitive information in just a couple of weeks after Galaxy Unpacked.

We're glad that Samsung hasn't raised the Ultra (2025) price, allegedly, but $650 remains prohibitively expensive for a lot of people. Many buyers will drop down to the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic because of it.

We'd love it if Samsung gave Ultra buyers more reason to be excited about this 2025 refresh: More gorgeous colors than Blue, an even larger battery capacity, converting the Quick Button into a functional crown, better display resolution, or other perks that wouldn't show up in renders.

But we suspect this Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) update will feel fairly iterative, sticking to the template that made the first Ultra one of the best Android watches available.