Apple Watch Series 11 review: A little more polish

Greatest Costs At the moment: Apple Watch Sequence 11

Although it’s extra of a refined model of its predecessor than a significant generational leap, there’s nonetheless lots to love in regards to the Apple Watch Sequence 11.

I don’t a lot envy the place that Apple finds itself in with its line-up of wearables in 2025. The vary lastly obtained a significant processing bump with the Apple Watch Sequence 9 after which a giant {hardware} revamp that slimmed every part down for the Apple Watch Sequence 10, while additionally broadening the show.

With these options in tow, there’s a case to be made that the Apple Watch has ‘peaked’, and something past this level will solely contain iterative updates.

Nicely, having used the Apple Watch Sequence 11 for over every week now, I can positively say that Apple is nowhere close to as withheld with its updates in comparison with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, however whether or not or not the Sequence 11 is an important improve relies upon solely on the smartwatch you presently use.

There are just a few customers who may in all probability go with out, however for those who do have the cash to improve, then you’ll completely discover the most effective Apple Watch expertise thus far within the Sequence 11.

Design & Construct

• Ever-so barely bigger than the Sequence 10
• Extra sturdy with Ion-X glass
• Nonetheless snug to put on

On the subject of the design, it’s very a lot enterprise as common, however this isn’t too shocking provided that the Sequence 10 introduced a reasonably main overhaul to the desk.

Being 10% thinner than the Sequence 9, the Sequence 10 felt much more snug on the wrist, making it simpler to put on for longer durations of time, particularly in the course of the evening.

The Sequence 11 holds onto this idea and it’s proper up there with Garmin Venu X1 as being one of the crucial snug watches I’ve ever had the pleasure of sporting.

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It’s price mentioning that, seemingly because of the bigger battery discovered inside the Sequence 11, the watch is ever so barely larger than the Sequence 10, however not by a lot. For instance, the equal 46mm Mobile mannequin I’ve been sporting weighs in at 36.9g, however the identical mannequin of the Sequence 10 weighs 35.3g.

It’s a minimal distinction however price mentioning for anybody presently utilizing final 12 months’s watch who may be tempted to improve.

The largest design improve on the Sequence 11 is hidden in plain sight, and it’s the addition of the all-new Ion-X glass show, which Apple says is 2x extra scratch resistant. As you may think about, a function like that is tough to check however I’ll say that within the time that I’ve been utilizing the watch, it has been by chance knocked into a few doorways and through a swim, incurred a reasonably full-on collision with one of many lane limitations which I used to be satisfied would go away a mark, however to my shock the display nonetheless seems to be as if it’s simply come out of the field.

Similar to earlier than, the Watch Sequence 11 is totally waterproof as much as 50m, so for those who’re like me and also you take pleasure in an occasional journey to the native swimming pool then you definately received’t have to fret about taking off the Apple Watch earlier than you get within the water. Equally, any lesser encounters like a splash from the sink or a little bit of rain received’t be trigger for concern both.

There may be another color accessible over final 12 months with the introduction of Area Gray Aluminium, however to my eye, it seems to be virtually similar to the Silver Aluminium choice, and it makes me want that Apple would return to the expressive choices you could possibly get with the Sequence 7 and the Sequence 6.

The Apple Watch felt proper at house with Inexperienced and Blue colourways, and as somebody who likes to swap out the usual rubber Sport Band for one thing a bit extra eye-catching, I’d like to see Apple embrace color once more in subsequent 12 months’s Watch.

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It is a minor gripe, nevertheless, because the Apple Watch stays one of many best-looking smartwatches on the market for those who’re happy with a sq. design, and it’s no surprise {that a} ton of corporations attempt to emulate the corporate’s fashion right here (simply have a look at the Huawei Watch Match 4 for those who don’t consider me). 

