Motorola has announced the moto watch ultra, its first smartwatch with LTE, at IFA 2026 in Berlin. It goes on sale in the United States on Motorola.com starting September 10 at an MSRP of $349.99. Verizon picks it up on September 24, with more carriers following later.
The LTE part is the headline change. Motorola says this is the first moto watch with LTE functionality, so you can make and receive calls, send texts and handle notifications with the phone left at home. That does come with the usual asterisk. Motorola’s own footnote says carrier fees, plan requirements and availability vary by region, so the watch is only as useful off-phone as the plan you attach to it.
moto watch ultra price and availability
Motorola’s release lists the US rollout in stages:
- Motorola.com — September 10, MSRP $349.99
- Verizon — September 24
- T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, AT&T, Xfinity Mobile and Consumer Cellular — “in the coming months,” with no dates given
Motorola states the terms plainly in its release: “In the United States, the new moto watch ultra will be available on Motorola.com starting September 10 (MSRP: $349.99).” The company adds that pricing varies by channel, so carrier listings may not match the direct price. Motorola frames the launch as an expansion of its ecosystem in North America, and it has not published pricing for other regions yet.
Specifications
This is a full Wear OS watch rather than the stripped-down RTOS wearables Motorola sold under the moto watch name before. That means Google Play, and it means Google Wallet payments over NFC.
- Display: 1.5-inch OLED, 2700 nits peak brightness, always-on support, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Body: 46mm stainless steel, 22mm third-party band compatibility, silicone or genuine leather bands
- Chipset: Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1
- Software: Wear OS by Google, with YouTube Music, Google Maps, Google Messages and Gemini
- Connectivity: LTE eSIM, NFC for Google Wallet, dual-band GPS
- Durability: IP68 and 5ATM
- Battery: up to 2 days of active use, or up to 24 hours of active use from a 15-minute charge
- Assistant: first Motorola wearable with built-in Motorola Qira, triggered by a wrist raise or “Hey Qira”
Read the battery claims carefully
Both battery numbers carry conditions that Motorola prints in its own footnotes, and they matter. The “up to 2 days” figure was tested with the always-on display switched off. Turn the AOD on — which is one of the reasons to buy a 2700-nit screen in the first place — and you are not getting that number.
The fast-charge claim has a cost attached too. Motorola says the charger “must be paired with at least a 30W adapter for fast charging,” and that the adapter is sold separately. So the 24-hours-in-15-minutes headline assumes a 30W brick you may need to buy on top of the $349.99. Neither point is hidden, but neither appears in the marketing line either.
Polar’s fitness features
Motorola has again partnered with Polar for the health side. The watch carries Polar’s Serene breathing mode with real-time biofeedback, Nightly Recharge, Sleep Plus Stages, Activity Goal, Activity Score, Active Intensity Zones, Inactivity Alert, Smart Calories and Energy Sources. There is also a Running Coach mode with guided running and walking workouts.
At $349.99 with LTE, the moto watch ultra lands just under the mainstream Wear OS flagships rather than in budget territory. Whether the Polar algorithms are worth that against a Pixel Watch or Galaxy Watch is the real question, and it is not one a spec sheet answers. If you are shopping wearables this month, our coverage of the Huawei Watch 6 global launch covers another option in the same bracket.
