Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: there’s a clear winner

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra is the Samsung answer to Apple Watch Ultra. And the brand-new rugged wearable smartwatch by Samsung for those looking for a mildly larger size to enhance their everyday smartwatch experiences.

But this wasn’t Samsung’s first tough watch: the Galaxy Watch Ultra had come first – in 2022 – in the form of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, a decent smartwatch but never really a true spotlit competitor to the Apple Watch Ultra.

If you seek an overview of Samsung’s flagship new rugged smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 46mm, you won’t find it here, for the simple reason that I haven’t explored the Galaxy Watch Ultra series in-depth.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 46mm was the company’s most rugged smartwatch at the time of its release, but the rugged Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has since hit the market. That scenario leaves shoppers with a choice.

I’ll cover the details that assist in analyzing Samsung Galaxy smartwatches. In effect, which of Samsung’s durable smartwatches should you opt for?

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: specs

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: design and display

In some ways, this design is a delightful abomination: the Galaxy Watch Ultra feels like it’s directly inspired – or even ripped-off – by its biggest competitor, the Apple Watch Ultra. However, despite feeling like a wannabe Apple Watch Ultra when he first started using the Galaxy Watch Ultra, Pro Well Tech’ Mobile editor Joe Maring was over that feeling right in a week, coming away from his review concluding that the Galaxy Watch Ultra is the ‘most original and unique Android smartwatches you can buy in 2024’.

On the Galaxy Watch Ultra, that means a mostly square case fitting around a round dial. It’s definitely a big case – 47mm, which is the only size it comes up in – and it’s 12.1mm thick. The Quick Button on the right side of the case controls the watch This behemoth of a watch is festooned with bright orange accents, just like all of its siblings, though the blade-shaped Ultra from Suunto has two grey sections between the orange accents on its case.

Housed in a casing of aerospace-grade titanium, available in Titanium White, Titanium Silver and Titanium Gray, this latest addition to the stable has a customisable ‘cushion design’ that’s said to guard the display in certain extreme settings and which has been dubbed ‘the toughest Galaxy Watch yet’. The lug system has also been overhauled, and now functions on the same principle as the band mechanism of the Apple Watch.

An always-on 1.5-inch Super AMOLED screen that offers a blingy 3,000-nit maximum brightness, protected by hard-to-scratch sapphire crystal glass and offering 480 x 480 pixels of resolution. The Galaxy Watch Ultra offers IP68 water-resistance – which means it is dust-tight and ready to be submerged in water for a prolonged period of time – and a 100m water-resistance rating.

But, remember, Samsung cautions against wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra ‘in high-pressure water activities and diving’. Basically, if you’re thinking about getting some serious dolphin swimming in every day, stick to buying one of those old-fashioned waterproof watches.

At the same time, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a fully rounded case like classic watches and offers the choice of two colours Black Titanium or Grey Titanium and is made of titanium as well as the Galaxy Watch 5. The watch is covered with sapphire crystal glass on the top. It is also a super durable device. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro offers one size 45mm and is thinner as well at 10.5mm. There are two buttons on the side of it on the right. No Quick Button is available unlike the Galaxy Watch 5. Samsung company uses straps’ width of 22mm on the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

Galaxy Watch 5 Pro always-on Super AMOLED, 1.4-inch display, 450 × 450 pixels, IP68The Galaxy Watch Ultra always-on Super AMOLED, 1.4-inch display, 450 × 450 pixels, IP68The difference in display features may be subtle, but there are other distinctions that showcase the line separating the two watches. A major difference is that the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a 5ATM rating for water submersion, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra has a 10ATM rating (bye, 50-metre submersion, hello, 100-metre submersion), nevermind the third display.

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: health tracking features

There’s actually a bit more health tracker functionality on the Galaxy Watch Ultra than there is on the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

Both the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro have the same general collection of sensors: heart rate, ECG, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), SpO2, temperature, accelerometer, gyroscope, alti-barometer, ambient light and compass. The BioActive Sensor on the Galaxy Watch Ultra is bigger, thanks to its hardware upgrade, allowing it to provide sleep apnea detections and AGEs index tracking (a metric that ‘may help’ you understand your body’s biological ageing process, Samsun warns). Unfortunately, while the sleep apnea detections seemed solid, we weren’t convinced by the AGEs metric at all.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch Ultra throws in a few AI-purported perks – Energy Score and Wellness Tips. Energy Score spits out (on a scale of 1 to 100) that day’s energy score by looking at the combined data of your sleep. Go an even more rosy bot-tinted hue as Wellness Tips looks into your health data and comes up with a set of recommended tips while that data churns.

Among the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro’s features here are heart and blood oxygen monitoring, advanced sleep coaching (but no sleep apnoea detection), automatic workout tracking, body composition and cycle tracking. (All of these, save for the body comp and Energy Score metrics, are on the Watch Ultra too.) Samsung says it will bring Energy Score and Wellness Tips to existing Galaxy Watches beginning on 22 August, as long as you have an Android phone and an Android 10 or higher model.

