Apple Watch Ultra 3: A closer look at its satellite communications tools

The latest generation of smartwatches is looking to the skies to expand their connectivity capabilities. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 will be the second mainstream smartwatch (not counting the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro) to support satellite communications, and the new connectivity feature is one of a few changes coming to the device. Other upgrades include the S10 chip, a slightly larger display, bigger battery that lasts up to 42 hours, support for 5G, as well as the hypertension and sleep score features coming to the Series 11 (and also the Ultra 2 and several older Apple Watch models).

While I continue to review the Series 11 before spending more time with the Ultra 3 (and the SE 3), I wanted to share what it’s like to use satellite communications on the wearable and how it differs from the approach on the Pixel Watch 4. To ...