Garmin has announced the Venu Sq 2 and Venu Sq 2 Music at the IFA tech expo.

It has one very clear hardware advantage over the original Garmin Venu Sq, released in September 2020. An LCD screen has been replaced with an OLED one, of a much higher pixel density.

The original Venu Sq has a 240 x 240 pixel 1.3-inch display, the Venu Sq 2 a 360 x 320 1.41-inch panel. Note the shape of the display has changed as well as its size and pixel count.

Watch dimensions are near-identical too aside from a fractional slimming in the Venu Sq 2, meaning less of the front of the watch is blank border in this new generation.

This change in display tech may also contribute to the giant leap in battery life. The Garmin Venu Sq is rated for six days of use, the Venu Sq 2 11 days, or 12 in its Battery Saver mode.

GPS usage figures are increased too, from 14 hours to 26 hours.

It’s an impressive update that will change how the Venu Sq series feels to use week-to-week, a relief when the two watches look near-identical from a quick glance.

There are other predictable hardware changes too. The Venu 2 Sq adopts the heart rate sensor used in all the latest Garmins, the Elevate V4 array. It has Multi-Band GPS and while the two generations are fairly similar in software features and modes, there are some additions.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 supports Sleep Score and Sleep Insights, which makes sleep tracking seem well packaged and digestible in all the recent Garmin I have tested.

Worth the upgrade for Venu Sq owners? The new OLED screen is going to wipe away the slightly cheap look the original Venu Sq has, but if you’re happy with this and its stamina, you’re not missing out on too much by waiting this one out.

However, it’s a clearly superior watch all-round. And a slightly more expensive one. It costs $249.99 for the standard Venu Sq 2, $299.99 for the Venu Sq 2 Music with storage for “up to 500 songs.” This likely means it has 4GB storage.