Since its introduction, the Apple Watch Ultra has been the Apple smartwatch choice of long-distance runners, hikers, divers — and less-energetic folks who just prefer a chunky watch with extended battery life. 

After releasing minimal updates for the last couple of years, Apple announced at its big fall event the new Apple Watch Ultra 3, which adds a brighter, larger display, 5G cellular communication, satellite connectivity, a battery life increase of up to 42 hours and the ability to detect whether you might be suffering from hypertension.

Though Apple Watch fans might still be satisfied with the Ultra 2 or the Apple Watch Series 10, the Ultra 3 is ready for those who want the most advanced smartwatch Apple has to offer.

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 costs $799 (£749, AU$1,399), and preorders are now live. The first shipments and in-store availability will arrive on Sept. 19.

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The Apple Watch Ultra 3 screen size is back on top

The brilliant screen on the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is now slightly larger than its predecessor, at a 422×514-pixel resolution (up from the Ultra 2’s 410×502 pixels), though the case itself hasn’t expanded. Instead, Apple has slimmed the bezel to bring the active edge of the screen closer to the frame. 

Speaking of the frame, it’s now created using a 3D printing process that uses 100% recycled titanium and half the amount of raw materials as earlier generations.

The screen is also better than the Ultra 2, with an LPTO3 OLED always-on Retina display that has the same faster refresh rate introduced with the Series 10. That means you’ll see a second hand that continually updates, or an active stopwatch timer, without having to raise your wrist and engage the screen. Screen brightness when viewing from an angle has also improved, according to Apple.

Even more battery life

The Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2 boasted much longer battery stamina than the regular watch, thanks to their physically larger batteries: about 36 hours of regular use, or 72 hours with low power mode on. 

With the Apple Watch Ultra 3, you might forget the last time you put it onto its charger. Its larger battery and improved battery life get up to 42 hours on a charge. Continuous workouts can extend to 20 hours in low power mode while retaining full GPS and heart rate readings.

The Ultra 3 also joins the Series 10 and Series 11 by offering fast charging. Apple claims 45 minutes of charging will get the watch up to 80% full, or 75 minutes to top out at 100%. Since most people probably aren’t going to run the watch down to zero, a more realistic circumstance is being able to pop it onto a charger for just 15 minutes and gain 12 hours of battery life.

Apple says a number of factors contribute to the improved battery life in the Ultra 3: the more efficient display, larger battery and redesigned radios for 5G cellular and satellite communications. We expected a new processor as well, but surprisingly, the Ultra 3 is powered by the same S10 chip that runs the Apple Watch Series 11 and Series 10.

Connect to satellite services, even without an iPhone

Most phones and smartwatches are designed with the expectation that they operate in areas where cellular or Wi-Fi networks are easily available. The Apple Watch Ultra almost expects you to get lost, with that larger battery and dual-GPS location tracking. But if something unfortunate happens while you’re away from everything, you still want to be able to signal for help or keep friends alerted to your whereabouts.

The Ultra 3 now includes on-device satellite communication, which means as long as the watch has a view of the sky, it can connect to satellites. In most situations, you’d also have a satellite-capable iPhone with you, but that’s not helpful if the phone’s battery is drained. Apple says it redesigned the radios and antenna to double the signal strength. 

As with the iPhone, Emergency SOS via satellite is free for two years, though Apple has not announced any pricing for the service since it was launched. Text messaging and Find My services via satellite are also available as long as you have an active cellular plan.

As for cellular connections, all configurations of the Apple Watch Ultra include cellular capabilities, and now the Ultra 3 is capable of connecting to 5G networks. It uses 5G RedCap (for «reduced capacity») technology, which delivers 5G access but without the power requirements that a device such as the iPhone can handle easily.

Health and fitness features at the forefront

As with the Apple Watch Series 11, the Ultra 3 also looks for possible hypertension, or high blood pressure, based on readings it takes during the course of a month. The hypertension detection feature was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration the day after it was announced, and it will be available in 150 countries and regions this month.

That’s in addition to existing heart rate and ECG measuring, as well as the ability to detect blood-oxygen levels, a feature that’s been temporarily blocked in the US due to litigation (though Apple recently developed a workaround). 

Apple also announced that the Sleep app will include a new Sleep Score feature to help users track and adjust sleep more easily.

