In the long contest between technology's great rivals, Samsung has chosen imitation over invention — releasing a $650 smartwatch that mirrors Apple's Ultra in design, features, and even price, while quietly retiring the rotating bezel and circular identity that once made its wearables distinctly its own. The Galaxy Watch Ultra is, by most measures, the finest Android smartwatch available, yet its excellence arrives at a philosophical cost: a company that once charted its own course has chosen to follow someone else's map. It is a story as old as markets themselves — the tension between the saf
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: A capable Apple Watch clone that loses its soul
Samsung lost something essential: itself
Mark
Why does it sting so much that Samsung copied Apple? Aren't all smartwatches converging on similar features anyway?
Mimi
Because Samsung used to have something Apple didn't—that rotating bezel, the circular design, a personality. When you copy someone else's homework, you're admitting you don't have your own ideas. And for a company that once defined its own category, that's a loss.
Mark
But the watch works well. The battery lasts longer than Apple's. Isn't that what matters to someone actually buying it?
Mimi
It does work well, and yes, battery life is genuinely better. But there's a difference between a product that functions and a product that feels like it has a reason to exist. This watch feels like it's apologizing for not being an Apple Watch.
Mark
The squircle design—is that really that bad, or are you being precious about aesthetics?
Mimi
It's not precious. On smaller wrists, it literally doesn't fit well. You can fit three pens in the gap between the case and skin. That's not a design choice; that's a failure. And it's uglier than either a square or a circle would be.
Mark
What about the health features? The AGEs metric sounds interesting, even if it's vague.
Mimi
It sounds interesting until you realize Samsung can't explain what it means or what you're supposed to do with the data. It tells you to eat healthy and sleep well while also telling you to stop exercising so hard. That's not health tracking; that's noise.
Mark
So who should actually buy this watch?
Mimi
Android users who want the most capable smartwatch available and don't mind that it's basically an Apple Watch in different clothes. If you value Samsung's design heritage or want something that feels distinctly Samsung, you're out of luck.
Il Polso
- Samsung's July launch ignited immediate social media comparisons, with side-by-side images making the Apple Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch Ultra nearly indistinguishable at a glance.
- The company systematically dismantled its own design legacy — retiring the iconic rotating bezel and circular form — to rebuild its entire lineup as a structural mirror of Apple's product tiers.
- The watch delivers real gains where it counts: 70-plus hours of battery life, noticeably sharper dual-frequency GPS, and a double pinch gesture that works cleanly in daily use.
- New AI health features like the Energy Score and AGEs index undermine trust by offering contradictory advice and opaque methodology, feeling more like marketing than medicine.
- The squircle case sits uncomfortably on smaller wrists, leaving a gap wide enough for three pens — a design compromise that pleases neither the round-watch faithful nor Apple converts.
- Samsung has secured a capable product and a clearer market position, but the deeper question — whether it can reclaim a distinctive identity — remains conspicuously unanswered.
In the long contest between technology's great rivals, Samsung has chosen imitation over invention — releasing a $650 smartwatch that mirrors Apple's Ultra in design, features, and even price, while quietly retiring the rotating bezel and circular identity that once made its wearables distinctly its own. The Galaxy Watch Ultra is, by most measures, the finest Android smartwatch available, yet its excellence arrives at a philosophical cost: a company that once charted its own course has chosen to follow someone else's map. It is a story as old as markets themselves — the tension between the safety of proven formulas and the rarer reward of genuine originality.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch Ultra costs $649.99 — the same as Apple's flagship wearable — and within hours of its July announcement, social media filled with side-by-side comparisons that made the resemblance impossible to ignore. Samsung had apparently assembled a checklist of everything Apple's watch could do that its Galaxy Watch 5 Pro could not, then worked through it methodically. The strategy succeeded in producing a genuinely capable Android smartwatch — arguably the best available. But somewhere in the process of ticking boxes, Samsung lost something essential: itself.
