ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple’s baseline smartwatch gives upgraded well being options and extra battery life.
- The smartwatch’s solely weak spot is that it is trumped by the worth of its youthful sibling, the SE 3.
- The Sequence 11 is out there to preorder now and ships on Sept 19.
sep / 2025
Observe ZDNET: Add us as a most well-liked supply on Google.
Individuals put on Apple Watches for all kinds of causes. There are the well being and sleep monitoring capabilities, which Apple has closely invested in over the previous few years. There’s the second-screen side – some jobs prohibit employees from utilizing their telephones on the clock. After which there are the phone-free perks of disconnecting, albeit with some safeguards for contacting associates, listening to music, or getting instructions.
Apple rolled out three new Apple Watches at its September iPhone occasion this 12 months (the Apple Watch Sequence 11, Apple Watch Extremely 3, and the Apple Watch SE 3), and I’ve been testing all three for the previous week. Now I am able to share professionals, cons, use circumstances, and shopping for recommendation for each.
Additionally: AirPods assessment: Apple pulled off one thing I believed was unimaginable
On this assessment, I will deal with the Apple Watch Sequence 11, which I used to trace exercises at my Brooklyn gymnasium, monitor my sleep, and obtain Apple’s brand-new Sleep Scores, and do an entire lot extra. So, is that this a smartwatch to purchase or improve to? Let’s get into it.
Some options keep the identical from Sequence 10 to Sequence 11. The largest is Apple’s chipset. Usually, it updates its chips yearly, however the Sequence 11 retains the S10 processor, the identical chip as 2024’s Sequence 10. Apple says that in including extra battery life via an inner design change that changed its jelly roll cells with a steel can design, it was capable of hold the shape issue of the watch the identical and use 2024’s chip to course of the brand new system. Which means the construct of the watch is similar to the Sequence 10.
The display screen brightness additionally stays the identical at 2,000 nits, regardless of its competitors, the Pixel Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 8, amping theirs as much as 3,000 nits. It’s important to improve to the Apple Watch Extremely 3 to get a 3,000 nit display screen within the Apple ecosystem.
Additionally: The ten options that made me change to the Apple Watch full-time
The brand new watches are available in 4 colorways: Jet Black, Rose Gold, Silver, and a brand new House Grey. My band of selection is the Sport Loop, which I examined in a putting Neon Yellow. I wasn’t anticipating to like as a lot as I did: It is light-weight on the wrist, straightforward to sleep with, and water-wicking (particularly when you bathe along with your watch, which I do). Apple additionally improved the Sport Loop band for added reflectivity across the edges for these nighttime runners and outside exercisers.
Sleeping, working, and exercising with the watch is a light-weight and comfy expertise. The show is vivid, notifications pop up shortly, and the watch outlasts a day of standard use. If you have not slept with a watch earlier than, it’d take just a few nights to get used to it. However the skinny construct of the Sequence 11 and the sleep mode, which blackens the display screen and dismisses interruptions, make it simpler than different watches to float away.
The upgrades it is best to find out about
Apple made a number of upgrades to the Sequence 11 that its predecessor, the Sequence 10, misses out on. Probably the most desired replace is six extra hours of battery life. The battery enhance brings the general capability to 24 hours for all-day communication, exercise monitoring, and sleep monitoring.
The FDA-cleared Hypertension Detection function is one other huge one, not simply for individuals who wish to additional perceive their blood strain with no need a blood-pressure cuff but additionally for Apple’s long-term mission to make use of know-how to proactively enhance well being and wellness.
Additionally: Keep away from shopping for these 4 Apple merchandise this week
The brand new hypertension function would not present by-the-minute readings on blood strain. As an alternative, it makes use of Apple’s PPG coronary heart sensor to take a 30-day common studying that its algorithm determines is both above or under the hypertension threshold. As a result of I had only some days with the watch, I wasn’t ready to make use of the function but because it requires 30 days of monitoring, however I am going to report again in a month as soon as I’ve additional expertise with it.
Nonetheless, hypertension impacts over 1 billion individuals and is the world’s most undiagnosed illness. Apple’s first-of-its-kind, FDA-cleared hypertension detection won’t solely encourage proactive monitoring but additionally unfold consciousness of the situation’s ubiquity. Apple forecasts that its new hypertension function will notify over 1,000,000 individuals of their undiagnosed hypertension throughout its first 12 months in the marketplace.
