Apple Watch Ultra 3, Series 11 and SE 3 revealed: Hands-on comparisons between Apple’s all-new smartwatch line-up

In the market for a new smartwatch? Apple’s got you covered. At its annual iPhone showcase, which has just seen it reveal the super-slim iPhone Air, super-powerful iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, and great-value iPhone 17, it also took the opportunity to overhaul its complete range of Apple Watch smartwatches.

At the top tier Apple’s showing off the latest generation of its ruggedised smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra 3. In the middle, there’s the fitness-oriented Apple Watch Series 11. And for those on a budget, there’s the great value Apple Watch SE 3.

There’s something for everyone this year, and while the new launches lacked a breakthrough ‘wow’ moment, each has enough meaningful improvements to make them worth your while, especially if you’re overdue for an upgrade. The Apple Watch SE 3, in particular, sees a significant jump over its predecessor. All three go up for pre-order today, and on general sale from September 19th.

We’ve been hands-on with all three new Apple Watch smartwatches at Apple’s big iPhone 17 launch event in Cupertino. Here’s what you need to know about each model, based on our quick hands-on play with the devices.

Apple Watch Ultra 3

The big daddy of Apple Watches, the Apple Watch Ultra 3’s new headline feature is a new wide-angle OLED display. It’s bigger, brighter and easier to see at sharp angles, for a smartwatch display bigger than anything Apple’s managed to squeeze into a wearable before. Readability is important in the Ultra 3, especially, as it’s aimed at adventurous types taking their smartwatches into hazardous surroundings where visibility might be a challenge.

This new display refreshes more regularly than previous models, meaning a new Waypoint watch face can accurately keep up with second-by-second updates.

Cellular connectivity gets a 5G boost, but it’s the satellite connectivity that’s most interesting in this regard. With a signalling boost, it can reach out to satellites 800 miles above our heads, and can get emergency services the details it needs to pick you up in a crisis situation.

New fitness and health-focused features include an LED blood pressure monitoring system that uses millions of hours of algorithmic data to keep track of irregularities in your blood pressure that point to hypertension. Apple anticipates this helping as many as a million people to become aware of blood pressure issues in the first 12 months of the feature’s availability. And there’s a new ‘Sleep Score’ feature that will track how good of a night’s rest you’re getting by looking at data like bedtime consistency, sleep duration, and how often you’re interrupting your sleep.

Battery life is boosted too — 46 hours this time around, with Titanium Black and Natural Titanium case options, with colourful new band options to pair them with. The new Apple Watch Ultra 3 starts at $799.

Apple Watch Series 11

The most popular point in Apple’s smartwatch range is now also its thinnest, thanks to a redesigned chassis. It’s also more durable than it ever been, with a new ceramic coating to the display that makes it twice as scratch resistant as previous models.

5G connectivity is now included in the cellular versions of the Apple Watch Series 11, with a new antenna architecture offsetting the demands of the high-speed LTE connection against wireless power efficiency.

Just like the Apple Watch Ultra 3, blood pressure monitoring and Sleep Score features are included. But owners also get a new ‘Flow’ face that mimics the Liquid Glass software design language that’s headed to Apple’s iPhone and Mac devices. A second Exactograph watch face also breaks down the time into hours, minutes and seconds, for those who are sticklers about punctuality down to the very last second.

But it’s probably battery life that’s going to be the biggest win for those looking to upgrade from previous models. The Apple Watch Series 11 finally reaches the holy grail of 24 hours of usage per-charge, up from 18 hours, making it a more realistic proposition when it comes to wearing it not only for daytime use, but for through-the-night sleep tracking too.

With aluminium and titanium case options on offer, you’ll be able to pick up the Apple Watch Series 11 in Jet Black, Rose Gold and Space Grey colours, with new bands and loops in a range of colours, including a refreshed Hermes model. It’ll go on sale starting at a $399 price point.

Apple Watch SE 3

The most affordable Apple Watch gets a significant glow-up. For starters, the Apple Watch SE 3 gets the same chipset as both the above models – the bang-up-to-date, speedy S10 chip.

That means that it’s capable of most of the features that the other models manage. You’ve now finally got an always-on display (even if its bezel is larger, screen dimmer, and overall size smaller than the Ultra 3 and Series 11 options). Gestures like double tap and wrist flick now work on SE 3, while health-focused features like wrist temperature sensing for period cycle tracking, sleep apnea detection and the new Sleep Score feature are all onboard.

Battery life remains the same as its predecessor at 18 hours, but it gets a bit of an upgrade via fast charging, with just a 15-minute top-up giving you an additional 8 hours of usage.

Rounding off the new features for the SE 3 is a speaker now capable of media playback — so whether you’re taking a call, listening to some tunes or catching up on your podcasts, that can all be done from your wrist.

Available in Starlight and Midnight shades, the iPhone SE 3 starts at a nice and affordable $249 — a great entry point for those still on the fence as to whether or not a smartwatch is for them.

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