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Apple Watch Ultra’s sapphire crystal put to test against competitors

Updated Jan 3rd, 2023 3:33PM EST
Apple Watch Ultra sapphire crystal
Image: JerryRigsEverything

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Apple Watch Ultra is Apple’s latest approach to pro athletes. With a bulkier 49mm size, it has a titanium finish and a tweaked design to help users during the wildest workouts. With a $799 price tag, Apple highlights its durable sapphire screen. While many Apple products have a sapphire crystal, how pure is the one available on the Apple Watch Ultra, and how does it compare to some of its competitors, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Garmin Fenix 7? Here are the results.

YouTube channel JerryRigEverything put Apple Watch Ultra’s sapphire crystal to the test. As the YouTuber explains, sapphire is a material with a hardness level close to diamond on the Mohs scale, which is why Apple and other premium companies use it on its devices.

For example, the Cupertino firm says that since the iPhone 5, it has had a sapphire crystal on its camera lenses to avoid scratches. While this is true, the information isn’t accurate since Apple uses a compound of the material and not 100% sapphire crystal on them.

That said, how scratch-proof is Apple Watch Ultra? Well, according to JerryRigEverything, the sapphire crystal on this watch got some minor abrasions at levels 6 and 7, while the actual damage started to appear at level 8.

Compared to the Galaxy Watch 5, the abrasions seem minor at levels 6 and 7, while Garmin Fenix 7 test shows that it has the purest sapphire crystal, as it almost didn’t have any abrasions at these levels.

With that in mind, neither of the companies is lying when they say they use crystal sapphire on their watches, but from the three of them, Garmin uses the purest material.

The Apple Watch Ultra was also put to other tests, as previously reported, and its titanium body with rugged design makes it more resistant to more severe impacts compared to different iterations of the Apple Watch.

You can watch Jerry’s full video below:

More Apple coverage: Can Apple Watch Ultra replace your iPhone? Here’s the answer

José Adorno Tech News Reporter

José is a Tech News Reporter at BGR. He has previously covered Apple and iPhone news for 9to5Mac, and was a producer and web editor for Latin America broadcaster TV Globo. He is based out of Brazil.