Amazfit keeps piling pressure on Garmin with two surprisingly ambitious new sports watches
The Balance Ultra and Balance 3 expand the brand's growing premium portfolio
Amazfit has unveiled two new additions to its growing smartwatch portfolio, the Balance Ultra and Balance 3, introducing a range of hardware upgrades and new training features.
With titanium construction, sapphire glass, dual-band GPS, offline maps, and long battery life, the wearables are aimed at the same premium sports-watch buyers who typically shop Garmin watches.
Although the company is placing a strong emphasis on HYROX with the latest models, the Balance Ultra and Balance 3 also bring meaningful improvements to the hardware itself.
Both watches feature a 1.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 480 pixels, sapphire glass protection and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.
That's a significant jump from the 2,000-nit display found on the Balance 2 and should make the screens easier to read in bright sunlight.
More than just a brighter screen
The company has equipped both fitness watches with a new processor, which the company claims delivers up to 2.5 times faster rendering and 12 times faster map refresh rates than before.
Storage has also doubled from 32GB to 64GB, providing additional space for offline maps and other content.
Offline topographic and contour maps remain a key part of the experience, alongside dual-frequency GPS and support for six satellite positioning systems.
The flagship Balance Ultra features a Grade 5 titanium frame and bottom case, weighs 57g and packs a 780mAh battery.
Amazfit says it can last up to 30 days between charges or deliver up to 50 hours of GPS tracking.
The Balance 3 is available in Titanium or Stainless Steel and offers up to 21 days of battery life and 41 hours of GPS use.
An integrated dual-mode flashlight with white, red and SOS lighting modes is also new to the watches, although not to the brand, as the Cheetah 2 Ultra already has this.
Both watches are also rated to 10ATM, support diving activities, and meet "military-grade durability standards."
Amazfit goes all-in on hybrid training
Amazfit is introducing a suite of new hybrid training tools aimed at athletes balancing strength and endurance workouts, including Training Balance and Hybrid Charge.
The watches include access to a dedicated HYROX training library, personalised race strategies based on venue layouts and detailed post-race analysis.
The Balance Ultra and Balance 3 run Zepp OS 6 and support a wide range of third-party platforms, including Strava, TrainingPeaks, Komoot, adidas Running and Intervals.icu.
They can also connect to external accessories such as heart rate monitors, cycling power meters and Stryd foot pods.
The Balance Ultra is priced at £600 / €600 / $600 (~AU$848) and is available exclusively in titanium at Amazfit UK, Amazfit EU and Amazfit US.
The Balance 3 is available ot pre-order now, with prices starting at £370 / €370 / $370 (~AU$523) for the Stainless Steel version at Amazfit UK, Amazfit EU and Amazfit US.