Display screen & Audio

• Very shiny and straightforward to learn open air
• The depth of color helps icons and watch faces to essentially pop
• The very best audio system I’ve ever heard on a smartwatch

Not like the design the place there was at the least a shift ahead in sturdiness, the display on the Apple Watch Sequence 11 is similar to what got here final 12 months, and whereas that may be an excuse to groan for some, I feel that Apple made the appropriate name right here.

I all the time wish to see innovation in areas that make sense as an alternative of getting upgrades only for the sake of needing one thing new to speak about on a specs sheet, and in its present kind, the show on the Apple Watch Sequence 11 offers me no trigger for concern.

With 2000 nits of peak brightness (initially introduced in on the Sequence 9), the Sequence 11’s show is extremely straightforward to learn open air and extra importantly, I haven’t struggled in the case of glancing on the extra subdued always-on show.

Even when the color of a watch face has been drained away, I can nonetheless see what the time is, which isn’t all the time a given as I just lately had this actual subject when reviewing the extra budget-friendly CMF Watch 3 Professional.

Throw on prime of that the introduction of a wider viewing angle and LTPO3 expertise on the Sequence 10, and there actually isn’t something right here to go away you wanting. What’s unusual is that, though the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (which I additionally reviewed) has the next 3000 nits peak brightness, I can’t truthfully say that the visible expertise on the newest Apple Watch looks like a step again.

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A part of what works within the Apple Watch’s favour is the colourful color palette that its OLED show is ready to conjure up. It didn’t matter if I used to be taking a look at one of many many watch faces that Apple has designed for its wearable ecosystem, or just scrolling by means of the gathering of put in apps, there was all the time one thing there to catch my consideration due to the way it all pops.

Final 12 months, Apple made a giant deal in regards to the means to take heed to music and podcasts through the built-in speaker on the Sequence 10, and I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I didn’t scoff on the very idea of it.

Given simply how a lot hatred there’s for individuals who determine to blast music from their telephones on public transport with no concern for the remainder of most of the people, absolutely the final thing I’d ever wish to do is turn out to be such a pariah by listening to The Relaxation is Leisure through my wrist.

Nevertheless, when giving the function a spin from the consolation of my own residence, I can now admit that Apple is on to one thing right here. Taking CKY’s 96 Fairly Bitter Beings for a spin (my go-to track for testing wearable audio system), I used to be impressed by the readability of the cymbals and the way nicely the vocals carried by means of, even when – as you may think about – there was some element lacking on the guitar riff.

Swapping over to the Kinda Humorous Video games Day by day podcast, I discovered myself settling in relatively shortly and having fun with the playback as a method of consuming the newest episode.

Not solely does the Apple Watch Sequence 11 have the most effective sounding speaker of any smartwatch I’ve examined to date, but it surely additionally has me satisfied that, at occasions when my AirPods and iPhone are out of attain, I may use it for a little bit of leisure if the temper strikes, which isn’t one thing I assumed I’d admit to earlier than I started penning this evaluation.

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Software program & Options

• Now with 5G
• New Exactograph and Stream watch faces
• Easy efficiency

Right here’s the place we begin entering into a number of the meat of the large modifications this 12 months, however earlier than doing so, I’ll try and strip away a band-aid early by letting you already know that by way of uncooked efficiency, nothing has modified within the Sequence 11 because it makes use of the very same S10 chipset as earlier than.

On condition that huge strides are beginning to be made on the Put on OS entrance with quicker chipsets that permit for entry to Google Gemini in your wrist, it might have been good to see Apple leapfrog the competitors someplace, however the core day-to-day efficiency right here remains to be rock strong.

With days that included listening to Spotify offline on the gymnasium, utilizing the look ahead to NFC funds and Apple Maps to navigate my method by means of London for an occasion, the Sequence 11 did all of it with none moments of stuttering or slowdown. It’s precisely the type of top-tier expertise that you just purchase an Apple Look ahead to, and even with the extra highly effective Apple Watch Extremely 3 in the marketplace, I by no means discovered myself wanting extra.

