Apple Watch Ultra size comparison

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The Apple Watch Ultra is one large wearable that doesn’t really look good on tiny wrists, no two ways about that. The rugged Apple wearable is not only its largest so far, but a notable gargantuan among the competition as well, standing out with its imposing footprint. 

But how does it stack against a regular smartwatch, say, the Apple Watch Series 8? Well, our awesome size comparison tool does a good job at showcasing how much larger an Apple Watch Ultra is when compared to the regular smartwatch, but it doesn’t really give the full picture in actual, real-life pictures. Another fresh rugged wearable, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, should also be considered a rival of the Apple Watch Ultra, so it would make sense to see how the Apple Watch Ultra fares in comparison. 

So, how big is the Apple Watch Ultra, exactly? 

Despite that just about anybody has made out a rather big deal of how massive the wearable is, it actually isn’t very var off from its closest peers and competitors. With a case measuring 49 by 44mm and a weight of 61gr (2.16oz), it’s a hefty one, but surely not excessively larger than the Apple Watch Series 8, which measures up at 45 by 38mm and is noticeably lighter at 39gr (1.37oz). In imperial, that’d be 1.93 by 1.73 inch for the Apple Watch Ultra, and 1.77 by 1.5 inch for the Apple Watch Series 8. 

When you throw in the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro in the mix, the differences start to diminish even faster. With the top Samsung wearable, you get a circular case, 45.4 by 45.4mm (or 1.79 by 1.79 inch) in size, with a weight of 46.5gr (1.64oz). 

However, there are some substantial differences in terms of thickness, mostly due to the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro’s somewhat misleading official thickness of 10.5mm. Samsung would want to make us believe that the wearable is thinner than even the regular Apple Watch Series 8, while the reality of the situation is that the Samsung smartwatch trumps both in terms of thickness.  

With a pair of trusty calipers, we measured a thickness of 15.5mm, noticeably thicker than the advertised 10.5mm thickness, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra’s 14.4mm and the Apple Watch Series 8’s 10.7mm. 

And here’s what the trio looks look together with their respective stock watchbands attached. Note that while it’s larger than your average Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Ultra has similarly sized lugs to any recent 45mm Apple Watch, which means that you can re-use your existing wristbands on the rugged wearable. This is great news for those who have amassed large collections of Apple Watch accessories. 

How does it look on the hand? Having reviewed the Apple Watch Ultra and used it for a while, I can wholeheartedly attest to the fact that no, the wearable is not outrageously large, and no, it doesn’t look too out of place on my wrist. 

In fact, I’ve used (and own) a bunch of traditional mechanical timepieces that are even larger and easily delve into 55 and even 60mm territory. That said, you should bear in mind that I’m a 6’3″ guy pushing 220lbs, so my wrists are likely thicker than average. While the Apple Watch Ultra is certainly marketed as a unisex smartwatch, it definitely oozes masculinity and would better suit men.

Overall, we probably shouldn’t perceive the Apple Watch Ultra as such a massive paradigm shift as far as size is considered. Sure, it’s bigger than what we’ve come to expect from Apple, but it’s not that big and shouldn’t require a long time to get used to. Aside from the initial surprise, the Apple Watch Ultra should never really bug you off in terms of size. 

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