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The Apple Watch Series 11 (right) and the SE 3 may be more similar than different.
Congratulations to those who can easily afford the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3. But for most of us in the market for a new Apple-friendly smartwatch, the choice is more between the entry-level Apple Watch SE 3 and the mainstay Apple Watch Series 11, which start at $249 and $399, respectively. That used to be more of a no-brainer default to the current Series model, since the second-gen SE had gone three full years without an update, in the meantime getting lapped by the Series 9 and 10. Despite the price gap, the latest models share more similarities than differences.
We're still evaluating the SE 3 and will have a full review soon. But just looking at the spec sheets, it's clear that the latest model fixes quite a few of the SE 2's flaws. However, the Series 11 is still ahead when it comes to design, health tracking, battery life and premium materials, to name a few.
That said, choosing between the two this year is more about priorities. For instance, do you just want casual step counting and sleep tracking or are you interested in using the deeper health insights? Or are you buying for child or elderly relative, and is just having cellular capability or fall detection a bigger deal?
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Since you can't pick one of these up at the Apple Store this minute — they'll be on display and available for sale on Friday, September 19 — there's still plenty of time. We'll walk you through the similarities and differences of these two Apple Watches. Meanwhile, if you want to know how the Series watch has changed year over year, check out the Apple Watch Series 11 vs. Apple Watch Series 10.
Apple Watch SE 3 vs. Series 11: What's basically the same
Both of these smartwatches will come equipped with watchOS 26 out of the box, but that's not the only thing they have in common.
Always-On Retina display: This is a first for SE models, and means that the display no longer fades to black after a few seconds.
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