Introduction, unboxing
Huawei’s Watch Fit series is very popular because it combines a small form factor with a useful rectangular display, colorful bands, a strong suite of health and fitness tracking, and superb battery life for not a lot of money. Many people gravitate towards the series (and others like it) because they cover the majority of functionality of an Apple Watch or a Wear OS watch, but with far superior battery life.
And as the series has evolved, it’s gotten nicer and more premium, think less fitness band and more premium smartwatch. This move into premium happened last year with the introduction of the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro, the first Pro model in the Watch Fit lineup, and people loved it. It looked like an Apple Watch Ultra but cost way less and could last for nearly a week of use. Well, the Watch Fit 5 Pro has gotten much better in all of those.
The new wearable has a slightly larger display (1.92″ vs 1.82″), and the sapphire glass on top of it has a 2.5D curved edge (it’s flat on the Fit 4 Pro). The subtle curve and the added screen make the watch more elegant and premium. The screen is just as bright at 3,000 nits, but it’s now a 1Hz-60Hz LTPO panel, which means it can lower its refresh rate to save battery.
The other improvement is arguably more important. That battery is bigger – 15% bigger, which makes a noticeable difference in endurance.
The new watch also introduces NFC payments via the Curve app.
Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro (left) vs the Watch Fit 5 Pro
What hasn’t changed is the overall design, including interchangeable bands across models, a healthy incentive to upgrade.
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The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro launched this month and costs €300/£250, though Huawei is known to offer nice bundles and discounts from time to time. In Malaysia, you get a 1-year added warranty, a free 3-month trial of Huawei Health+, 1 month of Huawei Watch Face Membership, and a pair of Huawei Freebuds SE 2 as a gift.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro ships with the same 20W wireless charging puck as the previous model – it’s universal, meaning there are no pins to match, but ends in a USB-A connection, which is unfortunate in these wonderful USB-C mandated times.
Design, display
Huawei didn’t change the overall design of the Watch Fit 5 Pro compared to its predecessor, but made the timepiece more elegant and classy. The subtle curve at the edges of the front glass element adds levels of refinement and takes away some of the older model’s utilitarian and sporty look.
Our model is the orange one, and it has an orange accent lining the front. It’s a nice touch that works well with the light-gold matte casing.
The orange unit comes with a matching orange fabric band, which Huawei claims is built to be more breathable, and it’s also water and oil-resistant, thanks to a silicone coating.
The White model comes with a white fluoroelastomer strap. The white model’s casing has a micro-Arc Oxide-treated surface, which increases wear resistance. It, too, has a color-matching white accent line running around the display. The black model has a less noticeable black accent around the screen and comes with a black fluoroelastomer strap.
The screen is lovely on the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro. It’s just as bright as before at an impressive 3,000 nits, and it also tops out at the same 60Hz. But the panel is now larger at 1.92″ (vs 1.82″), and is LTPO for better efficiency.
It’s an easily legible display in bright sunlight. It also comes in handy as a flashlight in completely dark rooms.
The case is quality-made and has a matte finish. There’s a titanium bezel around the sapphire crystal display that’s embedded into the aluminum case. Button placement is unchanged from the previous model – there’s a rotating crown that’s also a button, and a quick button below that takes you to the workouts menu.
The casing
There is also a microphone and speaker on the Watch Fit 5 Pro, and using it for calls is not bad.
Health and fitness tracking
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro runs Huawei’s proprietary HarmonyOS 6.1.0. It’s easy to go about, and it’s pretty with high-res UI elements and a healthy choice of watch faces.
The rectangular screen provides ample space for a lot of information like the time, date, steps, sleep data, the weather, and even some bonus features like altitude and pressure. There are a bunch of free and paid faces through Huawei’s Health companion app. Speaking of, Huawei Health isn’t on the Play Store; you need to get the latest version either from Huawei’s App Market app or website.
A swipe down from the top of the screen (or a scroll down on the crown) opens the quick toggles panel. Pressing on the crown button opens up a “hex grid” of your apps. You can also have it as a list, which this reviewer finds more convenient, though you can’t sort them by name, and it’s slower to get to the bottom apps. Bonus tip – when in grid mode, scroll to the top and scroll once to enable app names in the grid.
You can customize what the “down button” does, to some extent. You can change what pressing it once does, and you can pretty much choose any app or function you like, which is great. But you can’t change what pressing the button twice does – it opens the Wallet app.
Speaking of, you can use the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro for NFC payments, which is a huge addition. It works through the Curve app, a digital wallet with a good rating. The app accepts Mastercard and works across the European Economic Area and the UK. You need to download the app on your phone and the watch, add a card, and set a PIN on the watch.
HarmonyOS 6.1.0
This year, Huawei added a remote shutter app that works with your phone! I wish it came to the Watch Fit 4 Pro as well.
You can install third-party apps from the App Gallery inside Huawei Health (in the Devices tab), but the implementation is pretty basic – you get a list of apps that you can install, and there’s not even a Search function.
