Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra, and both watches have some exciting new features that are sure to capture the attention of anyone looking for a new smartwatch. Whether it’s going to be your first smartwatch or an upgrade, both the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra are prime picks. Packed with features including Samsung’s Galaxy AI tech, these new smartwatches have a lot to offer the consumer looking for a new wrist-worn companion.
That being said, there are a lot of important details about each watch that you’ll want to be privy to. Here’s the good news. Even though there’s a lot to learn about Samsung’s latest wearables, we’ve laid it all out for you right here. From pricing to specs to features and availability, everything you need to know about the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra can be found right here in this post. So let’s dig in and learn about two of the hottest new smartwatches on the market.
What are the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra?
These are Samsung’s newest smartwatches to hit the market and a nice upgrade from the previous models. They connect to your smartphone and offer plenty of companion features to help you do things hands-free. Each also offers something a little different. And depending on what you want out of a smartwatch, one of them should fit your needs.
For example, if you want something super smart but don’t need the extra bells and whistles, go with the Galaxy Watch 7. If you want something that’s more suitable for outdoor adventures and has a tougher build quality, go with the Galaxy Watch Ultra.
What will each watch cost?
Smartwatches vary in price from brand to brand and from model to model. The nice thing about Samsung’s Galaxy Watches is that they always tend to stick around similar prices to previous models. Although, things are a tiny bit different this year.
The Galaxy Watch 7 will stick to a respectable and affordable $299. Now this is a starting price, too. So keep that in mind. The price will go up if you decide to go for the larger size watch, and if you decide to go with the cellular model as opposed to the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth-only option.
As for the Galaxy Watch Ultra, it’ll retail for one flat price of $649. It only comes in one size variant and only in a cellular option. So there are no price variances here. Another thing to keep in mind is that these are prices that will be directly from Samsung, as well as other retailers. However, there will be offers available from some retailers that may knock this price down a bit for you. So be sure to check if the retailer you plan to buy from has any of these offers available. For example, there may be trade-in offers you can take advantage of.
And some places, like carriers, might have options to split up the payments if the watch is added to a data line.
When are the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra available?
If you’re looking to buy one of these, then this is the best part. Samsung is making these watches available very, very soon. In fact, you can pre-order both of them starting today, July 10. As for the official launch date, as in when you can buy one and have it shipped right away, this should be later this month. Samsung hasn’t confirmed specific launch dates. Having said that, at least one carrier, Verizon, has mentioned a launch date for the Galaxy Ring.
It’ll be available from Verizon on July 24. And since the Galaxy Ring, Galaxy Watch 7, and Galaxy Watch Ultra all have the same July 10 pre-order dates, there is a good chance that both new watches will launch on this date as well. Again though, this is not confirmed and merely speculation on our part.
Where you can buy the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra?
As to be expected, the usual suspects apply here. You can pre-order, and eventually buy the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra directly from Samsung. Specifically from Samsung’s website. You can also purchase either watch or both watches from a variety of different retail partners. As is the case with every new Samsung Galaxy Watch the company launches each year.
Samsung is, of course, a global company, too. So which retail partners have these new watches will depend on where you live in the world and what retailers you have there. For the US, the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra will be available from the following retailers:
Galaxy Watch 7
Galaxy Watch Ultra
What are the specs?
Both the Galaxy Watch 7 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra have some specs that are similar to last year’s Galaxy Watch 6 series devices, but many of the specs have been updated or improved.
Galaxy Watch 7
Starting with the Galaxy Watch 7, the watch comes in 40mm and 44mm sizes, with a display size of 1.3 inches for the 40mm watch and 1.5 inches for the 44mm. Both sizes are using a Super AMOLED panel and have their displays protected by Sapphire Crystal Glass.
In terms of the processor, the Galaxy Watch 7 is running on Samsung’s all-new W1000 chipset with 2GB of RAM and now 32GB of storage compared to the 16GB on the Galaxy Watch 6. For the battery, you’re looking at a 300mAh battery in the 40mm model and a slightly larger 425mAh battery in the 44mm model. Both of these should provide ample battery life on a single charge. However, the 44mm model will likely last a bit longer.
