is a senior reporter and author of the Optimizer newsletter.She has more than 13 years of experience reporting on wearables, health tech, and more. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
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No one is going to wax lyrical about the Apple Watch Series 11. Not because it’s a bad smartwatch — it’s a great smartwatch, actually. There’s just nothing that makes it feel special this year. Alas, the $399 Series 11 is the middle child of Apple Watches.
It’s not the Series 11’s fault that the entry-level Apple Watch SE 3 got a major glow-up. It can’t help that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 gets everything the Series 11 has plus satellite connectivity. But there’s little to mask the fact that this watch doesn’t offer much more than the entry-level SE 3. You’re mostly paying extra for a bit of polish.
Hardware-wise, the Series 11 is nearly identical to its predecessor, but it has a redesigned dual antennae for 5G connectivity, a bigger battery, and a more scratch-resistant display. That’s about it. The smartest updates come in watchOS 26 — and none of those are exclusive to this watch.
Even so, there’s value in being a dependable workhorse. For certain folks, the Series 11 is still the best option over the new SE 3 or the Ultra. And that’s going to boil down to three factors: battery life, health, and comfort.
The significance of 24 hours
Since the first Apple Watch launched in 2015, Apple has never strayed from its “all-day” 18-hour battery life estimate. This year, for the first time ever, a watch has an estimated 24 hours on a single charge. It’s the single-most practical and important update for the Series 11.
Garmin lovers will scoff. After all, they measure battery life not in hours, but in weeks and months. But Apple has historically been ultraconservative with its battery estimates. For years, I’ve routinely gotten at least 24 hours on a single charge with Series watches. This year, the Series 11 has a bigger battery than previous models. The 42mm Series 11 gets a roughly 9 percent bump in capacity, while the 46mm gets an 11 percent increase. This, combined with a more power-efficient 5G modem, factors into why Apple felt confident to increase the estimate. But if you were hoping that this meant 36 to 40 hours on a single charge, the disappointing news is I’ve only seen a modest bump in my testing year-over-year.
Battery life is modestly better, but the overall design is the same as last year.
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