Huawei’s HarmonyOS isn’t as customizable and capable as a fully-fledged smart OS like Wear OS 6 or Apple’s watchOS 26, but it does have the upside of giving you most of the functionality (all of the basic functions you’ll actually use daily), and a major battery life advantage.
Let’s talk health tracking. Huawei upgraded the TruSense system on the back of the Watch Fit 5 Pro, though the LEDs appear the same as those on the Watch Fit 4 Pro. To quote the press brief, expect more accurate heart rate and SpO2 monitoring.
Atrial Fibrillation analysis joins the ECG and arterial stiffness capabilities of the old model.
Sleep tracking now uses a more advanced algorithm, which can better detect your sleep “architecture” – light sleep (N1 and N2), and deep sleep (N3). There’s also a new Nap Recap feature if you’re into naps. As before, you can enable Sleep breathing awareness.
I’m a long-term Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro user, and I use it to track my sleep. I’ve been using the Watch Fit 5 Pro for about a month now. I won’t give you a science-based impression of the sleep tracking – there are specialty websites that do the whole sleeping with wires strapped to their heads thing.
What I can say is that while I’m getting an average of 1.5 to 2 hours of deep sleep with the Watch Fit 4 Pro, I’m getting a little over 1 hour with the Watch Fit 5 Pro. Subjectively, it feels more realistic. I’ve used several smart wearables over the years (also as part of my job at GSMArena) – Galaxy Watch, Huawei Watch, Xiaomi Watch – and most don’t attribute me with more than 1.5 hours of deep sleep per night.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro is also better at recognizing when I’m awake but still in bed.
Sleep tracking
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro can do an electrocardiogram to measure if there’s an arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) or sinus rhythm (regular heartbeat).
The watch can also check how elastic (good) or stiff (bad) your arteries are. In theory, both are very advanced near-medical capabilities beyond the realm of mere fitness trackers. In practice, these features are consumer-grade and should be used only as a first line of defense against serious illness, and you should consult with a doctor in case of an actual problem.
Sinus rhythm check and A-fib detection
In terms of fitness tracking, there are a few ways the Watch Fit 5 Pro is better than its predecessor. It brings new animated full-body mini-workouts. There are 30 of them, and you get a cute baby panda, which gives you instructions on what to do.
Both running and cycling have improved metrics. There’s fall detection, which can work with cycling. Golf, intriguingly, has gotten a major improvement. You already had a great collection of courses, but Huawei has now upgraded the maps of more than 17,000 courses with vector maps for stepless zooming and custom distance measurement.
The watch will analyze your drive with a detailed analysis of your downswing time, your backswing time, your swing tempo, and speed. Finally, there are animated swing demos, neat.
For running, the Watch Fit 5 Pro supports dual-band L1 + L5 GPS with faster lock and better urban accuracy.
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro can sync data with third-party apps like Strava, FIIT, RacePace, Komoot, just to name a few.
Sports tracking
Battery life, charging
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro comes with a 471mAh battery, which is a 71mAh improvement over its predecessor. A full charge is quoted at 75 minutes, but I was getting a quicker turnaround – around 1 hour.
I’d say battery life is the single biggest strength and improvement on the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro. As a long-term user of its predecessor, I’m getting around 5 days of use out of mine. That includes all-day use, notifications, 4 to 5 training sessions, and sleep tracking.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro easily gets me 8 days of use with the same routine, which is bonkers. It’s a true quality of life improvement that I felt once I moved to the new wearable.
What’s impressive is that Huawei promises around 7 days of endurance with “typical use”.
Verdict
Huawei had the tough task of improving what was already great in a popular and capable Watch Fit 4 Pro. And they did a great job – the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro has extraordinary battery life, and an even nicer build that’s no longer an Apple Watch copycat. The new display is nicer, bigger, and curvier, which we love.
Sprinkle some refinements to the health and fitness tracking, add NFC payments, and you’ve got a winner. Well, Huawei does.
The € 399 starting price isn’t exactly low, but it is reasonable and affordable, and it stacks up well in Huawei’s favor when you compare the Watch Fit 5 Pro to the likes of the Apple Watch Ultra 3. And outside of running certain apps on your wrist (why), and a somewhat debatable advantage in premiumness, there’s really nothing that the Apple Watch Ultra (or any Wear OS counterpart) does better than the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro.
Finally, a word on potential upgraders. If you’re coming from the Watch Fit 4 Pro, the upgrade to the 5 Pro is a meaningful one – much better battery life and a slightly larger (but much nicer with the curved edges) display are well worth it.
Pros
- Premium look and feel
- Sapphire crystal display is practically impossible to scratch.
- Excellent display quality – bright and legible
- Outstanding battery life – 8 days of constant use.
- Extensive health and fitness tracking capabilities.
- Seemingly more accurate health tracking than predecessor.
- Huawei doesn’t discriminate – the watch works with all phones.
Cons
- Isn’t cheap.
- Non-standard watch bands.
- USB-A charging cable is annoying in 2026.