Introduction: The Growing Appeal of Smartwatches in Saudi Arabia
It is said that the final years of the smartwatch market were explosive in a literal sense. Nowadays, devices can fulfill any requirement: from casual usage to elite athletic needs.
Modern technological breakthroughs since recent times have made what used to be only a simple smartwatch a great tool to help the people not only in tracking their fitness but in managing the notifications and being a fashion statement. More specifically, these wearables draw considerable interest in the Saudi Arabian market due to technology innovations combined with showcasing demand for new devices.
Navigating the Smartwatch Market: A Saudi Perspective
Gosh, everything's really changed in the smartwatch market since the era of Pebble—those simple wrist pagers. It seems like, by 2024, the floodgates of feature-rich wearables will have been opened. Whether your goal is to stay connected, awash in notifications, or within circulation of your music collection, there is bound to be a smartwatch out there for you.
Sure, really yours, and that's the good thing. For Saudi shoppers, who are typically already used to the most advanced high-tech devices, especially because the cash outlay is huge in amount, getting the most appropriate product is the most important thing.
Key Considerations: Compatibility and Real-World Performance
Pair that with the realization that one drops a cool wad on purchasing anything like Apple's smartwatch, which again is compatible with only one other device they have to purchase to be satisfied. Due to that, they are way less compelling for users with Android phones. The Galaxy Watch series from Samsung works with most of them, but a lot of those features really light up when users get it matched with a Samsung smartphone.
Smartwatches to watch out for sound phenomenal on paper but have some downsides, such as truly terrible battery life or build quality, and offer nothing in practice.
Expert Recommendations: The Best Smartwatches in Saudi Arabia for 2024
In a bid to assist consumers in Saudi Arabia in being able to figure out the jigsaw of smartwatches, some of the top picks of 2024 are previewed below. Every device here was put through a rich benchmark test for over a week in selecting the best available option for buyers, starting from its tracking accuracy to battery life, user-friendliness, to build quality.
There is something here for everyone, be it a fitness enthusiast or someone who will just buy one for it to match whatever it is that they are putting on.
The Best Overall Smartwatch: Apple Watch Series 9
• Prices : Starting at SAR 1,800.
• Pros: Environment-friendly material, speedier Siri, more accurate workout tracking, brighter display.
• Cons: Similar design to previous models, health data could be better presented.
In 2024, it remains true to its course that the Apple Watch has dominated since its inception. A design freshening remains the only compromise with maturity that this smartwatch features. At its base, the Series 8 could be not that much more than an iteration of the well-developed and nuanced watchOS that has grown into a smooth-operating ecosystem over these several years.
The faces are massive this time around with a bunch of them being new editions, Disney and Snoopy sets, so it says—and it introduces a new addition in the Easy Stack feature. Now, let me tell you about that.
Compared with the Series 9, improvements to this watch were decent last year's edition, but nothing earth-shatteringly new. Now, the screen hits a massive high of 1000 nits, so it can now remain visible in bright sunlight. And through the fresh Double Tap feature, interacting with the watch through simple taps of the thumb and index finger now suddenly feels intuitive to invest in actually navigating the watch when your hands are otherwise full.
Apple Watch SE 2: Best Value Apple Watch
• Prices: starting from SAR 1,250.
• Pros: Least priced, best software, customizable, precise tracking.
• Cons: Slow to charge, no always-on display.
It's perfectly fine for someone who'd want to get a peek inside the Apple ecosystem but can't afford it.
The SE 2 carries most of the top-drawer aspects found in more expensive models, such as an S8 chipset, and that ensures one of the perfect performance. There is quite a good amount of new hardware in the SE 2: it features a tweaked accelerometer from Apple that will recognize if and when a vehicle collision is occurring, so it will automatically call the emergency services.
Sure, it lacks a few value-added specifications compared to some of its top rivals— namely, the always-on display and the ECG monitor— but the very smart package is still able to attract top-class workouts and act very accessory to the iPhone fitness app. For people looking to get an Apple Watch on a budget pick up, the SE remains an extremely interesting thing to purchase for consumers in Saudi Arabia.
OnePlus Watch 2: The Best Wear OS Smartwatch
Rates: From SAR 1,050.
• Pros: Good battery life, sleek design, good fitness tracking.
• Cons: Unremarkable design, limited battery life with an always-on screen, less accurate heart rate tracking during exercise.