After all, even following the rollout of software updates, the Galaxy 5 Pro cannot detect sleep apnoea or provide the AGEs index. The reason is simple, it lacks the new BioActive Sensor available only on the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: performance and charging

The Galaxy Watch Ultra operates atop Samsung’s most powerful chip yet, the Exynos W1000, the very same SoC that powers the Galaxy Watch 7. It’s Samsung’s and the watch industry’s first 3nm processor. Put simply, the user experience is buttery smooth and powerful.

The Exynos W1000 is three times faster than its predecessor, Samsung’s Exynos W930, which was featured in the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. The Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with 2GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

In contrast, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro employs the Exynos W920 processor with 1.5GB RAM and 16GB storage. This could lead to a device that’s several times slower than the W1000 even, with less RAM and storage to spare. Tasks such as showing notification information on the watch screen, or having to press a menu item multiple times before a system recognises it are unavoidably slower. Using third-party watch faces is likely to exacerbate the slowdown (without inconveniencing you).

Keep that in mind, then: while the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is cheap as chips today, some compromises have to be made.

Both the Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro have inside them the same 590mAh battery. You can expect battery life to be about the same on both watches. The Galaxy Watch Ultra’s more efficient processor will help to compensate for its brighter (if relatively more power-hungry display).

While we were going through our tests, Galaxy Watch Ultra’s battery would last roughly a day or and a half to two days on a full charge with a healthy helping of physical activity. Samsung says you should get at least 48 hours of use in exercise power-saving mode, while up to 100 hours in standard power-saving mode.

Unlike the other Galaxy Watch models, the Ultra also supports faster charging thanks to an up to 15W wireless charging puck that comes in the box. But even with the fastest advertised charging speed, on the Galaxy Watch Ultra you’ll need to wait up to 90 minutes per cycle before you can continue using the wearable on a daily basis – not the quickest, so you may want to keep the cable and plug handy.

In our review of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, we were able to achieve about three full days of usage – if that’s all you do each day is a 30-minute workout – before you’d need to recharge. But normal use should get you at least two full days. It ships with a slower 10W charger, which prolongs charging times, and makes it slower than the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: software and updates

Both the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro run Wear OS, with Samsung’s own One UI Watch interface over the top. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro was released more recently, and it’s about midway through its life cycle.

Its running software was Wear OS 4, overlaid with Samsung’s One UI Watch 5, and the company has guaranteed four years of lifetime software updates to both the Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro, which started in 2022. This means the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will still be operational through 2026.

Sporting one of the first iterations of Wear OS 5 on Android smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s new operating system promises a considerable performance boost and power savings over the initial version. Samsung’s One UI 6 interface added on top is designed to provide a more optimised Samsung experience.

The new feed on the Galaxy Watch Ultra is visually practically identical to its previous version, although early impressions are that items delivered to the screen are more fluid, arriving faster and with a little more ‘snap’. Samsung added a globally distinctive ‘Double Pinch’ gesture that works on the screen with a tap of the thumb and index finger, and which allows you to answer calls, toggle between music, dismiss alarms, and even snap a photo with a paired Samsung phone.

But you’ll also need to consider that, just like the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has four years of supported updates – which means it will be covered by those through to 2028 at least.

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: price and availability

Given that the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is the first serious American competitor to the Apple Watch Ultra, I probably don’t need to say that it doesn’t come cheap either. At $650, it’s available, white, or grey — and comes with three different types of bands. You can get it directly from Samsung or from retailers including Amazon and Best Buy.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 Pro boots up but cannot find the heart rate. Word has it some sales are still moving on Samsung’s website and through retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, available in black or grey, and for a song these days (under $154 for a certified refurbished one or around $250 for new).

However, in light of the fact that the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro’s support period would barely go beyond the two-year mark, you can always get the Galaxy Watch Ultra if you have enough funds.

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs. Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: verdict

A month or so after our Galaxy Watch Ultra review, I can happily say that I like it a lot better than I did when we first opened the box – despite all its shortcomings.

It’s more than the fact that Big Graft picked up the square-round Apple Watch Ultra homage and the sleep apnea detection and it’s certainly more than the squircle which sets it apart from other Wear OS devices, the Galaxy Watch5 is rugged enough for the toughest and most difficult extremes of environments, all while being packed to the absolute stress limit of its design with astounding health sensors and Galaxy AI health analytics including Energy Score and Wellness Tips, and it comes in a variety of colours.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro was only launched two years ago, is about half-way through its supported life cycle, and was also slow from day one. The Galaxy Watch Ultra has a far faster processor, significantly greater RAM and double the storage. Wear OS 5 is also a big plus, and we should get in the region of two full days between charges, depending on use.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is definitely buying material in 2024 – especially considering regular sales and reductions you’re now seeing. But if you can afford to buy a new one and you want the best rugged Galaxy watch Samsung can offer, then the Galaxy Watch Ultra is probably what you should buy.