Apple Watch Ultra 4 carries a 100-meter water rating. That is the exact figure Apple’s tech specs page published for the original Apple Watch Ultra in 2022, and it has not changed across the two Ultra generations released in between. Apple’s chip, battery and brightness figures for the same watch have all moved since then. The water rating has not.
Lined up by generation, the number that describes how deep the watch can go is one line on Apple’s spec sheet that reads the same in 2026 as it did in 2022.
Key facts
| Model | Year | Water rating (Apple’s tech specs) |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Watch Ultra | 2022 | 100 m |
| Apple Watch Ultra 2 | 2023 | 100 m |
| Apple Watch Ultra 3 | 2025 | 100 m |
| Apple Watch Ultra 4 | 2026 | 100 m |
Four generations, one rating
Apple’s tech specs for the original Ultra list 100 meters of water resistance, with the watch rated dive ready to 40 meters, alongside an IP6X dust rating. Ultra 2’s spec sheet lists the identical 100-meter figure the following year, this time under ISO 22810:2010, with an EN13319 recreational scuba certification to the same 40 meters and the same IP6X dust rating. Ultra 3 carried all three figures forward again in 2025, and Apple Watch Ultra 4‘s own tech specs page lists 100 meters under the same ISO standard this year, the same 40-meter scuba certification, and IP6X once again.
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What climbed around it
| Item | Apple Watch Ultra (2022) | Apple Watch Ultra 4 (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | S8 | S11 |
| Battery, normal use | Up to 36 hours | Up to 50 hours |
| Peak brightness | Up to 2,000 nits | Up to 3,000 nits |
| Water rating | 100 m | 100 m |
| Dust rating | IP6X | IP6X |
Set side by side, three of the five rows in that table moved and two did not. Apple’s chip designation changed from S8 to S11 across four generations, the battery rating rose by 14 hours, and peak brightness rose by 1,000 nits between the first two Ultra models alone, then held at 3,000 nits for Ultra 3 and Ultra 4. The 100-meter water figure and the IP6X dust figure that open each spec sheet’s water and dust section read exactly the same as they did the year the Ultra line began.
The depth gauge tells a similar story on its own. Apple’s tech specs list a depth gauge on every Ultra generation, each one rated for recreational scuba diving to 40 meters, and each one carrying an accuracy figure of plus or minus 1 meter once Apple started publishing that detail from Ultra 2 onward. Whatever else changed in the sensor stack, the numbers describing how far down the watch is built to go, and how well sealed it is against dust, have stood still for as long as Apple has sold an Ultra.
Series 12 sits at half that figure
Apple Watch Series 12‘s own tech specs page lists 50 meters of water resistance this year, the same swimproof rating Apple published for Series 7 in 2021, a year before the Ultra line existed. The gap between the two product lines’ water ratings has held at a flat 50 meters for as long as Apple has sold both side by side, even while the Ultra side of that gap climbed to 3,000 nits of brightness and 50 hours of battery around a rating that never moved. Series 12 also carries IP6X, the identical dust rating Ultra has listed every year since 2022, so the two product lines match on that figure even where their water ratings do not.
What Apple has not said
Apple has not published a reason the water rating stopped at 100 meters while other Ultra figures kept climbing, has not stated whether the titanium case itself is the limiting factor, and has not said whether a future Ultra will move past it. Apple Watch Ultra 4 is available for pre-order now, with Apple listing availability in stores starting Friday, September 18, 2026, still carrying the same 100-meter line its tech specs page has shown since 2022.