The OnePlus Watch 2 is the best-smart Wear OS watch out there in the markets of Saudi Arabia. It sets out spectacular designs and a dual-architecture system providing both balance with the digital features it surmounts and battery life.
In normal mode, the battery can last one charge for up to four days, but the battery, while working in the Power Save mode, can give a service of up to 12 days—a fantastic option for travelers who may forget to carry their charger while on a trip.
The watch's built-in dual-mode architecture has been set so that it easily transitions from full smartwatch function to a more power-effective mode without any hassle. Full use is yours with features allowing you to check fitness levels and stay in touch with the world.
Garmin Fenix 7 Pro: The Top Choice for Serious Athletes
• Cost: Starting at SAR 3,200
• Pros: Great battery life, good looks, advanced mapping, good looking sports tracking.
• Cons: Incremental improvements over the Fenix 7; could use improved accuracy for the heart rate sensor.
That said, for hardcore athletes in Saudi Arabia, from the thrill of a firm possession of the Garmin Fenix 7, this smartwatch boasts of an incredible battery life for good efficiency: up to 22 days in smartwatch mode and an extra 23 hours in GPS mode—an epic watch ideal for marathon runners and outdoor enthusiasts in need of killer tracking power over long durations. The Fenix 7 Pro also touts new such as relief shading, which brings greater detail to maps, and an 'Up Ahead' function making an overview of upcoming points of interest easy during a run or hike. For the most part, its heart rate sensor remains the same—in itself, making the Fenix 7 Pro more able and resilient than ever for athletes whose requirements exceed just the need for step tracking.
Withings ScanWatch 2: The best hybrid smartwatch
• Price: Starting at SAR 1,800.
• Pros: Classy design; good sleep tracking; helping to see the data on temperature fluctuations.
• Consatives : Proximity to feature-crowding on the previous generation, display could show more information, battery life shortens with all features turned on.
The Withings ScanWatch 2 will be perfect for those who want smartwatch features but are very sensitive regarding its styled-down look. This hybrid smartwatch maintains the design of a classic analogue. It uses OLED on the 0.63-inch small display, which is gently inserted just below the traditional watch hands. This terribly quietly displays notifications and health metrics without significantly blowing away the overall design style of the watch.
All this makes the variability in temperature something really important at the ScanWatch 2, adding to its usual capability in sleep tracking. Withings had better outlined an app that makes clear what the precise temperature data really means regarding health and overall condition. Its features are not the best with the ScanWatch 2, but of course, there is always the element of style and substance that many Saudis would greatly desire.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra: Samsung's Ultimate Wearable
• Price: Starting from SAR 2,500.
• Pros: Stylish Wear OS interface, strong GPS and heart rate tracking, bright and clear screen.
• Cons: There's no rotating bezel, battery life is unpredictable, some features are solely for Samsung phone support.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra adds to Samsung's top-yield line in Saudi Arabia and comes with a convectional titanium body that is always waterproof for up to 10ATM, providing it a two-day battery life for both city and outdoor life. This all is attached to a price, but putting the feature set under the face of the appropriately priced best that Samsung can offer. The first killer feature in the Galaxy Watch Ultra? Its ultra-bright display. So the big question is: does its provably bright screen really hold out against the competition's weights with a comprehensive sleep tracking capability ﹘ so far back looking at its last three models? Of course, without said rotating bezel that's said to be in its last few models, navigation alternately could be a bit harder with the Galaxy Watch Ultra. Jest aside, it's going to be quite a strong contender to be a good, fully functional watch even without it.
Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Most Rugged Smartwatch
• Price: Starting from as low as SAR 3,800.
• Pros: Durable design, excellent sports tracking, bright display.
• Consatives: Fitness tracking dated, very little performance analysis, slow to roll out.
For anyone who needs a smartwatch with the ability to withstand the harshest life conditions, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is this device. Its 49mm titanium case is cut from the class of the toughest wearables ever created for brutal use cases, be it in ruthless underwater deeps or dusty deserts. The highlight of the Ultra 2 might be the display: there is a 1.91-inch OLED screen at its top, with up to 3000 nits of peak brightness, illuminating perfectly in literally every kind of lighting. The Watch Ultra 2 also provides one of the longest battery lives among the Apple Watch line, surpassing three days. That said, the Ultra 2 is perhaps just about right if you need a sufficient and sturdy smartwatch that will deal with the exigencies of your everyday life.
