The Apple Watch Ultra 4 already has an official Philippine price: ₱59,990, as listed on Apple's Philippine online store. Apple unveiled the watch on September 9 at its Apple Park event alongside the iPhone 18 Pro line, positioning it as its top sports and adventure watch with a new S11 chip, rebuilt heart-rate sensing, and the longest battery life yet in an Apple Watch.
The US price is $799 (around ₱50,000), which makes the local list price roughly ₱10,000 higher — a typical gap once local taxes are factored in.
A rebuilt Health Sensing System
The headline change is what Apple calls its new Health Sensing System. The Ultra 4 pairs redesigned optical sensors and high-efficiency green LEDs with electrical heart sensors, and Apple says the result is the most accurate heart-rate sensing in a wearable. The watch now measures heart rate every 5 seconds throughout the day, and heart rate variability (HRV — the small changes in timing between heartbeats that reflect recovery and stress) up to 24 times more often than before.
That denser data feeds a new daily readiness score from 0 to 10, which sorts your day into four guidance bands: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, and Go For It. It is Apple's clearest answer yet to the recovery scores that Garmin, Whoop, and Samsung watches have offered for years.
Audio Intelligence: your watch starts listening, carefully
A new set of features Apple groups under Audio Intelligence runs on the S11 chip:
- Live Rewind replays the last 15 seconds of a conversation you missed.
- Siri Recap summarizes a conversation after the fact.
- Sound Recognition alerts you to important sounds around you.
- Shazam identifies songs directly on the wrist.
Apple says the processing relies on a hardware security layer called Secure Exclave, keeping the audio handling on-device rather than in the cloud.
"The new Health Sensing System and S11 chip take Apple Watch Ultra 4 to the next level, delivering longer battery life, faster charging, and the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable," said Kaiann Drance, Apple's vice president of worldwide Apple Watch product marketing.
Battery life and charging
Battery is the other big jump. Apple rates the Ultra 4 at:
| Mode | Rated battery life |
|---|
| Regular use | Up to 50 hours |
| Low Power Mode | Up to 84 hours |
| Max Extended Workout mode | Up to 45 hours |
| Fast charge | 15 minutes for 18 hours of use |
The case remains 49mm aerospace-grade titanium, now made from 100% recycled titanium in natural and black finishes, and the watch ships with watchOS 27, which adds a more conversational Siri, sleep apnea notifications, and a dynamic app grid. Satellite connectivity for emergency messaging carries over.
Philippine availability: priced, but not dated
Here is the catch for local buyers. The US release date is September 18, with pre-orders already open there. In the Philippines, Apple's store page lists the ₱59,990 price but says "check back later for availability" — no local order date has been announced yet. Local coverage likewise reports the watch "will arrive soon" without a firm date. Based on last year's pattern, Philippine availability tends to follow the US launch by several weeks.
If you are weighing the rest of the September 9 announcements, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at ₱94,990 locally, and the AirPods 5 bring noise cancellation down to ₱9,490 — the Ultra 4 is the priciest of the three by a wide margin, and the only one still waiting on a local date.
