A guide to choosing the right Apple Watch

This year, Apple released three new Apple Watch models: the Apple Watch Series 11, the Apple Watch SE 3, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3. If you received an Apple gift card over the holidays and are exploring the different models, we can help point you in the right direction.

Priced at $799, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is clearly aimed at a niche market, the high-end market and athletes. For most consumers, the buying decision likely lies between the Apple Watch SE 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11, starting at $249 and $399, respectively.

Despite its lower price, the Apple Watch SE 3 comes with much of the same software as the Series 11. If you’re looking for a simple smartwatch with basic features like step counting and sleep tracking, the SE 3 is a great and affordable option.

While the Series 11 and Ultra 3 offer modest improvements over their predecessors, the SE 3 has received a significant upgrade from the SE 2. The smartwatch moves from the S8 chip to the S10 and now features an always-on display, supports fast charging, offers better crack resistance, introduces new health features, includes an advanced sleep sensor and temperature repeater. more.

While it’s not as flashy as the Series 11 and Ultra 3, it certainly stands out and is a great value, especially for first-time buyers and newer users. The gap between standard and budget smartwatches has never been smaller.

Of course, if you want access to more advanced health features, better battery life, and a larger screen, the Series 11 would be the best choice for your needs. However, it’s worth comparing both models because the SE 3 might be all you need.

We’ll walk you through the similarities and differences between the two smartwatches to help you make your decision.

Similarities between Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3

• S10 chip: Both models feature the same chip, which means there won’t be any significant differences in performance.
• Always On Retina Display: Watches can display the watch face and time even when your wrist is down.
• Heart health features: Both watches have high and low heart rate alerts, irregular rhythm alerts, and low fitness alerts.
• Wrist flick and double tap gestures: Both models let you make a flick of the wrist gesture to ignore notifications and timers, and a double-tap gesture to trigger actions like answering calls or playing music.
• Emergency SOS: The watches can quickly call local emergency services, share your location and alert emergency contacts with a long press of the side button.
• Drop detection and collision detection: Both watches can automatically alert emergency services and designated emergency contacts when a hard fall or serious car accident is detected.
• Water resistant up to 50 meters: Both watches can be used for swimming.
• Sleep monitoring: Both models have sleep tracking, sleep tracking notifications, and Apple’s new Sleep Score, which gives you a number on a scale of 1 to 100 for how well you slept. Both also feature temperature sensing, which can provide insights into your well-being by tracking nightly changes in your wrist temperature.
• Cycle monitoring with retrospective ovulation estimates: Watches can determine when you most likely ovulated in your previous cycle.
• Fast charging capabilities: Both watches are fast charging (up to 80% charge in about 30 minutes for the Series 11 and up to 80% charge in about 45 minutes for the SE 3, 15 minutes for up to eight hours of regular use for both models).
• Find iPhone: Both watches let you press a button to play a sound on your iPhone to help you locate it. However, the Series 11 has “precision find”, which means it can pinpoint your phone’s exact location.

Differences between Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3

• Battery life: The 11 series can last up to 24 hours (28 hours in low power mode), while the SE can last up to 18 hours (32 hours in low power mode).
• Health Features: The Series 11 has more advanced health monitoring features such as hypertension alerts (detects high blood pressure), electrical heat sensor, ECG app and Blood Oxygen app.
• Screen and Display: The Series 11 can reach 2000 nits, while the SE 3 reaches 1000 nits. In addition, the Series 11 has a wide-angle OLED, while the SE 3 has a simple OLED display.
• Size: The Series 11 is available in 46mm and 44mm sizes with aluminum or titanium cases, while the SE 3 is available in 44mm and 40mm sizes with an aluminum case. In addition, the Series 11 is almost 10% thinner than the SE 3.
• Color: The Series 11 is available in aluminum colors: Jet Black, Silver, Rose Gold and Space Gray and titanium colors: Natural, Gold and Slate. The SE 3 is available in Midnight Aluminum and Starlight Aluminum.
• Other minor differences: The Series 11 features a depth gauge of up to six meters, a water temperature sensor, a minimum brightness of 1 nit (versus a minimum brightness of 2 nits on the SE 3) and IP6X certified dust resistance.