The two watches share a striking inventory of features: an orange shortcut button, three specialized band types, dual-frequency GPS, 3,000 nits of brightness, 10ATM water resistance, a red night-reading watchface, and emergency sirens. Samsung's version is actually louder. The differences exist — a circular display, Wear OS 5, an FDA-cleared sleep apnea detector, a newer processor — but they feel like footnotes against the weight of everything borrowed.
The deeper loss is historical. Samsung's physical rotating bezel was nearly iconic, a design flourish that gave its watches genuine personality. That bezel is now gone, confined to last year's Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, which received no update this cycle. The entire lineup has been reorganized to shadow Apple's structure, from a budget FE model down to the Ultra at the top. Samsung's quirky identity has been systematically retired in pursuit of a proven formula.
The new squircle case — neither fully square nor fully round — exemplifies the compromise. Samsung cites durability, but the previous Pro was already durable. On smaller wrists, the 47mm body sits uncomfortably, leaving a gap wide enough to fit three pens, forcing a choice between a loose fit that slides or a tight one that leaves marks.
Where Samsung genuinely pulls ahead is battery life and gesture control. Software refinements stretch the 590mAh battery to roughly 70 hours under heavy use, improving meaningfully on the Pro's 50 to 60 hours. The double pinch gesture — thumb and forefinger touched twice — handles alerts, calls, and camera control with satisfying clarity, arguably more intuitively than Apple's equivalent.
The health features tell a murkier story. The new AI-powered Energy Score offered contradictory advice within a single morning. The AGEs index, meant to measure metabolic aging through bodily compounds, remains poorly explained by Samsung and produces recommendations that conflict with other parts of the app. Sleep apnea detection, while FDA-cleared, proved difficult to use reliably given the watch's fit challenges, and it requires a Galaxy phone — limiting its reach across Android's broader ecosystem. Dual-frequency GPS, by contrast, was a clear win, recording a nearly five-mile hiking route with precision that matched or edged out an Apple Watch Ultra 2.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is what Samsung set out to build: a capable, durable, feature-rich smartwatch for Android users who want something more than a standard Garmin. At its price, it is reasonably competitive. But the cost of that competitiveness is identity. Samsung has stopped marching to its own beat. Whether the rotating bezel or some other expression of genuine originality will ever return remains an open question — and perhaps the most interesting one Samsung's wearable division now faces.
Samsung's new Galaxy Watch Ultra costs $649.99, the same as Apple's flagship wearable, and it shows. Within hours of the July announcement, social media filled with side-by-side comparisons: the Apple Watch Ultra on one side, Samsung's on the other. The resemblance was unmistakable. Samsung had apparently made a checklist of everything Apple's watch could do that its own Galaxy Watch 5 Pro couldn't, then methodically worked through it, feature by feature. The strategy worked. This is a genuinely capable Android smartwatch—arguably the best one you can buy right now. But somewhere in the process of ticking boxes, Samsung lost something essential: itself.
Wear both watches for two weeks and the differences become easier to name than the similarities. Yes, Samsung kept a circular display (though it sits in a squarish case now), ditched the digital crown, and runs Wear OS 5 instead of watchOS. The Galaxy Watch Ultra has an FDA-cleared sleep apnea detector, a newer 3-nanometer processor, and an upgraded sensor that measures EKGs and body composition. But then you look at what they share: an orange shortcut button (Apple calls it the Action Button; Samsung calls it the Quick Button), three specialized band types for different activities, an emergency siren that's actually louder than Apple's, dual-frequency GPS, 3,000 nits of screen brightness, 10ATM water resistance, and a red watchface for night reading. The list goes on—backtracking for hikes, route racing for runners, functional threshold power for cyclists. Samsung didn't just borrow ideas. It borrowed the entire blueprint.
