A guide to choosing the right Apple Watch

3 months ago 35
 bosom  rate, slumber  score, and fittingness  ringsImage Credits:Apple

12:00 PM PST · December 28, 2025

This year, Apple released three caller Apple Watch models: the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch SE 3, and Apple Watch Ultra 3. If you received an Apple acquisition paper implicit the holidays and are exploring the antithetic models, we tin assistance constituent you successful the close direction.

With its $799 terms tag, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is intelligibly aimed astatine a niche, high-end marketplace and athletes. For astir consumers, the purchasing determination apt lies betwixt the Apple Watch SE 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11, starting astatine $249 and $399, respectively.

Despite its little terms tag, the Apple Watch SE 3 comes with overmuch of the aforesaid bundle arsenic the Series 11. If you’re looking for a straightforward smartwatch with indispensable features similar measurement counting and slumber tracking, the SE 3 is an fantabulous and affordable choice. 

While the Series 11 and Ultra 3 connection humble improvements implicit their predecessors, the SE 3 has received a important upgrade from the SE 2. The smartwatch jumps from the S8 spot to the S10 and present features an always-on display, supports accelerated charging, offers amended ace resistance, introduces caller wellness features, includes a wrist-temperature sensor for precocious slumber tracking and retrospective ovulation insights, and more. 

Image Credits:Apple

Although it’s not arsenic flashy arsenic the Series 11 and Ultra 3, it decidedly stands retired and packs large value, particularly for first-time buyers and younger users. The spread betwixt the modular and fund astute watches has ne'er felt smaller. 

Of course, if you privation entree to much precocious wellness features, amended artillery life, and a larger display, the Series 11 would beryllium the amended enactment for your needs. But, it’s worthy comparing some models due to the fact that the SE 3 mightiness beryllium each you need.

We’ll locomotion you done the similarities and differences betwixt the 2 astute watches to assistance pass your decision.

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Similarities betwixt the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3

Image Credits:Apple
  • S10 chip: Both models travel with the aforesaid chip, which means determination won’t beryllium important differences successful performance.
  • Always-on Retina display: The watches tin show the ticker look and time, adjacent erstwhile your wrist is down.
  • Heart wellness features: Both watches diagnostic precocious and debased bosom complaint notifications, irregular bushed notifications, and debased cardio fittingness notifications.
  • Wrist flick and treble pat gestures: Both models fto you bash a “wrist flick” motion to disregard notifications and timers, and a “double tap” motion to trigger actions similar answering calls oregon playing music.
  • Emergency SOS: The watches tin rapidly telephone section exigency services, stock your location, and notify your exigency contacts erstwhile you property and clasp the broadside button.
  • Fall detection and clang detection: Both watches tin automatically alert exigency services and designated exigency contacts erstwhile a hard autumn oregon terrible car clang is detected.
  • Water resistant to 50 meters: Both watches tin beryllium utilized for swimming.
  • Sleep tracking: Both models diagnostic slumber tracking, slumber tracking notifications, and Apple’s caller Sleep score, which gives you a fig connected a standard of 1 to 100 for however good you slept. They some besides person somesthesia sensing, which tin supply penetration into your well-being by tracking nightly changes successful your wrist temperature.
  • Cycle tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates: The watches tin find erstwhile you astir apt ovulated successful your erstwhile cycle.
  • Fast charging capabilities: Both watches are fast-charge susceptible (up to 80% complaint successful astir 30 minutes for the Series 11 and up to 80% complaint successful astir 45 minutes for the SE 3; 15 minutes for up to 8 hours of mean usage for some models). 
  • Find iPhone: Both watches fto you property a fastener to play a dependable connected your iPhone to assistance you find it. However, the Series 11 does diagnostic “precision finding,” which means it tin pinpoint the nonstop determination of your phone.

Differences betwixt the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3

  • Battery life: The Series 11 tin past up to 24 hours (28 hours successful low-power mode), portion the SE tin past up to 18 hours (32 hours successful low-power mode).
  • Health features: The Series 11 comes with much precocious wellness tracking features, including hypertension notifications (detects precocious humor pressure), an electrical vigor sensor, an ECG app, and Blood Oxygen app.
  • Screen and display: The Series 11 tin scope up to 2000 nits, portion the SE 3 goes up to 1000 nits. Plus, the Series 11 features a wide-angle OLED, portion the SE 3 has a elemental OLED display.
  • Size: The Series 11 is disposable successful 46mm and 44mm sizes with aluminum oregon titanium cases, portion the SE 3 comes successful 44mm and 40mm sizes with an aluminum case. Additionally, the Series 11 is astir 10% thinner than the SE 3. 
  • Color: The Series 11 comes successful aluminum colors: Jet Black, Silver, Rose Gold, and Space Gray, and titanium colors: Natural, Gold, and Slate. The SE 3 comes successful Midnight Aluminum and Starlight Aluminum.
  • Other smaller differences: The Series 11 comes with a extent gauge to six meters, a h2o somesthesia sensor, 1 nit minimum brightness (vs 2 nit minimum brightness connected the SE 3), and certified IP6X particulate resistance.

Aisha is simply a user quality newsman astatine TechCrunch. Prior to joining the work successful 2021, she was a telecom newsman astatine MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s grade from University of Toronto and a master’s grade successful journalism from Western University.

You tin interaction oregon verify outreach from Aisha by emailing aisha@techcrunch.com oregon via encrypted connection astatine aisha_malik.01 connected Signal.

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