I’ve wanted an Apple Watch Ultra ever since they were first introduced, back in 2022 as it turns out (Thanks, Wikipedia!). The Ultra is the larger, more rugged, and fancier version of the run-a-day Apple Watch. It can function as a dive watch, and is marketed for the extreme sports nut. I am neither a diver nor an extreme sports nut, but I still coveted the Ultra.
Enter the Apple Upgrade Program. This is the new program under which I can lease an Apple product (limited to watches, phones, laptops and a few other items) and pay nothing down (taxes being included in the monthly payments), and a low monthly payment for 1-3 years (again, device dependent) and then return the product to Apple for a new one.
You can see where this is going: I leased an Apple Watch Ultra 3. The deciding factors for me were the lack of tax up-front (whereas for every iPhone I’ve ever bought I’ve had to pay $100+ for taxes on upgrade day) and the low monthly payment instead of an $800 outlay. Suddenly there were no obstacles to obtaining the Watch.
I’ve had the Ultra 3 for a month now, and just paid my first payment (I actually walked out of the Apple Store paying nothing and just signing up for the program). What follows are my thoughts after having owned basic-model Watches until this point, and they are my main source of comparison.
The obvious is that the Ultra is an Apple Watch. It functions exactly the same as any other Apple Watch (with the addition of an action button, which iPhones of a certain age now have as well). It tells time and does a million other things depending on how anyone wants to use it. I like to see the weather, battery life, have a shortcut to timers, see the date, have a shortcut to baseball scores, and see my activity. The larger screen of the Ultra also gives me the ability to navigate back to my car in a large parking lot (helpful for events such as baseball games). In reality, the complications (as Apple calls them) are as varied as the watch faces, or more so, and can do almost anything you want them to do.
The good is that the Ultra is about 1.5 times as thick as the Regular, and it seems almost all this extra volume is battery. With my Watch 8 I was getting about 100%-> 20% worth of life from about 0730-2300. If I pushed it, and used low battery mode, I could get more than a day. Now with the Ultra 3 I routinely get two nights and two days before I have to charge. In reality, I charge slightly more often because my default is to charge during showers (yes, I could wear the watch in the shower, but I don’t). Because the Ultra charges ultra fast, it is usually 75% or more charged by the time I am clean. Practically speaking, I don’t worry about charge on my watch anymore. At all. Which is fantastic!
The bad is that the Ultra is about 1.5 times as thick as the Regular, and it sits heavier and prouder on my wrist. This means that I feel it more when doing every day activities (I barely noticed the Watch 8) and it digs into the back of my hand whenever I bend my hand up. The Ultra is also more prone to being knocked against door nobs and other protrusions in my daily life because I am clumsy. I’ve already scraped (barely) the upper left corner of the casing in doing so. Still, the screen is pristine because this watch is tough otherwise.
Included in the bad are the gestures that are possible with the Ultra 3. The watch has the ability to sense a pinch and a rotation of the wrist to dismiss notifications or activate other actions. I found both gestures to be useless to me because the Ultra was “sensing” them when I didn’t intend to use the gestures and doing things I didn’t want the Ultra to do. I quickly turned both off. I didn’t have them on the Watch 8, and I don’t miss the lack of them.
Would I do it again: would I lease the Ultra 3 over upgrading to the Watch 11 knowing what I know now? I honestly don’t know. I am 50/50 on whether I like the Ultra 3 more than a Regular. I love the things I love, and I don’t like the things I don’t like. I won’t get better battery without sacrificing thickness, at least (possibly) until next week’s Apple Event when Apple (might) unveil an Ultra 4 that is somehow the same battery at half the thickness (I doubt it?). The larger screen size would be possible in a thinner case, but premium things for premium watches, I suppose. Increased way-finding is probably a result of premium sensors.
At any rate, I am “stuck” with the Ultra 3 for the length of my lease, at which point I will survey the market after years of upgrades that will inevitably occur and decide if I want whatever Ultra is available then vs whatever Regular is available. It is an experiment I am able to make, again, due to a fairly reasonable lease option. Watches aside, I will most likely use the lease option for my new iPhone (whenever I decide to upgrade) and probably new laptop, not that I am going to upgrade anytime soon, but it’s nice to know that leasing is now available for most Apple products.
(I just wish leasing was available for the Vision Pro. I really want one.)
a simple man 