Apple has just introduced three new smartwatches: the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch SE 3, and Apple Watch Ultra 3. Priced at $799, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is clearly designed for a specialized, premium audience and athletes. For most people, the real choice is between the Apple Watch SE 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11, which start at $249 and $399, respectively.
Even though it’s more affordable, the Apple Watch SE 3 offers much of the same software as the Series 11. If you’re after a simple smartwatch that covers the basics like tracking your steps and monitoring your sleep, the SE 3 is a great budget-friendly pick.
While the Series 11 and Ultra 3 bring incremental upgrades over the previous generation, the SE 3 has seen a major leap from the SE 2. It now moves from the S8 to the S10 chip, adds an always-on display, supports fast charging, is more crack-resistant, introduces new health monitoring tools, includes a wrist temperature sensor for advanced sleep analysis and retrospective ovulation tracking, among other enhancements.
Image Credits:Apple
Although it doesn’t have the premium feel of the Series 11 or Ultra 3, the SE 3 stands out for its value, especially for those buying their first smartwatch. The difference between entry-level and standard models has never been so narrow.
If you’re after more advanced health tracking, longer battery life, and a bigger screen, the Series 11 is likely the better fit. Still, it’s worth weighing both options, as the SE 3 could be all you actually need.
We’ll break down what’s the same and what’s different between these two smartwatches to help you choose.
Similarities between the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3
Image Credits:Apple
- S10 chip: Both watches are powered by the same processor, so you can expect similar performance from each.
- Always-on Retina display: Both models keep the watch face and time visible, even when your wrist is lowered.
- Heart health features: Each watch provides alerts for high and low heart rates, irregular rhythms, and low cardio fitness.
- Wrist flick and double tap gestures: Both allow you to dismiss notifications and timers with a flick of the wrist, and use a double tap to answer calls or control music.
- Emergency SOS: You can quickly contact emergency services, share your location, and alert your emergency contacts by holding down the side button on either watch.
- Fall detection and crash detection: Both devices can automatically notify emergency services and your chosen contacts if they detect a hard fall or a serious car accident.
- Water resistant to 50 meters: Both are suitable for swimming and water activities.
- Sleep tracking: Both watches offer sleep monitoring, notifications, and Apple’s new Sleep score (rated 1 to 100), plus temperature tracking for more insights into your nightly health.
- Cycle tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates: Both can estimate when you likely ovulated during your last cycle.
- Fast charging capabilities: Both support fast charging (up to 80% in about 30 minutes for Series 11, about 45 minutes for SE 3; 15 minutes gives up to eight hours of typical use for both).
- Find iPhone: Both let you ping your iPhone to help find it, but the Series 11 also offers “precision finding” for more accurate location tracking.
Differences between the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3
- Battery life: Series 11 can run up to 24 hours (28 hours in low-power mode), while SE 3 lasts up to 18 hours (32 hours in low-power mode).
- Health features: Series 11 includes more advanced health tools, such as high blood pressure alerts, an electrical heat sensor, ECG app, and Blood Oxygen app.
- Screen and display: Series 11 reaches up to 2000 nits brightness, while SE 3 tops out at 1000 nits. Series 11 also features a wide-angle OLED, compared to the standard OLED on SE 3.
- Size: Series 11 is available in 46mm and 44mm sizes with aluminum or titanium cases, while SE 3 comes in 44mm and 40mm aluminum only. Series 11 is also nearly 10% slimmer than SE 3.
- Color: Series 11 offers aluminum in Jet Black, Silver, Rose Gold, and Space Gray, and titanium in Natural, Gold, and Slate. SE 3 is available in Midnight Aluminum and Starlight Aluminum.
- Other smaller differences: Series 11 features a depth gauge up to six meters, a water temperature sensor, 1 nit minimum brightness (compared to 2 nits on SE 3), and is certified for IP6X dust resistance.