Both of these sizes also support Fast Charging and they come running on Wear OS 5 with Samsung One UI 6 Watch software on top. In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy Watch 7 can connect through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, as well as LTE if you get the LTE variant. The watch also features NFC, GPS (L1 + L5), GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo. You’ll also find a wide range of sensors for tracking including Samsung’s BioActive sensor, a temperature sensor, a barometer, an accelerometer, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and a light sensor.
The Galaxy Watch 7 also has a 5ATM + IP68/ MIL-STD-810H rating for water and dust resistance and military-grade drop protection. In terms of weight, both watches are pretty light. The 40mm model weighs 28.8 grams and the 44mm model weighs 33.8 grams.
Galaxy Watch Ultra
For the Galaxy Watch Ultra, many of the specs are the same, including the sensors, RAM and storage amounts, the Sapphire Crystal Glass, fast charging support, and software versions. The Galaxy Watch Ultra differs in plenty of areas too though. For example, it has a much larger capacity battery at 590mAh. It’s also a larger watch overall at 47mm, although the display size is the same as the 44mm Galaxy Watch 7 at 1.5 inches.
Samsung has also bumped up the protection ratings on this model, going from 5ATM to 10ATM41, giving it the ability to be used during ocean swimming and making it operation temperature/altitude guaranteed. Additionally, it weighs 60.5 grams.
What colors do the watches come in and how many will there be?
Samsung has mostly kept things the same here and is offering each watch in multiple colors. In fact, each watch comes in three colors in total. For now at least. Samsung may offer more colors later on as it sometimes does. But for the time being, you can get the Galaxy Watch 7 in three colors, and the Galaxy Watch Ultra in three colors.
Which colors you have to choose from, however, depends on which watch you get. The Galaxy Watch 7 will come in Green and Cream for the 40mm size, and Green and Silver for the 44mm size. The Galaxy Watch Ultra meanwhile, will come in Titanium Silver, Titanium Gray, and Titanium White, and there’s only one size at 47mm.
Are there any deals available?
There are most certainly deals available on both smartwatches and these will vary based on where you pre-order. With that said, many of these deals may only be available during the pre-order period. This is something that you will want to check when you go to pick one up, as the pre-order period ends on July 23 since the full launch of both watches is July 24.
During the pre-order period which started July 10, Samsung is offering the Galaxy Watch Ultra for $600 instead of its regular price of $650. If you have an older smartwatch to trade in though, you can save up to an additional $350. So it’s worth considering trading in your old watch as you can end up getting this new one for about half off.
For the Galaxy Watch 7, you can pick up the 40mm for $250 instead of $300, and the 44mm for $280 instead of $330. The trade-in offers are available for this watch as well, allowing you to save up to an additional $225 depending on the watch you’re trading in.
What are the new features?
While most of the features are returning from last year, Samsung has baked some new and improved features into its latest offerings. The most notable of these is the Galaxy AI software. What this does on the new watches includes powering a new sleep algorithm that can tell you a handful of different things. For example, it can tell you how long it takes you to fall asleep and what you can do to stay asleep if you’ve been having trouble with it.
Both new watches also now include the Sleep Apnea monitoring that Samsung got approved by the FDA earlier this year. Sleep Apnea can lead to some serious issues and these new watches are now capable of helping you notice if you might be suffering from this disorder.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra has some new features that are unique to it. A new Quick Button on the side of the watch allows you to quickly start and pause activities on the fly. So say you’ve started a run and the watch is now tracking that activity. if you need to abruptly stop you can hit the Quick Button to pause this tracking. You can instantly initiate and control other workout activities as well depending on what you’re doing. And the Quick Button can be used to activate the Emergency Siren for safety issues.
Do the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra have any accessories?
There will certainly be more in time, not to mention quite a few more coming from third-party brands. Right off the bat, you’ll be able to find some accessories directly from Samsung. This includes a number of different band options for each watch model. Eventually, there may also be accessories like cases from Spigen that go around the body of the Galaxy Watch 7, just as there was for the Galaxy Watch 6.
You may also be able to find screen protectors for both watches at some point as well. For now, it seems like you’ll only find additional band options, and currently only from Samsung. But there should be some popping up on Amazon and other retailers in due time.
Galaxy Watch Ultra
Galaxy Watch 7
Will my old watch bands work with the new Galaxy Watch 7 and/or Galaxy Watch Ultra?
Normally, the answer to this question would be yes. Samsung’s past watches have worked with the bands from previous models for at least the past few years. Samsung has generally only updated the mechanism that locks the band into place while keeping the size of the fit the same. This year appears to potentially be different.