The irony is that Samsung smartwatches once had genuine character. They featured a physical rotating bezel that became almost iconic, a design flourish that gave the watches personality and a reason to exist separately from Apple's offerings. That bezel is gone now, limited to last year's Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, which didn't even get updated this year. The whole lineup has been reorganized to mirror Apple's structure: a budget Galaxy Watch FE matches the Apple Watch SE, the Galaxy Watch 7 sits where the Series 9 does, and the Ultra claims the premium slot. Samsung's own quirky identity has been systematically dismantled in pursuit of Apple's proven formula.
The new squircle case—neither fully square nor fully round—exemplifies the problem. Samsung claims it adds durability, though the previous Pro model was already plenty durable. The real reason likely involves strap compatibility and visual alignment with Apple's design language. On paper, the dimensions are similar to Apple's 49mm Ultra, but Samsung's 47mm feels chunkier on the wrist because of that squat, squared-off shape. For smaller wrists, it's genuinely uncomfortable. The gap between the case and wrist was wide enough to fit three pens or chopsticks. Either the watch sat too loose and slid around, or it had to be cinched tight enough to leave marks on skin. The white titanium version looks better than the silver or black, but the overall aesthetic feels like a compromise that satisfies no one.
Where Samsung does pull ahead is in battery endurance and practical gesture control. The 590mAh battery is identical to the Pro's, but software refinements and a new exercise power-saving mode stretch it further. In testing with heavy GPS usage and the always-on display enabled, the watch delivered roughly 70 hours per charge. With power-saving mode activated at 15 percent, that stretched to about 76 hours. Samsung claims 100 hours, which wasn't quite reached, but it's a marked improvement over the 50 to 60 hours the Pro managed. The double pinch gesture—touching thumb and forefinger twice—works well for dismissing alerts, accepting calls, and controlling the phone's camera. It's less contextual than Apple's version, which actually makes it clearer for everyday use. Programming it to open the camera app and snap selfies feels genuinely useful.
The health features tell a more complicated story. Samsung introduced new AI-powered metrics this year: an Energy Score and Wellness Tips, plus an experimental AGEs (advanced glycation end products) index meant to measure metabolic aging. The Energy Score is broadly accurate but prone to contradictory advice—one morning the watch suggested both that the wearer was and wasn't sticking to their sleep schedule. The AGEs metric is baffling. It measures bodily compounds that accumulate when sugar oxidizes proteins and fats, supposedly indicating metabolic age, but Samsung has been vague about how it works, why it matters, or what to do with the data. The advice—eat healthy, exercise, sleep well—contradicts other parts of the app suggesting reduced workout intensity. It feels less like a health tool and more like a gimmick dressed up in scientific language.
The FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection requires wearing the watch for two nights to detect breathing disturbances based on blood oxygen levels. In practice, it was difficult to get valid readings, partly because the watch's size made achieving a snug fit challenging. When a reading finally came through, it correctly indicated no sleep apnea, but the feature carries a caveat: it's not a medical diagnostic tool and may miss instances of obstructed breathing. It also requires a Galaxy phone, limiting its usefulness for Android users with other devices. The genuine win is dual-frequency GPS, which proved noticeably more accurate than the previous generation. A 4.99-mile hiking route with heavy tree cover was recorded precisely, while an Apple Watch Ultra 2 logged 5.03 miles—a negligible difference, but one that favors Samsung.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is undeniably a strong Android smartwatch that fills a real gap for users wanting something more durable and feature-rich than a standard Garmin. At $649.99, it's reasonably priced for what it offers. Samsung's strategy made business sense—the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro hadn't gained traction the way Apple's Ultra had, and the company needed momentum. But the cost of that momentum is identity. Samsung has stopped marching to its own beat and started following Apple's. Whether the rotating bezel will ever return, whether Samsung will find its way back to distinctive design, remains unclear. For now, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is what it set out to be: a capable Apple Watch for Android users. The question is whether that's enough.
Citazioni salienti
This is a great Android smartwatch. Arguably, it's the best Android smartwatch. It just doesn't feel good.— The Verge review
Samsung has stopped marching to its own quirky beat and started following Apple's.— The Verge review
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