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For those who go for the mobile model of the Apple Watch Sequence 11, you’ll be capable to connect with 5G networks, which is a large win for utilizing the wearable away out of your iPhone.

For instance, for those who determine to go away your iPhone at house as you exit for a lunchtime stroll, you may take calls on the watch identical to earlier than, however now you’ll take pleasure in a significantly better connection that’s much less prone to incur an issue if there’s a 5G sign accessible. As somebody who likes to make use of their Apple Watch on this method, significantly as I’m far much less prone to be distracted by my watch, it’s nice to see this addition.

Arriving alongside the Sequence 11 (though additionally accessible on different Apple Watches) are the Stream and Exactograph watch faces.

The previous takes a leaf out of Apple’s Liquid Glass aesthetic, which permeates iOS 26 and has glass-like numbers sitting above a swirling blob of color. It seems to be very Apple and it may be good for some, however I’m a much bigger fan of the Exactograph choice.

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Very similar to GMT or Metropolitan, you may have 4 issues surrounding the core watch face, which reveals dials for the seconds, minutes and hours of the day.

Faucet on the centre of the watch face and it’ll ship all of these issues away and broaden these dials like measuring tape to provide you a detailed have a look at the seconds and minutes as they slip away. It’s fairly enjoyable to mess around with, and there are some nice color choices which have every dial taking up totally different shades.

These two new watch faces sit on prime of what’s already top-of-the-line collections accessible within the smartwatch house. Solely Samsung comes near matching Apple on this entrance, however I nonetheless consider that watch faces are a vital a part of what makes a terrific wearable because it’s what you’re going to be taking a look at more often than not, and to have an excellent mixture of modern and useful picks is a large win, and I really feel extra inclined to swap between them relying on my temper.

As a facet word, that is the primary time I’ve had an opportunity to make use of the Apple Watch’s double-tap function, which helps you to work together with sure apps simply by pinching your thumb and forefinger collectively, and whereas (very like the onboard speaker) I initially scoffed on the thought, I’ve come to depend on it fairly a bit.

For stopping cooking timers whereas I’m stirring a pot, or biking by means of the Sensible Stack, it’s come to be a part of how I exploit the Apple Watch from day after day, and the identical goes for the brand new wrist flick function, which takes you again a step shortly.

Health & Well being Monitoring

• Can detect hypertension
• Sleep monitoring now comes with a rating
• Exercise Buddy affords personalised steering

Health monitoring has all the time been a key promoting level of the Apple Watch and now the corporate’s in depth software program has turn out to be much more succesful because of a handful of latest additions, with doubtlessly an important being alerts for hypertension (hypertension).

Fortunately, I haven’t needed to witness any hypertension alerts pop up over the course of this evaluation, however given simply how necessary it’s to remain on prime of hypertension with wholesome consuming and common train, I feel it’s a terrific function to have, particularly if it’s capable of encourage some folks to guide a extra energetic way of life.

Giving credit score the place it’s due, the function did make an look earlier than on the Huawei Watch D and its follow-up, but it surely’s good to see Apple embrace the expertise and broaden the scope of what its well being tech can do. It may very well be life-saving.

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If there was one space the place I needed that Apple had matched some rivals, it’s within the realm of sleep monitoring. The Sequence 11 and all suitable Apple Watches now current customers with a sleep rating every morning, giving them a tough thought of how nicely rested their physique is.

The rating, which is introduced as a quantity out of 100, is compiled of three key metrics: the length of your sleep, the time you went to mattress and any interruptions all through the evening.

Having the Sleep Rating is a nicety because it helps considerably to interrupt down all the sleep knowledge that in any other case doesn’t imply that a lot to the common particular person. I simply want that it went one step additional to emulate many others, like Huawei, which may present personalised recommendation on what all the info means and enhance your circadian rhythm.

The Apple Well being app does provide up normal recommendation on what you are able to do to get a greater evening’s sleep, but it surely doesn’t take note of your sleep knowledge, which looks like a missed alternative and an apparent space the place Apple Intelligence may very well be put to make use of.

