Huawei Watch Ultimate 2 just added a heart health feature Apple and Samsung still don’t have

Huawei has pushed quite the meaningful health upgrade to its Watch Ultimate 2, adding a new screening tool designed to estimate your risk of coronary heart disease - a feature that could nudge some people into getting checked before things get serious.

According to a report by HuaweiCentral, the update will be arriving via a HarmonyOS firmware update (version 6.0.0.209) and, while it won’t magically diagnose anything, it’s the sort of “early warning” health insight that Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch owners still don't have yet.

Coronary risk screening arrives

The big addition in this update is, of course, the coronary heart disease risk assessment, which will be delivered through Huawei’s Research app.

It works by requiring users to opt into Huawei’s coronary heart disease research project inside the app before they then wear the watch for a few days. It then uses the data it’s collecting day and night to generate an assessment of your risk.

According to the report, users should expect results after three to four days of wear. You’ll also need a Huawei phone running HarmonyOS 5 or later, plus the Huawei Research app updated to version 1.1.10.320 or newer.

It’s worth being clear about what this is - a screening-style feature based on trends and signals, not a medical diagnosis. Still, it’s an interesting move, and it fits Huawei’s broader strategy of using wearables to deliver more advanced health insights than most mainstream smartwatches currently offer.

More modes, more cycling smarts

On the sports side, the Watch Ultimate 2 is also getting features aimed at cyclists, including real-time simulated cadence support in outdoor cycling mode. The idea with that, it seems, will be to give users access to more “pro-style” cycling data without having to buy and fit a separate cadence sensor on your bike.

There’s also a new 3D distance compensation feature, which uses GPS and the watch’s barometer to better account for elevation changes - handy if you do a lot of hilly riding where flat 2D mapping can make your effort look a bit underwhelming.

Nevertheless, if you’ve got a Watch Ultimate 2, the update is rolling out in batches now - so it might take a little while to hit your wrist.