While most of the focus going into today’s event was on the heavily boosted iPhone lineup, predictions were cool for new Apple Watches. When the new lineup was unveiled, the upgrades were mostly spec bumps for the Series 11, while the Apple Watch Ultra finally got a proper update, and the SE got a notable bump. Apple also announced a potentially groundbreaking new health tracking feature. Let’s take a look.
Apple Watch Series 11
The updates to the flagship Apple Watch are simple but noticeable quality-of-life improvements. First, there’s battery life, which jumps from 18 hours on a single charge to a whopping 24 hours. Additionally, Low Power Mode adds an extra 2 hours over the Series 10 to reach 38 hours of battery life. Then, while the fast-charging capability remains at 0–80% in 30 minutes, you can now add 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes.
Apple claims the Ion-X glass is 2× more scratch-resistant than the Series 10 and that the display “bonds to the glass at an atomic level” to make the surface significantly harder. As someone who recently scratched his Apple Watch, these are welcome additions!
Finally, the Series 11 offers 5G connectivity, which is enhanced by a redesigned antenna to boost the signal in areas with weak coverage. I had wondered whether a 5G modem might enable the new Workout Buddy feature in watchOS 26 without the need for an iPhone nearby, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Apple Watch Series 11 comes in four aluminum finishes (Space Gray, Silver, Rose Gold, and Jet Black) and three titanium finishes (Natural, Gold, and Slate). It’s available for pre-order now starting at $399, with availability from Friday, September 19.
Apple Watch Ultra 3
The Apple Watch Ultra didn’t receive an update last year, despite the release of an admittedly very cool black finish. This year, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is playing catch-up with the Series 11, while also adding a couple of touches of its own.
Like the Series 11, the Ultra 3 is receiving a huge battery boost, going from 36 hours of use on one charge to 42 hours. It can also get a small fast-charge boost in just 15 minutes, providing up to 12 hours of additional power.
Apple redesigned the radio in the Ultra to cover more frequencies and the antenna to increase its strength. Doing this has enabled the Apple Watch Ultra to offer Emergency SOS via satellite, just like the iPhone.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 sports a slightly thinner bezel, resulting in a larger screen, and like the Series 11, the Ultra 3 adds 5G capability. Other than that, all the upgrades for the Ultra 3 are new features unveiled with the Series 10 last year. These include a brighter, LTPO 3 screen with a wider viewing angle, the ability to show the seconds hand while the Always-On screen is dimmed, and the S10 chip.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 can be pre-ordered now starting at $799, with availability from Friday, September 19.
Apple Watch SE
The Apple Watch SE has long been the underappreciated sibling of the Apple Watch family, but today saw some big upgrades to Apple’s most affordable smartwatch. None are revolutionary, but they do make the SE a very attractive alternative to the Series 11.
The first upgrade is the new display, which now supports Always-On mode. While the brightness is half that of the Series 11 at 1000 nits, and it’s a non-wide-angle LTPO OLED, this is a big step up for the Apple Watch SE.
The chip also jumps two generations to the same S10 that is in both the Series 11 and Ultra 3. The S10 supports gestures like double tap and the new wrist flick coming in watchOS 26, as well as on-device Siri and more access to health data. All this makes the SE a much more powerful and capable device.
The last big addition to the Apple Watch SE is the ability to fast-charge the device from 0–80% in 45 minutes (15 minutes more than the Series 11) and get an extra 8 hours of use on a 15-minute charge, just like the Series 11. Like the Always-On screen, this is a big step up for the Apple Watch SE.
With all of these features and support for sleep apnea detection, wrist temperature sensing (which enables Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates), and 5G connectivity, the Apple Watch SE 3 is a bold upgrade. Although it lacks features like Ultra-Wideband and has a smaller screen than its siblings, I suspect this device will convince many people to take the leap and get their first Apple Watch.
Apple Watch SE can be pre-ordered now starting at $249, with availability from Friday, September 19.
New Health Features
Hypertension Notifications
Another year, another highly touted health feature for the Apple Watch. This time, it’s hypertension notifications. Hypertension is a form of chronic high blood pressure and is easily missed due to a lack of symptoms. It can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease, and it affects more than 1 billion adults globally. Here’s how Apple describes the feature:
Hypertension notifications on Apple Watch use data from the optical heart sensor to analyze how a user’s blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart. The algorithm works passively in the background, reviewing data over 30-day periods, and will notify users if it detects consistent signs of hypertension.
Hypertension notifications were developed using data from multiple studies before being validated in a clinical study. If a user receives these notifications, they will then be advised to measure their blood pressure with a standard blood pressure cuff for at least a week before sharing their results with a doctor.
The interesting thing about this is that hypertension is typically detected by taking blood pressure, a feature long rumored to be coming to the Apple Watch. Given that, it will be interesting to see how effective Apple’s workaround is. If it is a success, this could be a significant benefit for Apple Watch users.
Apple expects to launch hypertension notifications later this month in over 150 countries after it receives approval from the FDA and other regulators. It will be available on the Apple Watch Series 9 or later and on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later.
Sleep Score
Widely predicted before the event, Sleep Score arrives to give you a better understanding of how well you are sleeping. While sleep tracking, including information on the various sleep stages you go through, has been available since the Series 8, Sleep Score allows you to track how you are sleeping from an overall perspective.
By analyzing your sleep stages, duration, consistency, and more, the Apple Watch will provide a daily Sleep Score on a scale of 1 to 100. You can view the score on your Apple Watch or in the Health app on your iPhone. This is a nice addition, but I will be interested to see how this feature actually helps users understand how to sleep better.
Sleep Score is available for Apple Watch Series 6 or later, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) or later, and all Apple Watch Ultra models.
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