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On the exercise facet of issues, the Apple Watch remains to be one of many frontrunners on this sector. Tons of exercises might be tracked, and with coronary heart fee zones accessible mid-workout, you may see in real-time how a lot of a sweat you’re build up and whether or not or not you may take issues additional. For those who’re caught for inspiration, then Apple Health+ can function a really useful instrument, particularly for these beginning out, but it surely’s the accuracy of the info collected that all the time makes me really feel snug with utilizing the Apple Watch on the gymnasium.

When used alongside a chest-worn Garmin HRM 600 coronary heart fee tracker, the Apple Watch Sequence 11 was spot on every time when it got here to registering the common coronary heart fee of a exercise, and there was solely ever a discrepancy of 1BPM when it got here to measuring the low finish, which is negligible.

There was one occasion throughout an elliptical exercise the place the Apple Watch picked up a peak that was 3BPM increased than that of the HRM 600, however this appeared like extra of an anomaly after additional testing, so I’d argue you could safely depend on the info from the Sequence 11 to provide you an excellent have a look at your cardiovascular efficiency.

GPS monitoring is equally spot on and really fast to determine a connection. When making an attempt my hand at a 6k run by means of my native park, the Sequence 11 did a terrific job of recognising the place I used to be in relation to the documented path, and I all the time recognize having the ability to analyse the info thereafter to see which sections ended up being the hardest.

It’s price noting that it’s nonetheless not dual-band GPS, which you’ll discover on many rivals. Apple nonetheless reserves this extra correct tech for the Extremely.

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For those who’re simply beginning out in your working journey, then chances are you’ll recognize the introduction of the Exercise Buddy. This Apple Intelligence function offers you personalised Siri-like phrases of encouragement as you go, and that’s a terrific factor to have in these moments the place you may be struggling and the final kilometre looks like a stretch too far.

The issue is that this function solely works if in case you have an iPhone with you that’s related to the web, and as somebody who purposefully leaves their cellphone at house once they work out to keep away from distraction, this looks like an pointless hurdle.

It might be to protect the battery lifetime of the watch and there’s loads of promise right here if Apple can develop a model of Exercise Buddy that works solely on an Apple Watch then I can positively see myself utilizing it pretty frequently.

Battery Life & Charging

• The longest battery lifetime of any normal Apple Watch
• Can simply attain two-days of use
• Charging is fast, reaching a full battery in simply over an hour

At this level, Apple’s unwavering dedication to an 18-hour battery life on the Apple Watch had turn out to be so commonplace that I genuinely by no means anticipated to see any sort of battery improve for the Sequence 11, significantly because it serves as a key purpose to splurge out for the dearer Apple Watch Extremely 3, which may run for as much as 42-hours at a time.

When Apple lastly introduced that the Sequence 11 can be getting a 24-hour battery life, I virtually couldn’t consider what I used to be listening to – the one function that I, and plenty of others, have been clamouring for is lastly right here.

In fact, it needs to be identified that with the 5 days of use you could get from the OnePlus Watch 3, to not point out the greater than week-long length that Garmin watches can attain, having 24-hours of use isn’t shifting the needle so far as the broader business is anxious, however for Apple Watch customers it’s a large deal.

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The 24-hour declare is definitely extra on the conservative facet of what might be achieved right here. When utilizing the look ahead to notifications solely, I managed to get from 10am one morning to midnight the next day with 7% left within the tank. For those who’re going away for an evening and also you overlook to deliver your charger, then chances are you’ll not have to fret, and you’ll all the time toggle the low energy mode if issues do get somewhat dicey.

When including a exercise into the combo and interacting with the watch a bit extra, I used to be capable of get from 10:35am to 9am the next day with 57% remaining, which feels leagues forward of once I must instantly cost my Apple Watch SE after waking up to ensure it had sufficient juice left for the day.

