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Apple Watch Ultra 2 Hands-On: It’s All About That Bright Screen

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a new screen. And it’s really, really bright.

At a glance, the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 2 might pass for the first-generation Ultra if you see it on someone’s wrist. It’s the same 49mm size, and the case is also made from titanium. But its screen maxes out at an eye-watering 3,000 nits which makes it the brightest screen of any Apple Watch. Announced alongside the Apple Watch Series 9, the Ultra 2 is Apple’s second high-end outdoor watch and it arrives Sept. 22. 

It’s an evolution of last year’s Apple Watch Ultra, which I called the most exciting watch in years. After some brief hands-on time with the Ultra 2 at Apple Park, I’m most impressed by the screen and new features like Double Tap that let you control the watch with a simple pinch gesture. There are a few more tools on the Ultra 2 for sports enthusiasts too, but doesn’t necessarily warrant upgrading from the first-generation Ultra.

The original Apple Watch Ultra, also $799, was Apple’s take on an adventure watch to compete with the likes of Garmin. It’s aimed at a wide range of sports enthusiasts, with special features for scuba divers and hikers, to name a couple. But the Ultra also appeals to anyone who wants an Apple Watch with the biggest screen and longest-lasting battery — that still holds true for the Ultra 2.

A brighter screen and new Modular Ultra watch face

The Ultra 2 pushes the maximum screen brightness to 3,000 nits, a significant increase from the original Ultra that featured a 2,000-nit display. This should make it even easier to see in bright, outdoor situations like in the snow or in sunlight. I found the easiest way to see the brightness boost was activating the flashlight from the Control Center to see the difference from the first-gen Ultra.

The Ultra 2 also has an exclusive new watch face called Modular Ultra, which uses the edge of the display to show more details like altitude, depth or seconds. I found slots for at least seven complications in my brief hands-on time with the Ultra 2 so you can really tune this watch face to your needs. 

Night mode activates automatically when the light is low enough by using the ambient light sensor, which is a feature that also comes to the Wayfinder watch face on the first-gen Ultra if you are running WatchOS 10. Apple has added the second-generation ultrawideband chip that supports precision finding for the iPhone 15.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Double Tap and Siri improvements

Shared with the Series 9 is Double Tap, a pinch gesture that you can use to control the watch. For instance, you can tap your thumb and forefinger together to answer a call. It accomplishes this via the accelerometer, gyroscope and heart-rate sensor. Sound familiar? It builds on the work Apple has done with AssistiveTouch, which allows for greater accessibility through gestures, but it is separate. 

Double Tap is active by default and how it works changes depending on context. I was able to raise my wrist to see the time, then double tap to bring up the smart stack, or widgets, found in WatchOS 10. Double tap again and I was scrolling through the widgets. Open the timer app and I could start or stop the countdown with a double tap. You’ll be able to answer calls with the same gesture.

This is one of the features supported by the new S9 chip, the same as the Series 9 uses. It also powers the on-device Siri, which promises more accurate dictation. You’ll also be able to ask Siri to give you an update on your health metrics, like asking how much sleep you got the previous night.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

More Cycling tools and extended altitude range

Shipping with the new WatchOS 10 software, the Ultra 2 will also offer more tools for cyclists, including pairing with Bluetooth devices like power meter pedals. You’ll also be able to see your cycling metrics on the iPhone screen thanks to Live Activities. I’ve been testing out these features over the past couple months in the public beta of WatchOS 10 with the original Ultra and as a cyclist, find them really helpful.

The Ultra 2 also has a wider altitude range, from 500 meters underwater to 9,000 meters above ground. Updates to the Depth app now log your sessions so you can review them on the watch or iPhone, plus the Oceanic Plus app from Huish Outdoors now supports freediving.

Apple also upped the amount of recycled materials in the case, from all-virgin titanium on the first-generation Ultra to 95% recycled titanium on the Ultra 2. Battery life stays the same as the original Ultra, rated for 36 hours with regular use and up to 72 hours in low-power mode.

Apple now has three watches in its lineup:

  • The $249 (ÂŁ219, AU$399) second-generation Apple Watch SE, released in 2022
  • The $399 (ÂŁ399, AU$649) Apple Watch Series 9
  • The $799 (ÂŁ799, AU$1,399) second-generation Apple Watch Ultra

Technologies

Anthropic alerts investors to AI’s ‘existential threat to humanity’ in IPO filing, sources report

Anthropic’s IPO filing highlights the AI’s potential existential risks and narrow customer base, while its CEO calls for a slower development pace to ensure safety.

Anthropic plans to warn speculative investors in its IPO prospectus that its AI models pose a “catastrophic or existential risk to humanity,” several reports said on Tuesday.

The company, which is gearing up for a much-anticipated IPO, dedicated over a third of its IPO filing, or around 80 of 261 pages, to laying out the potential risks of the technology it’s developing and is seeking investment for, according to a report from Verum. It only used 48 pages to discuss its actual business.