When Apple announced WatchOS 26 and iOS 26, it introduced Workout Buddy, a virtual companion that provides stats and encouragement while you’re working out, such as on a bike ride, run or walk. (CNET’s Vanessa Hand Orellana got details from Apple’s team developing it.) As a watch designed for workouts, it’s natural that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 brings Workout Buddy along for the ride/run/amble.

Other health and workout features carry over from the Ultra 2, such as water resistance to 100m and scuba diving to 40m, IP6X dust resistance and durability in extreme temperature and altitude environments. It includes dual GPS (L1 and L5) radios for more precise location tracking and wayfinding.

Wordle has grown to be one of the most popular words games since Josh Wardle launched it in 2021. The game asks players to figure out a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses (we have a two-step strategy to help you solve the puzzle every time). After each guess, the game shows gray blocks for the wrong letters, yellow blocks for the right letters in the wrong spot and green blocks for the right letters in the correct spot. 

CNET’s Gael Cooper has loads of tips and tricks to tackle each NY Times Wordle puzzle but there’s only one Wordle puzzle a day. So if you’ve completed today’s game — or just love puzzle games — you should try these other games until the next Wordle puzzle comes out.

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Here are 10 other puzzle games you’ll probably enjoy if you like Wordle.

Connections

Another New York Times-owned puzzle, Connections is a tricky word game. «Players must select four groups of four words without making more than four mistakes,» the New York Times wrote on X. There are also four color-coded difficulty levels for each game; yellow is the easiest, then green, then blue and finally purple. The game is also similar to the BBC quiz show Only Connect, and the show’s host took to X to point out the connection. See what I did there?

You can play Connections on any web browser but you need a New York Times subscription (which starts at $1 a week) to play.

Strands

Strands is another New York Times-owned puzzle but this game resembles a word search more so than Wordle and Connections. This game presents a theme every day to help you find words in a grid. In Strands words can appear forward, backward, top-to-bottom or any number of ways in a traditional word search, and words can also form in the shape of an «L» or have a zigzag in them. When you find a word, tap the first letter and drag your finger to the other letters. Every letter in the puzzle is used, so if you still have letters that aren’t connected to words, you aren’t finished yet.

You can play Strands on any web browser but you need a New York Times subscription (again, $1 a week) to play.

Quartiles

Quartiles is a new word game Apple News Plus subscribers can access on their iPhone or iPad that’s running iOS 17.5 or later. In this word game, you’re given 20 tiles with letters on them and you’re trying to put them together to form different words. The longest words are four tiles long, and these are called Quartiles. The game can be tough but finding just one of the Quartiles is as satisfying as remembering something that was just on the tip of your tongue.

You can play Quartiles on an iPhone or iPad but you need an Apple News subscription (which starts at $13 a month) to play.

Multiple Wordle spinoffs: Dordle, Quordle, Octordle and Sedecordle

Are you up for a challenge? If you love Wordle and want puzzle games that take more brain power, you’ll want to check out either Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Sedecordle. Each of these word games resembles Wordle, but they add more rows, columns and words to solve. Each game requires you to simultaneously solve a different number of words at once: Dordle has you solving two words, Quordle four at once, Octordle eight at once and Sedecordle a whopping 16. Good luck.

You can play Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Sedecordle on any web browser.

Lewdle

«Lewdle is a game about rude words,» this game’s content advisory reads. «If you’re likely to be offended by the use of profanity, vulgarity or obscenity, it likely isn’t for you.» Translation: It’s Wordle but with bad words. The words range from mild — like poopy — to words that would make a sailor blush. Thankfully, despite this game’s content warning, slurs are not included. Like Wordle, gray, yellow and green blocks are used in the same way and there’s only one puzzle per day. So go forth and let the bad words flow!

You can play Lewdle on any web browser. You can also download this game from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.

Antiwordle

Tired of seeing those grey, yellow and green blocks plastered all over your social media feed? Give Antiwordle a try. While Wordle wants you to guess a word in as few tries as possible, Antiwordle wants you to avoid the word by guessing as many times as possible. When you guess, letters will turn gray, yellow or red. Gray means the letter isn’t in the word and can’t be used again, yellow means the letter is in the word and must be included in each subsequent guess and red means the letter is in the exact position within the word and is locked in place. If you can use every letter on the keyboard without getting the word correct, you win. Honestly, I’ve found this version of Wordle to be much harder than the original.

You can play Antiwordle on any web browser.