Talking of charging, the Sequence 11 boasts a number of the quickest speeds I’ve come throughout on any smartwatch. Charging the Watch from 0%, I managed to claw again 74% (greater than sufficient for a day of use) after simply half-hour, and it solely took a complete of roughly 61 minutes earlier than the battery was full.

In comparison with the occasional two-hour wait time I’ve had with some smartwatches, having the ability to get this executed shortly on the Apple Watch Sequence 11 is wonderful, and I feel it’ll be onerous to return to the rest after the very fact.

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By having an extended battery life and fast-charging, the Sequence 11 works brilliantly as a back-up in your iPhone if its battery ever will get depleted. On a uncommon day when my iPhone’s battery has dipped into the purple, it’s been a terrific little bit of reassurance understanding that I can use my Apple Look ahead to funds and messaging if wanted.

Apple provides the watch with the same old spherical charger and though this isn’t Qi wi-fi charging expertise, there are numerous suitable wi-fi chargers from third-parties that are suitable.

Worth & Availability

Regardless of being launched amidst an ever-growing wave of financial turbulence, the Apple Watch Sequence 11 boasts the identical £369/$399 beginning value as its predecessor. There are a number of value bumps relying on the actual mannequin that you really want, nevertheless.

For instance, the 42mm Aluminium end carries that aforementioned price ticket, however the 46mm variants bumps that as much as £399/$429. Alternatively, the Titanium end for the 42mm and 46mm choices will set you again £649/$699 and £699/749 respectively.

Whereas the Titanium end comes with mobile connectivity as normal, opting to have the function with one of many Aluminium fashions requires a further £100/$100 to be added to the value, so it’s price assessing forward of time as as to if or not you intend on truly taking advantage of the function.

There are 4 colourways for the Aluminium mannequin (Spacey Grey, Jet Black, Rose Gold and Silver) and three for the Titanium choice (Pure, Gold, Slate), all of which at the moment are in the stores in all main territories world wide.

You should buy the Sequence 11 from Apple in addition to nearly each retailer beneath the solar, together with Amazon, John Lewis, Argos and BestBuy within the US.

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Although the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and the Pixel Watch 4 carry a less expensive price ticket of £319/$329.99 and £349/$349.99 respectively, the truth that neither work with an iPhone imply that the Sequence 11’s largest competitors is, funnily sufficient, the Apple Watch SE 3.

Obtainable from simply £219/$249 and now with an always-on show, the Apple Watch SE 3 is arguably the higher purchase for teenagers and chances are you’ll not really feel like you should spend any extra for those who don’t thoughts lacking out on longer battery life, a bigger display, a extra sturdy design and a few well being options.

Do you have to purchase the Apple Watch Sequence 11?

As an alternative of being a large overhaul on the Apple Watch Sequence 10, the brand new Apple Watch Sequence 11 looks like a refined model of its predecessor with an extended battery life and extra sturdy show, however that’s completely tremendous with me.

The prolonged battery life alone is one thing that I’ve been wanting on an Apple Look ahead to years, so to know that I not have to fret about it throughout an evening out is a significant win. Although you may simply discover the Sequence 10 for a reduced value now that it’s been outmoded, I’d argue that anybody seeking to improve ought to merely plump for the Sequence 11 because it’s a greater expertise total.

There may be nonetheless room for enchancment, as I don’t suppose that Apple’s new Sleep Rating function goes far sufficient in serving to customers to really perceive what may cause an excellent/dangerous evening’s sleep and enhance the standard of their relaxation in the long term.

Equally, I want to see a model of Exercise Buddy that may function with out the necessity for an iPhone to be related always, however neither of those points detract from what is well probably the most feature-packed and well-refined Apple Watch thus far.

Specs

• 42/46mm sizes
• 50m water resistance
• OLED show
• 64GB inside storage
• 2000 nits peak brightness
• Constructed-in speaker
• GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou help
• ECG
• Blood strain alerts
• 24-hour battery life