On the company’s website, searching for accessories for either watch leads right to the watch band page. And if you add the filters for Galaxy Watch 7 and/or Galaxy Watch Ultra compatibility, only the new bands that were unveiled today alongside the new watches appear. At the moment it’s not entirely clear if some of the older bands will work with these new watches. So you’ll want to double-check when going to buy one.
That being said, some of the bands for the Galaxy Watch 7 also appear to have the same attachment mechanism as last year’s bands with the one-click button attachment. So there is a chance older bands will work. Again, though, make sure to double-check before buying something so you don’t have to end up returning it if it isn’t compatible.
Are these new watches waterproof?
Both watches are water-resistant and should have no trouble getting wet. There is an important distinction to make about this though. The Galaxy Watch 7 comes with a 5ATM + IP68 rating, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra has a 10ATM41 + IP68 rating. Making it significantly more equipped to withstand water. In reality, the Galaxy Watch 7 should be fine if getting wet from rain, splashed water, or even the water from a shower. But it’s not recommended to go swimming with the watch on.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is a different story. This comes with the 10ATM41 + IP68 rating and is rated for ocean swimming. So you could wear this watch underwater and it should still be fine as it’s rated for depths equivalent to 100 meters. With all of that said, this doesn’t mean that water couldn’t cause either of these watches to fail. So exercise caution and good judgment here. When in doubt, it’s probably best to take the watch off.
For the Galaxy Watch Ultra specifically, this could depend on the type of water and where you are, what the temperatures might be, and how deep you might be going. So keep that in mind as well.
What’s the battery life going to be like?
This will depend heavily on how you use the watch, but based on Samsung’s information (without having done any testing ourselves yet), both the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra should last noticeably longer than their predecessors.
Samsung says the Galaxy Watch Ultra can last for up to 100 hours while it’s in its Power Save mode. But keep in mind this mode generally disables many of the features. When it’s in the Exercise Mode, battery life is still respectable at up to 48 hours according to Samsung. It’s always important to remember that these are also just lab tests done by Samsung. Real-world experiences may and probably will vary from person to person.
For the Galaxy Watch 7, Samsung doesn’t explicitly state what the battery life is. However, it should be able to get up to 40 or so hours of battery life on a single charge. Which is pretty good for a smartwatch running on Wear OS these days. Again, lots of factors can change this, including screen brightness, whether or not you’re using LTE connectivity, and what sorts of features and tracking you’re using. Regardless of all that, both models should achieve better battery life between charges than the Galaxy Watch 6 series models. And that’s a good thing.
How many years of updates will the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra have?
Both watches will get four years of software updates from Samsung. That being said, it’s not clear if that means four years of OS updates. More than likely, it pertains mostly to updates that will include some new features and improvements to security and stability. There is probably going to be at least one Wear OS software revision in there. But Google doesn’t release new Wear OS versions as often as it releases new Android versions.
However, Samsung is committed to 7 years of OS and security updates for its phones. So there is still a chance it could be taking the same approach here with the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra. It really all depends on how often Google pushes out new versions of Wear OS. Both watches will start with Wear OS 5, making them the first smartwatches to have it. And that’s a good start.
Should you buy the Galaxy Watch 7 and/or Galaxy Watch Ultra?
This will really all depend on what you want from a smartwatch. If you want something new and fresh, then these are both going to be good smartwatches to choose from and would be worthy upgrades. If you’re already resolved to getting one of the new watches from Samsung but you just aren’t sure which one, then this too will depend on what you’re looking for.
The Galaxy Watch 7 is the perfect fit for anyone who needs or wants something that’s capable with plenty of function but doesn’t need anything tailored for outdoor adventure. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is the watch you want to go with if you want something that’s tougher, has a larger battery, and ultimately more features. That does mean it will come with a higher price tag. But it’s worth it if you want a watch that can keep up with you on excursions or treks through the mountains, while surfing, and the like.
If you’re coming from a Galaxy Watch 6 or Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, then it’s not as big of a jump to move to something like the Galaxy Watch 7. The Galaxy Watch Ultra on the other hand is different enough to warrant the swap. In short, both watch models are going to be good options for consumers. And they’re most certainly worth considering for an upgrade.
2024-07-11 15:08:15