Apple provides 5G to Sequence 11 for environment friendly connectivity, Ion-X glass for sturdiness, and a wrist-flicking gesture to dismiss messages or calls. The brand new glass might assist shut the sturdiness hole between the Sequence 11 and Extremely 3 and make the cheaper smartwatch much more interesting to these caught between the 2.
Apparently sufficient, this 12 months, a number of upgrades will not be unique to the three new Apple Watches’ new {hardware}. The software program upgrades in WatchOS 26 lengthen past the Sequence 11, Extremely 3, and SE 3 to the Sequence 9 and later and Extremely 2.
What I might wish to see on the Sequence 12
I discovered that Apple’s new Sleep Rating tended to inflate my high quality of sleep. I examined the watch in opposition to my Oura Ring, which delivers sleep and readiness scores each morning. My Apple Watch repeatedly delivered scores within the excessive 90s when my Oura Ring provided up scores within the 80s, even on days once I felt sluggish and wanted a nap. Apple says it bases the three elements that make up your Sleep Rating on tips from three main sleep foundations.
Additionally: The Apple Watch Sequence 11 is one function away from making me ditch my Oura Ring
Generally, sleep scores are a reasonably subjective metric that tech manufacturers generate to visualise sleep well being simply. All through my testing of sleep trackers, I’ve discovered {that a} sleep rating displays the model’s priorities greater than it’s an goal measure of sleep monitoring.
If most People don’t get good sleep, in keeping with current stats, and Apple is interesting to a basic American consumership, its sleep rating metrics may be beneficiant to assuage the consumer. Any constant, seven-hour slumber with few interruptions might nonetheless land you an 80 or 90-something sleep rating.
Regardless of their subjectivity, sleep scores convey sleep data in an simply digestible means, a lot to the dismay of poor sleepers. Many individuals have stopped utilizing sleep trackers due to sleep scores that grade them poorly. It is in a model’s finest curiosity to make merchandise that do not alienate the consumer whereas additionally delivering helpful, correct data. Apple says it’s doing so by solely grading a consumer on their bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep period.
Moreover, Apple is already capturing a wearer’s Coaching Load, and I might like to see Apple add some form of Restoration rating that takes a consumer’s exercise knowledge under consideration and optimizes their Coaching Load metric every day.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
When evaluating the Apple Watch Sequence 11 to the Extremely 3 or SE 3, there are just a few qualities that distinguish the watches. Each smartwatch, for instance, now contains the Sleep Rating, however the SE 3 will get 18 hours of regular use battery life, whereas the Sequence 11 will get 24, and the Extremely 3 will get 42.
The Extremely 3, just like the Sequence 11, contains Hypertension Detection whereas additionally including Emergency SOS by way of Satellite tv for pc. Emergency SOS and 42 hours of battery life would serve hikers and individuals who work in rugged professions. First-time smartwatch customers trying to report a exercise or discreetly reply to texts on the job would most likely get probably the most out of Apple’s reasonably priced SE 3. So, the place does that go away the Apple Watch Sequence 11?
Additionally: I in contrast Apple and Samsung’s finest smartwatches – here is who wins for now
The Sequence 11 is good for you if in case you have already used a smartwatch repeatedly and are prepared for an improve. You may be utilizing it for train and for closing your each day exercise rings, and also you wish to additional perceive your well being via Apple’s Sleep Rating, Hypertension Detection, the Vitals app, and superior train options like Coaching Load. You could have used a earlier smartwatch repeatedly sufficient to know you want extra battery out of your subsequent one, which makes the Sequence 11’s 24-hour capability a key improve.
WatchOS 26 brings Sleep Rating and Hypertension Detection to earlier watches, together with the Sequence 9 and later, and the Extremely 2. It skips the SE and SE 2.
So the larger query is whether or not Sequence 11 consumers ought to think about the Sequence 10 as a substitute? For those who do not want the additional six hours of battery life and wish to maximize your financial savings, then the Sequence 10 continues to be a fantastic selection. You may even discover a refurbished one for below $300 on Amazon and different retailers.
Take into account that whichever Apple Watch you select, there are often glorious reductions round Black Friday, and ZDNET will at all times hold you up to date on one of the best offers. For extra on these two merchandise, check out my evaluations of the Apple Watch Extremely 3 and Apple Watch SE 3.