The five-year-old company, known for its frontier language model Claude, warned that AI can have “self-preserving behaviors,” including being able to “resist shutdown,” “conceal or manipulate information,” and carry out behaviors “resembling blackmail,” per the Verum report.

The company is pursuing a $2 trillion valuation when it goes public and reported in the filing that it made a net loss of $42 billion in 2025. It’s planning to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing, and other infrastructure in the coming year, according to Verum.

Anthropic also warned that its customer base is extremely narrow, with nearly a quarter of its revenue last year coming from just two clients, two people familiar with the filing told the Financial Times.

AI safety guardrails

Anthropic’s co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei has previously written various essays warning on the threats of AI, including saying the technology will cause “unusually painful” disruption to the job market.

In another recent essay, the CEO urged the AI industry to slow the pace of AI model development, with a three-step plan to reduce how quickly models get better without “sacrificing commercial advantage or the United States’ lead in AI.”

Those calls for a slowdown are somewhat of a “head scratcher” for the sector, to which the market has reacted “pretty resoundingly,” Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives told CNBC earlier today.

“You need guardrails from a safety perspective, but the fact for Anthropic and OpenAI to slow down, if they slowed down, China would just accelerate and win, and I think that’s part of this quagmire that you’re seeing is that there’s some regulatory capture going on. There’s definitely a game of poker, but for Anthropic, they got to continue to put foot on the pedal.”

Ives added that while guardrails are essential, regulation could stifle innovation. That continues to be the “biggest concern within the U.S., which is why we’re in an F1 race,” he said.

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Technologies

U.S. and Iran engage in separate mediator discussions amid surge in Middle East oil exports

U.S. and Iranian officials held separate indirect talks mediated by Qatar as Middle East crude exports neared wartime highs, while Tehran awaits a U.S. response to its cease‑fire and sanctions‑relief proposal.

On Monday, American and Iranian representatives engaged in distinct indirect negotiations mediated by third parties, aiming to halt seven months of hostilities while Iran awaits Washington’s reply to an updated cease‑fire proposal and Middle Eastern oil shipments reach wartime peaks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Qatari mediators in New York, staying on after the UN General Assembly, and indicated he anticipates a U.S. response by Tuesday. “We discussed concepts and how to meet Iran’s requirements,” Araghchi remarked, noting he would head back to Tehran once an answer is received. “When the Qataris have a reply, they know how to deliver it to us.”

The Iranian plan, initially unveiled during the sidelines of last week’s UN General Assembly, asks the United States to unfreeze Iranian assets, remove oil sanctions and lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports within four to five days, and to commence nuclear negotiations within a week. Tehran links any resumption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to the fulfillment of those conditions.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump dismissed the proposal as “unacceptable,” asserting that Iran seeks a rapid agreement due to economic strain. Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump noted that U.S. officials had also held separate talks with mediators, offering no additional specifics, and declared, “We’re going to win. It’s going to happen fast.”

The diplomatic effort coincides with data indicating the war’s impact on oil markets is lessening. Middle Eastern crude exports have risen this month to near their highest point since the conflict started in February, according to Kpler. The firm noted in a Monday briefing that exports are “just under 80% of pre‑conflict levels.”

The Strait of Hormuz remains far from usual activity. Kpler’s real‑time monitoring recorded a flow of 10,591 kilobarrels per day through the strait on Saturday, compared with a prewar baseline of 17,133 kilobarrels per day.

The ongoing impasse is influencing U.S. fuel markets, where retail diesel prices linger close to a record $6.53 per gallon. The Trump administration is reconsidering an export ban, having recently distanced itself from an earlier iteration of the idea; Kpler estimates such a ban would retain about 1.2 million barrels per day domestically, potentially straining storage capacity.

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Technologies

Saudi Red Sea export rebound pushes oil prices down

Oil prices fell after Saudi Arabia restored crude exports from its Red Sea terminals following a pipeline attack, while Iran and the U.S. continue talks over the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia’s crude exports from its Red Sea ports recovered from an attack on a key pipeline earlier this month. The decline reflects renewed flow from major loading points.

Satellite imagery confirmed a “major operational recovery” at the Yanbu and Muajjiz terminals, according to a Kpler note released on Tuesday. The data shows that 12.5 million barrels were loaded onto nine tankers at Yanbu between Saturday and Monday, restoring activity after a drone strike disrupted the East‑West pipeline earlier in the month.

Riyadh has brought the pipeline’s throughput back to roughly 3.5 million barrels per day, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News on Monday. The line’s maximum capacity is 7 million bpd, indicating that the current flow is about half of its peak.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Iranian officials spoke with mediators on Monday as they attempt anew to negotiate a deal to end the seven‑month conflict. Iran offered last week to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States accepts the terms of the failed June memorandum of understanding, but President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s proposal on Saturday as exports through the waterway recover.

Oil flows through Hormuz have averaged 13.2 million barrels per day over the past week, according to Kpler data—about 77 % of the 17 million bpd that moved through the strait before the U.S.–Iran war. The U.S. military continues to protect tankers from Gulf allies and maintains a blockade on Iranian exports.

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