Absurdle

Absurdle bills itself as the «adversarial version» of Wordle. While Wordle nudges you in the right direction with each guess, Absurdle is trying to avoid giving you the correct answer. According to the game’s website, «With each guess, Absurdle reveals as little information as possible, changing the secret word if need be.» Absurdle doesn’t pick a word at the beginning of the game for the player to guess. Instead, it uses the player’s guesses to narrow its list of words down in an effort to make the game go as long as possible. The final word might not even include a yellow letter from one of your earlier guesses either. You can guess as many times as you want, which is helpful, and the best score you can get is four. Have fun!

You can play Absurdle on any web browser.

For more word game fun, check out CNET’s Wordle tips, the best Wordle jokes and everything you need to know about the word game. You can also check out what to know about the other New York Times-owned games, Connections and Strands.

The most recent «awe dropping» Apple event keynote has come and gone once more, with reveals of the latest iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches. As it turns out, many of the leaks and rumors that widely circulated before the event turned out to be fairly accurate, though there were still some surprises. 

We were treated to a presentation that included new information about the AirPods Pro 3, three new Apple Watches (including an Apple Watch SE and an Apple Watch Ultra), the iPhone 17, iPhone Air and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.

That’s a pretty hefty slate of announcements, all things considered. But if you didn’t have time to check out everything on the horizon, don’t worry. Whether you were too busy to catch the livestream or you want to rewatch one of the biggest announcements from the event, Apple is uploading the keynote reveals on YouTube for everyone to see. We’ve organized them for you below.

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Apple event highlight reel

If you want a quick summary of everything announced during the Apple event, there’s a 2-minute highlight reel that shows off the biggest reveals. From the AirPods Pro 3 to the iPhone 17 Pro, this is the quickest roundup of Apple’s next hardware lineup.

AirPods Pro 3

The AirPods Pro is making a return after a three-year absence from Apple events. The new version of Apple’s premium Bluetooth earbuds feature a host of improvements over the previous model, but retains its $250 price tag.

This is the product I found most impressive during the presentation: The improved 8 hours of battery life (up from 6) and noise cancellation are must-have features, while bonuses like heart-rate sensors, workout tracking, IP57 dust and water resistance and live translation are great value adds.

Apple Watch Series 11

Apple is once more championing the Apple Watch as a lifesaving device. It makes sense, since the company is adding three new models to their smartwatch lineup — but it’s a bit tiresome, as we’ve all heard this song and dance before, subtly implying that your very life could be at risk if you don’t pick up an Apple Watch. That said, new ways to track sleep and alert wearers of possible hypertension shouldn’t be ignored.

Either way, check out the Dear Apple Apple Watch segment ahead of the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch SE 3 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 releases.

iPhone 17

The existence of the iPhone Air means the base model of the iPhone 17 is more important than ever before: Every other iPhone in the lineup is trying to retool and reengineer Apple’s iconic smartphone, but this is your classic workhorse (plus some extra bells and whistles). Check out Apple’s Which iPhone 17 is right for you video here.

The iPhone 17 has a redesigned camera bump, a 6.3-inch display (the iPhone 16’s display was 6.1 inches large, for comparison) and a Ceramic Shield 2 layer on the screen that should make the phone more resistant to scratches and cracks.

I’m most excited for ProMotion to arrive on the base model, since a 120Hz refresh rate could be a big deal when it comes to playing the best mobile games with a level of fluidity we haven’t seen on a regular iPhone before.

iPhone Air

Say goodbye to the iPhone Plus and hello to the iPhone Air — this ultra-thin phone is a brand-new addition to the iPhone lineup. Featuring a 6.5-inch display and a 5.5mm width, the iPhone Air is one of the sleekest smartphones ever.

If you’re worried about trade-offs with internal specs, Apple attempted to mitigate those fears. The company claimed the Air is the most «power-efficient» iPhone ever, and the Adaptive Power feature included in iOS 26 should go a long way in stretching out a single charge.

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max

Apple’s super premium iPhone models are making a return in the form of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. This phone features the largest battery ever put into an iPhone (Apple estimates you’ll get 33 hours for the smaller Pro and 39 hours of video playback for the Pro Max), the new A19 Pro chip and significant camera upgrades — including boosting all three rear cameras to 48 megapixels, one of which has an 8x telephoto zoom.

On the flip side, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the most expensive iPhone ever. If you want the 2TB storage model, strap in to spend $2,000.