Coros Vertix 2: This One Goes to 11 On Battery Life
• Price: Minimum of SAR 2,700.
• Good: Stellar battery life, robust sports tracking, in-depth map support.
• Consitives: No third-party app compatibility, heavier than the previous models, lacks ANT+ compatibility.
Many smartwatches stumble at the life of the battery, but not the Coros Vertix 2. Boasting up to an unbelievable 60 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, it seems the perfect option for this consumer, who wants a unit in Saudi that goes for weeks without having to be charged. It may not come loaded with some features that others have patented, but it is amazing in this order of rudimentary focus on fitness tracking and durability.
The Vertix 2 boasts cutting-edge sensors, and it may be one of the most advanced devices that offer heart rate tracking, HRV, and other health metrics. It's loaded with the dual-frequency GPS capability, which makes it super perfect for running and hiking out in the open. All in all, the Vertix 2 is just a tad more expensive but class-leading in terms of battery life, chock-full of features that stick out by making it easy to recommend upgrading.
FAQs
1. What is anticipated to be the price range of smartwatches in Saudi Arabia?
A smartwatch can be found within most budget margins in the world. They are going for prices of around SAR 650 all the way up in Saudi Arabia. When they are there, they provide an example of a quite basic Fitbit Charge 6, in its function of physical activities.
The more premium-priced smartwatches include the likes of the Apple Watch Ultra 2, available for somewhere around SAR 3,800 and above, offering the most advanced health monitoring functionality and better GPS and cell features. Pre-eminent among them are the mid-range smartwatches: Samsung Galaxy Watch series, which ranges between SAR 1,200 to SAR 2,500, balancing cost with features and hence being a darling's penchant for a gadget lover.
2. Can a smartwatch pair with any smartphone model?
Brand names of smartwatches also come into play under compatibility, and these are quite variant with different models. This can be epitomized well in the case of Apple Watches, as they are actually purpose-made to serve perfection to the owners holding an iPhone since these integrate app and system features. On the other hand, gadgets and attributes of Galaxy Watches are optimized for Samsung smartphones but often work well with other Android devices.
More versatile gadgets are the smartwatches from the Fitbit and Garmin series, functioning on either Android or iOS, albeit with certain functionalities being limited and accompanied with restrictions in compatibility with some applications. This would only bring in the inconvenience that one would have to check the smartwatch in advance to ensure that it satisfies the need for which it was bought.
3. What is the duration of a smartwatch's battery?
Variation of the battery life of these smartwatches based on how one applies them. Even the Coros Vertix 2 claims a mind-boggling battery life of up to 60 days in smartwatch mode and 140 hours in full GPS functionality, thus making this simply the best.
While the Apple series of smartwatches last for a duration of 18-24 hours, it, in comparison, thereafter has to be put for charging every night without questioning. But for the outdoor, the Coros Vertix 2 is tailor-made. It's something in between the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6—mid-range—that clearly looks to balance it out, from 2 to 5 days of battery life, depending on usage.
4. Is the smartwatch waterproof in Saudi Arabia?
Sure, they seem to be basically all waterproof with different grades to them here in Saudi. The top-end models of smartwatches, including the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra 2, should have a higher level of water resistance, as it is normally rated with 10ATM.
This should be translated into giving the device the safety of tolerating pressures up to 100 meters under water and actually being used for swimming, snorkeling, or even diving. Budget and mid-range smartwatches will have you with 3ATM to 5ATM, which is somewhat alright for everyday activities, like taking a shower and dipping in light swimming. Always ensure that the specific water rating is checked, should you use it in a aquatic environment.
5. What to consider when buying a smartwatch in Saudi Arabia?
Key features that one will have to consider when buying a smartwatch in Saudi Arabia will need to be suitable for the device; the selected features have to be right. The compatibility with one's smart phone has been an issue of concern as some of the watches work well with particular operation system.
If not having the need to charge the device daily is of much importance, battery life also comes into the list. Fitness capabilities in terms of monitoring your heart rate, sleep charting, and GPS would be super important for those who want a device that consciously monitors their health. And of course, the water resistance feature in case you plan to ever go swimming or do any kind of outdoor activity. These added functionalities would also provide music storage, contactless payments, and LTE.
