Evan Blass came out of retirement to drop seven high-resolution renders of the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 in his Leakmail newsletter, and the headline isn’t the design. It’s the silicon. The leaked promotional material ties the Ultra 2 to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite, which would make it the first Galaxy Watch to leave Samsung’s own Exynos silicon for Qualcomm’s, and it also hints at a dedicated AI processor built to run models locally. The case still looks a lot like the 2024 original at a glance, with only quiet exterior tweaks, so the real story is what the leak says is happening beneath it. Samsung is expected to make it official at Galaxy Unpacked on July 22, so you won’t wait long to find out.
What the Renders Actually Show
The Ultra 2 keeps the squircle case with a circular OLED display, so the silhouette is instantly familiar. The clearest change sits on the bezel, which now carries 1 to 12 hour markings and an orange triangular marker at 12 o’clock. That numbered ring echoes the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and it gives the Ultra 2 a more traditional watch face even before the screen wakes up.
The button layout got a subtle rework. There are still three buttons on the right side, including the programmable Quick Button in the middle, and that middle button now appears round and may double as a rotating input, though that function isn’t fully confirmed. Samsung also spaced the buttons out more and pulled the accent color from the top and bottom buttons, leaving the orange as a smaller ring.
The band tells the same story of small, deliberate tweaks. The ridged pattern from the first Ultra is gone in favor of a cleaner silicone strap, though the dual-buckle closure stays, and there’s now an Ultra wordmark on the band itself. Flip the watch over and the health sensor cluster is visible, with dual speaker vents sitting on the left side of the case.
Blass showed two case colors, reported as Titanium Gray and Titanium Silver, shown with different bands from a lineup that includes orange, green, black, blue, and cream. Both keep the signature orange accents, so the sporty Ultra identity carries over intact.
The Real Upgrades Are Inside
This is where the leak gets interesting. The promotional slides point to an 800mAh battery, which would be a jump of roughly 35% over the 590mAh cell in the original Ultra. Paired with a more efficient chip, that capacity could push runtime past three days, which would put Samsung near the front of the Wear OS battery conversation.
The processor deserves a closer look. That Snapdragon Wear Elite is a 3nm chip with a big.LITTLE layout that reportedly runs one prime core at 2.1GHz and four efficiency cores at 1.95GHz. If it holds up, that break from Samsung’s in-house Exynos chips would be a first for the Galaxy Watch line. Reports disagree on whether the Galaxy Watch 9 makes the same jump, with some leaks pointing to Snapdragon across the 2026 lineup and others saying the Watch 9 keeps the Exynos W1000.
That chip also brings a dedicated Hexagon NPU, and this is the part that hints at where Samsung wants to take the watch. The leak claims it can run AI models with up to 2 billion parameters directly on the wrist at around 10 tokens per second, which would be the first dedicated on-device AI silicon in the Ultra line. What Samsung actually builds on top of that headroom is the one question the renders can’t answer.
Brighter Screen, Tougher Body
The leaked spec material also calls out a display that hits 5,000 nits of peak brightness, a real bump for outdoor and workout use where the first Ultra could wash out in direct sun. Separate spec leaks put the panel at 480 by 480 pixels, matching the larger 44mm Galaxy Watch 9, with up to 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
Durability moves up a notch too. The renders confirm an IP69K rating, a step above the IP68 rating on the original Ultra, and the case is said to be 12% thinner while keeping the 47mm titanium build. A thinner Ultra that shrugs off more abuse is the kind of upgrade that matters more on the wrist than on a spec sheet.
What the Leak Doesn’t Answer
There’s no pricing in the renders themselves, though a separate spec leak lists a €749 European price. For context, the first Galaxy Watch Ultra launched at $649.99, so whether Samsung holds that line or pushes higher will shape how these upgrades land.
Connectivity is softer than the hardware claims. Earlier spec leaks mention dual-band GPS, dual-band Wi-Fi with the standard still unconfirmed, and Bluetooth 6.0, plus charging that stays at 10W, but none of it appears in Blass’s renders, so treat it as unconfirmed.
Promo renders also flatter everything, so the real test is wear time. Battery endurance, comfort on a smaller wrist, and whether that 5,000 nit panel holds up outside a marketing slide are things no render can settle.
Where Things Stand
Taken together, the Ultra 2 reads like a refinement year, not a reinvention. The outside is familiar on purpose, and the real bets are the battery, the Qualcomm chip, and the on-device AI, which are exactly the areas the first Ultra needed to grow.
Samsung is expected to make everything official at Galaxy Unpacked on July 22, so the guessing ends in a couple of days. If you already own the first Ultra, nothing here screams urgent upgrade yet. If you skipped it because it felt too thick or too thirsty, the Ultra 2 is the one to watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 coming out?
Samsung is expected to unveil it at Galaxy Unpacked on July 22, 2026, with a retail release usually following within a couple of weeks.
What is the biggest upgrade on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2?
Based on the leak, it’s the 800mAh battery, up about 35% from the 590mAh cell in the first Ultra. Combined with the more efficient Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, that could finally push endurance past the three-day mark.
Does the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 look different from the original?
Not dramatically. The squircle titanium case stays, but the bezel now has 1 to 12 hour markings, the buttons are respaced with a redesigned middle button, the case is 12% thinner, and it comes in two case colors.
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