At a look
Knowledgeable’s Ranking
Execs
- Comfy and unobtrusive design
- All the time-on show
- Wonderful battery life
- Nice worth
Cons
- Nonetheless lacking some well being options
Our Verdict
With its always-on show, larger and better-performing battery, quick charging, improved scratch resistance, new well being options, expanded gesture help, on-device Siri, and 5G, the Apple Watch SE 3 is an enormously spectacular improve on an already interesting product. I don’t hesitate to advocate it.
Value When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Greatest Pricing Right this moment
Value When Reviewed
$249
Greatest Costs Right this moment: Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm)
$239.99
$249.99
Apple makes one of the best smartwatches in the marketplace, however what in case your price range doesn’t stretch to the $399 Sequence 11? (Not to mention the $799 Extremely 3.) You think about the Apple Watch SE, which begins at simply $249. Notably now that Apple has launched the considerably upgraded Third-gen mannequin.
In our in-depth Apple Watch SE 3 evaluate, we put the machine by a battery of assessments and assist you resolve if that is the finest Apple Watch for you.
Apple Watch SE 3 design: Reassuringly acquainted
Traditionally, the Apple Watch SE tends to path just a few years behind the principle line relating to design, and that continues to be the case right here: when it comes to chassis and display dimension, for instance, the SE 3 has extra in widespread with the Sequence 6 from 2020 than the Sequence 11 launched final month. However that’s much less of a difficulty on this market than for smartphones, for instance, as a result of smartwatch design evolves extraordinarily slowly, and the aesthetic modifications between the Sequence 6 and now have been comparatively minor tweaks to the components fairly than radical revamps.
So we’re nonetheless taking a look at a squarish rectangular chassis with rounded-off corners. The sides are nonetheless sensible brushed steel, and this nonetheless contrasts attractively with the shiny display on the entrance and the sleek matte floor of the underside. And the Motion button stays an Extremely unique, so we get the identical two controls as earlier than, each on the right-hand edge: the Digital Crown dial and the discreet facet button beneath it.
There’s nothing stunning about any of this, but it surely appears good and is intuitive to make use of. The SE 3 feels snug and unobtrusive on the wrist (which is especially necessary for sleep monitoring) whereas the controls fall naturally below your fingers with out having to look. Maybe we’ll get an Apple Watch Air subsequent yr, and maybe the SE will inherit that design just a few years after that. However for now this may do exactly wonderful.
David Value / Foundry
Apple Watch SE 3 show: All the time on, eventually
So the bodily design of the SE 3 stays largely the identical as its quick predecessor, and this consists of the display. It’s the identical dimension as on the SE 2 (both 1.57 inches or 1.78 inches measured diagonally, relying on whether or not you go for the 40mm or 44mm mannequin) and somewhat smaller than the display you get on current Sequence watches (1.77 or 1.96 inches). That further fifth of an inch does make a distinction, and it’s somewhat simpler to see what you’re doing and precisely faucet onscreen buttons on the larger fashions.
There may be one necessary display change from the SE 2, however you gained’t discover it till the watch goes to sleep. This yr, the SE, for the primary time, will get an always-on show. That doesn’t imply it stays lit up in precisely the identical manner on a regular basis, however fairly that, even when it’s inactive, it shows one thing. Every watch face has a sleep model, which is dimmer and fewer colourful and options fewer animated components, and this implies you get the important data with out draining the battery an excessive amount of. You’ll be able to then wake the watch up as regular (by rotating your wrist or tapping the display) and also you’ll promptly see the same old face once more.
I exploit the California analog face, for instance, and when the watch goes to sleep, I lose the crimson circle within the center, the second hand, and lots of the brightness. However I can nonetheless learn the time, date, and native temperature, and see the progress of my health rings. It’s a superb compromise. Simply keep in mind that California occurs to be one of many finest faces for always-on performance; some faces that depend on cool animations undergo much more when dimmed.
David Value / Foundry
Having an always-on display is an enormous improve for the Apple Watch SE. It’s within the nature of the machine, as a health wearable, that it usually will get utilized in odd or awkward positions the place you’ll be able to’t simply rotate a wrist or spare a hand to the touch the display, and having the ability to examine key information no matter that is useful to a level you most likely gained’t respect till you attempt it. The one attainable draw back is its influence on battery life, however, as we’ll see later, that isn’t a priority right here.
