Samsung recently launched the latest version of its flagship smartwatch at its Unpacked event in London. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 brings a host of upgrades, including a bigger 800mAh battery, a brighter display, and the new Snapdragon Wear Elite chip. It also includes improved diving capabilities, with a 10 ATM water resistance rating, an IP69K certification, and a new partnership with dive brand Mares for an exclusive Diving app. If that’s one of the main reasons you want to pre-order the Watch Ultra 2, you may want to rethink your decision, because the app’s most useful features reportedly won’t come free.
What you get, and don’t get, for free
While Samsung hasn’t shared any specifics, a report from Android Authority suggests that the Diving app will come with three subscription tiers when it rolls out later this year, and only the priciest one will deliver what most divers care about. The base, free tier will stick to bare-bones basics, like depth, dive time, and an ascent rate alarm, enough to check during a shallow swim but far short of what an actual dive demands.
The mid-tier subscription, which could be priced at $2.99 a month, will reportedly add GPS route tracking, a compass, and heart rate monitoring, features better suited to snorkeling than serious diving. The top tier is said to unlock nitrox support, a choice of algorithms to calculate decompression requirements, safety stop alerts, and more, the kind of tools divers actually depend on underwater. That tier is rumored to cost $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year.
How the pricing stacks up against Mares’ Apple Watch Ultra app
Mares already offers a version of this app for the Apple Watch Ultra, and the pricing there offers a clue about what’s coming to the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. On watchOS, Mares charges $8.99 a month for full access, or $69.99 a year, with a $119.99 family plan for multiple divers.
If the rumored Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 pricing holds, buyers would pay less for the same tier of access. However, since the figures aren’t official, Samsung and Mares could still adjust the pricing before the Diving app launches later this year.
Subscriptions attached to hardware features aren’t exactly new, but they land differently on a $699.99 watch already marketed around its diving capabilities. If the free tier can’t get you past a shallow pool, the diving certification Samsung is advertising looks more like a selling point than an actual feature that you can use out of the box.
