ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple’s baseline smartwatch presents upgraded well being options and extra battery life.
- The smartwatch’s solely weak point is that it is trumped by the worth of its youthful sibling, the SE 3.
- The Sequence 11 is out there to preorder now and ships on Sept 19.
sep / 2025
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Individuals put on Apple Watches for all kinds of causes. There are the well being and sleep monitoring features, which Apple has closely invested in over the previous few years. There’s the second-screen facet – some jobs prohibit staff from utilizing their telephones on the clock. After which there are the phone-free perks of disconnecting, albeit with some safeguards for contacting pals, listening to music, or getting instructions.
Apple rolled out three new Apple Watches at its September iPhone occasion this yr (the Apple Watch Sequence 11, Apple Watch Extremely 3, and the Apple Watch SE 3), and I’ve been testing all three for the previous week. Now I am able to share execs, cons, use circumstances, and shopping for recommendation for every one.
Additionally: AirPods review: Apple pulled off something I thought was impossible
On this overview, I’ll give attention to the Apple Watch Series 11, which I used to trace exercises at my Brooklyn health club, monitor my sleep, and obtain Apple’s brand-new Sleep Scores, and do a complete lot extra. So, is that this a smartwatch to purchase or improve to? Let’s get into it.
Some options keep the identical from Sequence 10 to Sequence 11. The most important is Apple’s chipset. Usually, it updates its chips yearly, however the Sequence 11 retains the S10 processor, the identical chip as 2024’s Sequence 10. Apple says that in including extra battery life by means of an inside design change that changed its jelly roll cells with a steel can design, it was in a position to preserve the shape issue of the watch the identical and use 2024’s chip to course of the brand new system. Because of this the construct of the watch is equivalent to the Sequence 10.
The display screen brightness additionally stays the identical at 2,000 nits, regardless of its competitors, the Pixel Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 8, amping theirs as much as 3,000 nits. It’s a must to improve to the Apple Watch Extremely 3 to get a 3,000 nit display screen within the Apple ecosystem.
Additionally: The ten features that made me switch to the Apple Watch full-time
The brand new watches are available in 4 colorways: Jet Black, Rose Gold, Silver, and a brand new Area Grey. My band of alternative is the Sport Loop, which I examined in a hanging Neon Yellow. I wasn’t anticipating to like as a lot as I did: It is light-weight on the wrist, straightforward to sleep with, and water-wicking (particularly should you bathe together with your watch, which I do). Apple additionally improved the Sport Loop band for added reflectivity across the edges for these nighttime runners and out of doors exercisers.
Sleeping, working, and exercising with the watch is a light-weight and cozy expertise. The show is vivid, notifications pop up rapidly, and the watch outlasts a day of standard use. If you have not slept with a watch earlier than, it would take a couple of nights to get used to it. However the skinny construct of the Sequence 11 and the sleep mode, which blackens the display screen and dismisses interruptions, make it simpler than different watches to float away.
The upgrades you must learn about
Apple made a number of upgrades to the Sequence 11 that its predecessor, the Sequence 10, misses out on. Essentially the most desired replace is six extra hours of battery life. The battery increase brings the general capability to 24 hours for all-day communication, exercise monitoring, and sleep monitoring.
The FDA-cleared Hypertension Detection function is one other large one, not simply for many who wish to additional perceive their blood stress without having a blood-pressure cuff but in addition for Apple’s long-term mission to make use of expertise to proactively enhance well being and wellness.
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The brand new hypertension function does not present by-the-minute readings on blood stress. As a substitute, it makes use of Apple’s PPG coronary heart sensor to take a 30-day common studying that its algorithm determines is both above or beneath the hypertension threshold. As a result of I had only some days with the watch, I wasn’t in a position to make use of the function but because it requires 30 days of monitoring, however I will report again in a month as soon as I’ve additional expertise with it.
Nonetheless, hypertension impacts over 1 billion individuals and is the world’s most undiagnosed disease. Apple’s first-of-its-kind, FDA-cleared hypertension detection is not going to solely encourage proactive monitoring but in addition unfold consciousness of the situation’s ubiquity. Apple forecasts that its new hypertension function will notify over 1,000,000 individuals of their undiagnosed hypertension throughout its first 12 months in the marketplace.
