Motorola’s Moto Watch Ultra returns to Wear OS at $349.99

A button and a crown sit on the right side of Motorola’s new 46mm watch. Available starting September 10th, the company’s first Moto Watch Ultra brings Google’s Wear OS to a device priced at $349.99—a move that puts Motorola back into the premium smartwatch conversation without matching the price of Apple or Samsung’s Ultra models.

The software is the main change. Motorola’s earlier Moto Watch ran a custom operating system; the Ultra runs Wear OS on a Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 1 chip. That opens access to a wider range of apps, offers interoperability with Motorola’s Android phones, and enables payments through Google Wallet. Gemini is supported, alongside Motorola’s Qira AI assistant.

The trade-off is visible in the battery. Motorola predicts 50 hours of runtime with the always-on display switched off, while the Moto Watch offered 13 days. The Ultra is also a substantial watch at 51g and 12mm thick, though its smaller bezel makes room for a 1.5-inch OLED display. It comes in a stainless-steel black or silver case, with leather and silicone straps.

For health and fitness, Polar provides heart rate, sleep, stress, SpO2 blood-oxygen and recovery tracking. An AI running coach, cellular connectivity and dual-band GPS extend the package, while IP68 protection, 5ATM water resistance and Gorilla Glass 3 cover the basics. The Verge’s comparison is more restrained: the watch lacks the comprehensive outdoor and extreme-sports features found on the latest Apple Watch Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra.

So, concretely, an owner of a Motorola Android phone gets a lower-priced route to Wear OS apps, Google Wallet and AI features, with a watch that can track everyday health and running data. The compromise is clear: $349.99 is about half the price of those rival Ultra models, but the predicted battery life is far shorter than the 13 days claimed for the earlier Moto Watch, and the outdoor toolkit is less ambitious.