Amazfit built the watch Garmin has spent years explaining why it won't build: an AMOLED smartwatch with solar charging. Then it put a second solar panel on the back.
The T-Rex Dual Solar launched today at $649.99, and it claims the title of the world's first AMOLED smartwatch with dual-sided solar charging. That is a genuine first. The question is whether being first is worth what Amazfit gave up to get there.
What Amazfit Actually Built
The pitch is straightforward, and it comes with a story. Garmin has long argued that combining an AMOLED display with solar charging does not make sense, because the display's power draw eats whatever the panel recovers, and you are better off using the space for a bigger battery. Amazfit went the other way.
The solar system has two separate panels. One sits under the display, as you would expect. The other is built into the glass ceramic back plate, hidden in the base of the optical heart rate sensor bump. The idea is that you take the watch off during a long day outdoors, set it face down facing the sun, and collect roughly double what the front panel alone would give you.
That rear panel is the interesting engineering, and by most accounts it is genuinely well executed. It is also a surface that faces your wrist almost all the time it is being worn, which is the thing to keep in mind.
The Spec Sheet
- Display: 1.3-inch AMOLED
- Case: 51.4mm, 16.9mm thick, 69g without the strap, grade 5 titanium bezel
- Glass: Sapphire crystal
- Battery: 660mAh, up to 51 days typical use, up to 180 days claimed in the most efficient mode
- GPS: Up to 41 hours in Accuracy GPS Mode
- Water: 10 ATM with diving support and a 50m depth gauge
- Extras: White and red LED flashlight, offline maps, LiveShare location sharing
- Price: $649.99 in the US, GBP 649.90 in the UK, 649 euros in Europe
On paper that is a lot of watch. It is also, deliberately, a compromise machine.
The Solar Question
Here is the part that matters, and the launch-day reviews are already answering it.
DC Rainmaker spent time with the watch for a written hands-on and came away impressed by the software and unimpressed by the physics. His verdict is that the watch is "in many ways the very definition of form over function," and he was generous about why that might be fine, since Amazfit delivered on a thing people had been asking for and took the risk nobody else would.
The numbers he reported are the ones to hold onto. On days he left the watch outside in the sun all day, he gained 2 to 3 percent of battery life. And that was while not wearing it, which is the scenario where you would expect the best possible result, because a watch on your wrist is busy lighting the display, running optical heart rate and burning power on algorithms. Once the watch goes on your wrist, the solar gains get close to a wash.
He also gave credit where it is due: Amazfit's on-watch solar widget is better than Garmin's. It presents the gains in a way that is more practical and more useful than what you get on a Garmin solar watch, which is a real compliment from someone who tests both.
So the honest read on the headline feature is that the solar recovery is negligible in practice, and the interface for watching it recover is the genuinely excellent part. That is a strange place for a $649 watch to land, and Amazfit seems to know it, framing the feature as optional extra charge rather than a replacement for plugging in.
It Is a T-Rex Ultra 2 With Real Trade-Offs
Amazfit describes the Dual Solar as a twin to the T-Rex Ultra 2, which we reviewed at launch, and that framing is mostly right on features. It is not right on hardware, and the differences run in both directions.
What you give up:
- A smaller display. 1.3 inches versus 1.5 inches on the Ultra 2, which is a noticeable step down on a watch this large
- A smaller battery. 660mAh against 870mAh, which is the cost of fitting a second solar panel and a slimmer body
- A different flashlight. White and red LEDs instead of white and green
What you gain:
- Deeper diving allowance. A 50m depth gauge instead of 45m
- LiveShare. New location sharing, though every Amazfit watch will get this through the app
- The dual solar system itself, which no other watch on the market has
That trade is the whole argument. You are paying $100 more than the T-Rex Ultra 2 for a watch with a smaller screen and a smaller battery, in exchange for solar panels that add a couple of percentage points in best-case conditions.
There is a coherent case for it. If you spend multi-day trips away from power and you like the idea of the watch topping itself up on a rest day, the rear panel is a real, if modest, addition. If you want the best screen and the longest runtime for the money, the Ultra 2 is the better buy, and it is cheaper.
Price and Availability
The T-Rex Dual Solar is available for pre-order starting today. US pricing is $649.99, with UK pricing at GBP 649.90 and European pricing at 649 euros. That puts it above the T-Rex Ultra 2 and below the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, which is a deliberate position: the most expensive Amazfit, aimed at people comparing it to a Garmin.
The launch date was not an accident either. Amazfit picked the autumnal equinox, the day the year splits evenly between sunlight and darkness, for a watch whose entire pitch is about sunlight.
Bottom Line
The Amazfit T-Rex Dual Solar is the first AMOLED smartwatch with solar charging, and the first watch anywhere with solar panels on both sides. Amazfit deserves credit for building it when the obvious engineering argument said not to.
The execution is where it gets complicated. Real-world solar recovery lands in the low single digits at best, and on your wrist it is close to nothing, which means the headline feature is closer to a gadget than a capability. Amazfit's own solar interface is the best part of the system, and it is genuinely more useful than Garmin's.
For $649.99 you are buying a smaller screen and a smaller battery than the cheaper T-Rex Ultra 2, plus a pair of solar panels that will not move your charge level much. Buy it because the idea appeals to you and you want the only watch that does this. Do not buy it expecting the solar to change how you charge.
Sources: Amazfit's T-Rex Dual Solar launch announcement and published specifications; DC Rainmaker's written hands-on with the T-Rex Dual Solar published September 22, 2026, including his real-world solar recovery testing; Amazon and Amazfit regional pricing; our earlier coverage of the T-Rex Dual Solar FCC filing and the T-Rex Ultra 2 review; and launch-day video reviews from DesFit and Chase the Summit embedded above.