Apple provides 5G to Sequence 11 for environment friendly connectivity, Ion-X glass for sturdiness, and a wrist-flicking gesture to dismiss messages or calls. The brand new glass may assist shut the sturdiness hole between the Sequence 11 and Extremely 3 and make the cheaper smartwatch much more interesting to these caught between the 2.
Curiously sufficient, this yr, a number of upgrades should not unique to the three new Apple Watches’ new {hardware}. The software program upgrades in WatchOS 26 lengthen past the Sequence 11, Extremely 3, and SE 3 to the Sequence 9 and later and Extremely 2.
What I might wish to see on the Sequence 12
I discovered that Apple’s new Sleep Rating tended to inflate my high quality of sleep. I examined the watch in opposition to my Oura Ring, which delivers sleep and readiness scores each morning. My Apple Watch commonly delivered scores within the excessive 90s when my Oura Ring provided up scores within the 80s, even on days once I felt sluggish and wanted a nap. Apple says it bases the three elements that make up your Sleep Rating on tips from three main sleep foundations.
Additionally: The Apple Watch Series 11 is one feature away from making me ditch my Oura Ring
Normally, sleep scores are a reasonably subjective metric that tech manufacturers generate to visualise sleep well being simply. All through my testing of sleep trackers, I’ve discovered {that a} sleep rating displays the model’s priorities greater than it’s an goal measure of sleep monitoring.
If most Individuals do not get good sleep, in accordance with recent stats, and Apple is interesting to a common American consumership, its sleep rating metrics could be beneficiant to assuage the consumer. Any constant, seven-hour slumber with few interruptions may nonetheless land you an 80 or 90-something sleep rating.
Regardless of their subjectivity, sleep scores convey sleep data in an simply digestible approach, a lot to the dismay of poor sleepers. Many individuals have stopped utilizing sleep trackers due to sleep scores that grade them poorly. It is in a model’s finest curiosity to make merchandise that do not alienate the consumer whereas additionally delivering helpful, correct data. Apple says it’s doing so by solely grading a consumer on their bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep period.
Moreover, Apple is already capturing a wearer’s Coaching Load, and I might like to see Apple add some form of Restoration rating that takes a consumer’s exercise information into consideration and optimizes their Coaching Load metric every day.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
When evaluating the Apple Watch Series 11 to the Extremely 3 or SE 3, there are a couple of qualities that distinguish the watches. Each smartwatch, for instance, now contains the Sleep Rating, however the SE 3 will get 18 hours of regular use battery life, whereas the Sequence 11 will get 24, and the Extremely 3 will get 42.
The Extremely 3, just like the Sequence 11, contains Hypertension Detection whereas additionally including Emergency SOS by way of Satellite tv for pc. Emergency SOS and 42 hours of battery life would serve hikers and individuals who work in rugged professions. First-time smartwatch customers trying to document a exercise or discreetly reply to texts on the job would in all probability get essentially the most out of Apple’s reasonably priced SE 3. So, the place does that depart the Apple Watch Sequence 11?
Additionally: I compared Apple and Samsung’s best smartwatches – here’s who wins for now
The Sequence 11 is right for you you probably have already used a smartwatch commonly and are prepared for an improve. You could be utilizing it for train and for closing your day by day exercise rings, and also you wish to additional perceive your well being by means of Apple’s Sleep Rating, Hypertension Detection, the Vitals app, and superior train options like Coaching Load. You may have used a earlier smartwatch commonly sufficient to know you want extra battery out of your subsequent one, which makes the Sequence 11’s 24-hour capability a key improve.
WatchOS 26 brings Sleep Rating and Hypertension Detection to earlier watches, together with the Sequence 9 and later, and the Extremely 2. It skips the SE and SE 2.
So the larger query is whether or not Sequence 11 buyers ought to contemplate the Sequence 10 as an alternative? Should you do not want the additional six hours of battery life and wish to maximize your financial savings, then the Sequence 10 continues to be an incredible alternative. You’ll be able to even find a refurbished one for under $300 on Amazon and other retailers.
Take into account that whichever Apple Watch you select, there are often glorious reductions round Black Friday, and ZDNET will at all times preserve you up to date on one of the best offers. For extra on these two merchandise, check out my critiques of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3.
