Editorials · Reviewer Insight

I spent 72 hours with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: here is how the battery held up

Solid battery life, but one thing hasn't changed.

This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
I spent 72 hours with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: here is how the battery held up
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has a massive battery | Image by PhoneArena
Samsung's new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is incredibly exciting: it is thinner and lighter, which makes it much more comfortable for wearing day and night, but it also has the biggest battery ever on a Galaxy Watch.

At 800mAh battery size, this watch promises to finally fix smartwatch battery anxiety. That's a full 35% battery size increase over the original.

I spent the last 72 hours wearing this watch (paired to the new Galaxy Fold 8 which surprised me with its battery life), and here are my real-world Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 battery life impressions.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 battery diary


  • Starting from 50% in the morning, I finished the day with 30% battery left at 10pm (with always-on display and using the Info Board watch face), so this means that a full day of use drains around 20% of the battery
  • I then tracked my sleep overnight, starting from 30% and in the morning I woke up to 18% of battery left, so this means overnight sleep tracking used up 12% battery

Altogether, with full 24-hour wear, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 used up around 32% of the battery (with always-on display).

This is good news — it basically means that with average use you will get close to 72 hours of use between charges, or a full three days.

Keep in mind, though, that in my testing, I did not use the GPS for workouts, which typically drains the battery quicker, so for the runners out there, battery life might be a bit shorter than three days.

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On the other hand, if you don't use the always-on feature and if you switch to a simpler watchface, you could probably extend your battery life to close to four days.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 charging



What is not so good with this much bigger battery, though, is charging. Samsung has not upgraded its charging speeds on the Ultra 2, and a full charge now takes nearly three hours (!). This is a major setback for those of you who are just used to quick, 30-minute top-ups while taking a morning shower. The Watch Ultra 2 basically requires a full afternoon off your wrist for charging.

Last year, I complained in a separate article about Samsung watches having much slower charging speeds compared to Apple Watches and Pixel Watches, and sadly, not much has changed in a year.

I will continue testing the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 over the coming weeks for more conclusive battery results, but these early results were definitely interesting for me. I am happy that the Watch Ultra 2 beat the first-gen Ultra, which only lasted me around two days, but I really wish charging speeds improved too.

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