Huawei’s Watch GT6 Pro, Watch Ultimate 2 Bring Advanced Cycling Tracking And Longest Battery Life

According to a study from research firm IDC, Huawei is currently the No. 1 maker of wrist-worn wearables by market share in the world. And it’s not hard to see why: Huawei’s wearables bring premium hardware, jaw-dropping battery endurance, and works with more smartphones than just about any other wearable. The company’s two latest, the Watch GT6 Pro and Watch Ultimate 2, continue that trend.

The Watch GT6 Pro, which is Huawei’s fitness-focused smartwatch, can last up to 21 days on a single charge. Twenty one days. The Apple Watch can still barely go a full 24 hours. However, this 21 days is with casual use, meaning just wearing the watch to keep time and receive notifications, not actively doing exercise tracking daily. For that heavier usage — fitness tracking everyday — the watch can still last 14 days.

The Watch Ultimate 2 can’t quite go as long, because it packs more hardware and sensors, but its 11-day battery life with regular use still far surpasses anything else on the market.

There are other similarities with both watches, like beautiful OLED panels and the ability to pair with iOS, Android, or Huawei’s own HarmonyOS, meaning these wearables work with just about any recent smartphone. This is also something most wearables cannot do, as the Apple Watch only works with iPhones, and Android’s WearOS will not work with Apple devices.

Huawei Watch GT6 Pro

Although I don’t have official global pricing at the time of this writing, I know the Watch GT6 Pro is the more affordable of the two watches, and going by past editions, I can safely guess this watch will retail between $500 and $600.

Huawei does not reveal the silicon used in the watch, but it seems capable, powering HarmonyOS smoothly. The display is covered by sapphire crystal glass, and gets up to 1,500 nits of brightness.

New to the Watch GT6 Pro this year is the ability to track bicycle rides — not just basic things like distance covered or the heart rate, but also apparently how much power the cyclist is outputting while pedaling, otherwise known as “virtual power.”

Serious riders will know that to measure virtual power, they usually need to buy a special device that either attaches to the bicycle pedal or crank. Huawei’s Watch GT6 Pro can apparently do the same without that hardware. Essentially, the watch has sensors that detect wind — how hard and fast it’s hitting the watch — and using that data, along with our basic stats like body weight and bicycle model, plus advanced algorithms that Huawei said were built from studies conducted at the Beijing Sport University, the Watch GT6 Pro is able to tell how fast the bicycle moved, thus calculating virtual power.

From my testing, the watch did indeed track my ride and showed me a detailed route of my ride, along with how fast I rode, and the virtual power output. I do not know if the virtual power is accurate, however, because I do not have that professional measure hardware tool. But the speed the watch claimed I was going at seemed accurate.

Otherwise, the Watch GT6 Pro has very accurate GPS that can track runs, and also receive notifications and phone calls.

Huawei Watch Ultimate 2

The Watch Ultimate 2 is one of Huawei’s highest-tier smartwatches right now. Official pricing is unknown yet, but I estimate to be between $800 to $900. This watch can do everything the Watch GT6 Pro can do, plus it has an extra X-Tap sensor, which is an all-in-one sensor that can detect 11 health metrics.

I previously covered the X-Tap in another article, but it essentially scans the wearer’s fingertips instead of the wrist, for a more accurate reading. The 11 health metrics include blood-oxygen level, electric activities in the blood, and blood-sugar level.

The Watch Ultimate 2’s casing is constructed out of liquid metal, with the back being ceramic. The model I tested came with a rather cheap looking rubber strap, but there is a model that comes with a titanium strap that adds to the premium feeling of the watch. The display is even better than the Watch GT6 Pro: an LTPO AMOLED panel that gets up to 3,000 nits of brightness.

In terms of software, both watches run HarmonyOS. The watches can work on their own but it’s best used paired with Huawei’s companion app available on iOS, Android or HarmonyOS.

The UI has dozens of watch faces for user to choose from, and can show more detailed breakdown of workouts.

Both watches will be on sale virtually everywhere in the world except North America soon.