Apple Watch Ultra: Garmin makes fun of new, ‘rugged’ smartwatch

APPLE (AP)

Garmin looks to be mocking the new “Apple Watch Ultra”, the company’s smartwatch intended for extreme situations.

During this week’s “Far Out” launch event, Apple introduced a range of new iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches. Among the latter was its “Ultra” version of the Apple Watch, which comes with a new, bigger design, as well as features meant for the outdoors and a longer battery life.

During the introduction, Apple said that it had added a range of innovative new features that had been built in collaboration with divers, ultramarathon runners and others who work in extreme conditions.

That and the Watch itself appeared to be in direct competition with Garmin, which has long been the market leader for adventure and sport-focused smartwatches.

In response to the new launch, Garmin has used its social channels to mock the performance of the new Apple Watch Ultra.

On Twitter, for instance, it posted “We measure battery life in months. Not hours”, alongside the hashtag Enduro 2. Garmin’s Enduro 2 battery can last up to 46 days in its normal smartwatch mode, compared with 36 hours of normal use for the Apple Watch Ultra.

On Instagram, it released another post which noted that its first watch with that kind of battery life was released in 2012 – and had features such as built-in GPS maps navigation that are still not available on the Apple Watch.

The new Apple Watch Ultra is available to pre-order now, along with the other new versions of the smartwatch and most of the new iPhone 14 models. The Ultra costs £849, roughly similar to the price of comparable Garmin watches.