Huawei gets the balance just right with its Watch Fit 4 Pro

After mimicking the Apple Watch design with the last iteration, Huawei finally delivers the health-tracking chops that give it real competitive muscle in an increasingly crowded category.

- By Lindsey Schutters

First, a disclosure: fitness wearables don't usually go back after reviews, because, eew! So I'll be hanging on to this watch, for science.

One look at the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro is enough for most to dismiss it as just another Chinese Apple Watch Ultra clone. Hell, even Samsung was willing to risk public ridicule with its Galaxy Watch Ultra in a bid to give the people what they want.

But for a watch costing a smidge under R5,000 — and cannibalising features from its more expensive siblings — there seems to be something other than just high forms of flattery at play. Also, it added a barometer to a fitness tracker, a rare luxury at the price.

What am I talking about? For R1,000 less than the price of the Chinese tech maker's titanium-clad, round-faced Watch GT 5 Pro, you get the same TruSense health-tracking sensors (including the ECG and arterial stiffness tests) and its multisatellite Sunflower GPS positioning algorithms.

This is important to close the gap on the Apple Watch whose styling it so closely resembles — Apple’s watches regularly top the charts for accuracy when tracking fitness metrics.