Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 Is A Premium Watch For Marathon Runners

Since Huawei focused more on wearable devices in 2020, Huawei has quickly ranked first in the global wearable market and reached the first global market share in 2025. The company isn’t letting up in 2026, kicking off the new year with a new high-end watch aimed at runners.

Unfortunately, I’m not a runner and a sprained ankle has kept me from even trying to run for the past few weeks. So even though I wore the watch on and off for nearly three weeks, I can’t in good conscience call it a review because I simply didn’t get to try out all of the watch’s features: dual-band full-satellite positioning, for example; and specialized algorithms that guide users during races like marathons. Consider this an outsider’s actual impression.

So, what makes a watch a running watch? Advanced GPS positioning. Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 adopts a new “3D floating antenna” design, which solves the common pain point of metal body interfering with GPS signals.

Of course, a simple solution to this problem might be to use a plastic watch case like some sports watches, but the Huawei Watch has always positioned itself as a high-end watch, so going plastic isn’t an option.

Instead, a floating antenna design is essentially a raised metal frame on top of a metal housing with a dielectric frame sandwiched in between to aid reception.

Huawei says the new design makes the watch’s GPS positioning accuracy 3.5 times higher than the previous generation running watch. I didn’t review that one (again, I’m not a runner), but peers who tested it gave the first-generation watch great reviews.

I can say that the watch is comfortable to wear; I appreciate that it’s smaller than usual and doesn’t hinder me if I’m doing other exercises that require me to bend my wrist (like push-ups).

The 1.32-inch OLED display is covered with Huawei’s proprietary “Kunlun Glass” tempered glass technology, and the screen is very clear – with a maximum brightness of over 3,000 nits.

In addition to what Huawei says is best-in-class GPS data accuracy, the watch also features a Pro Marathon mode that not only tracks your runs but also helps you prepare for them. You enter your marathon running route and data, and the watch generates a training plan for the days leading up to the race, along with appropriate pacing techniques. Again, I have never run a marathon in my life or attempted this format.

Battery life on Huawei smartwatches is as good as ever: 14 days on a single charge in normal use, 7 days in active use (including running training), and about 35 hours in continuous tracking use. So this looks like a good overall fitness tracking wearable even for those who don’t run. Of course, Huawei has plenty of other smartwatches and bands for non-runners.

Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 is priced at 2,488 yuan in China and 379 euros in Europe.