The display has additionally been upgraded to characteristic harder Ion-X glass, which Apple claims is 4x extra crack-resistant than the earlier technology. That’s reassuring to listen to, however troublesome to check scientifically. I can definitely verify that my SE 3 picked up exactly zero scratches in two weeks of fixed and never particularly cautious use, however that doesn’t imply yours will likely be resistant to hurt.
David Value / Foundry
Apple Watch SE 3 options: New prospects
In idea, the Apple Watch has the potential, barring pictures, to be nearly as versatile as an iPhone or iPad, due to the massive vary of third-party apps it could actually set up and run. In observe, it’s extra restricted. Video games, with just a few honorable exceptions equivalent to Lifeline, which provide you with ingenious methods across the small-screen drawback, are one thing of a non-starter, and many of the watch’s helpful features revolve round both notifications (the place being in your wrist always is a superb comfort) or well being and health.
On the latter entrance, the SE vary beneficial properties some new medical options with this replace. The SE 3 gives nightly wrist temperature monitoring, retrospective ovulation estimates, and sleep apnea notifications, all new additions to the SE line. Wrist temperature can be utilized to feed into broader well being insights, and is meant to watch averages over the long run; it takes some menu diving even to see the earlier evening’s absolute temperatures fairly than variance from the baseline, and completely don’t count on to make use of this as a spot-check thermometer. Sleep apnea notifications inform you, because the identify suggests, in case you’re exhibiting indicators of that situation. And I wasn’t ready to check the ovulation characteristic.
These are good choices to have in your health-monitoring toolbox, however all three have been out there on the Sequence line since 2023 (and in some instances additional again than that) and I think that for many customers they may make solely a small distinction to the general expertise. You’ll get way more out of the stalwart well being and health options which were out there for a decade: exercises, calorie monitoring, step counting. At this stage within the Apple Watch’s evolution, it’s maybe inevitable that probably the most helpful well being options have already been added: a coronary heart sensor proper from the beginning (after which improved in 2018), sleep monitoring in 2017, a mindfulness app in 2020. Something added to a product 10 years after it first launched is prone to be a nice-to-have fairly than an important improve.
Thoughts you, it should be stated that there stay gaps within the SE’s well being characteristic set. It nonetheless doesn’t supply an ECG sensor, though the Sequence 4 bought that in 2018. Equally, it could actually’t measure blood oxygen, which the Sequence 6 may handle in 2020. Most customers would regard these as larger priorities than the upgrades given to the SE this yr… and clearly a deliberate choice by Apple.
David Value / Foundry
Exterior of the realm of well being and health, there are new software-based controls. The brand new wrist-flick gesture added in watchOS 26, for instance, is supported by the SE 3 (and no different SE mannequin), in addition to the older double-tap.
Wrist flick helps you to dismiss notifications and return to your watch face utilizing that gesture alone, which is helpful while you don’t have a hand free to faucet the display. I’m nonetheless getting used to it, however I can already see it turning into a key a part of how I work together with my Apple Watch. Double faucet, then again (or on the identical hand, to be precise: it helps you to faucet a finger and thumb of your watch hand collectively twice to reply a name or reply to a message), has been out there since I bought a Sequence 9 greater than two years in the past, and I merely don’t use it, which says every thing for its utility.
The SE 3, not like its predecessors, gives on-device Siri, which ought to imply voice interactions (which not must go by way of the companion iPhone) are smoother and sooner. I’m used to the Sequence 9, which additionally has on-device Siri, so I gained’t fake to have observed a lot of a distinction, however I can verify that Siri on the SE 3 is objectively quick and useful. And this issues: having the ability to begin a exercise, set a timer, or get your present step depend with out having to work together with the Apple Watch’s small display is a real time-saver, so any increase to this operate is appreciated. And whereas we’re speaking about audio, the SE 3 has the power to play media by way of its tiny (and tinny) speaker, which struck me as considerably pointless however is an choice chances are you’ll sometimes use.
On the connectivity facet, the Apple Watch SE beneficial properties 5G help this yr, and does so at precisely the identical time because the Sequence and Extremely traces. In some methods, that’s much less of an enormous deal than it was when the iPhone bought 5G in 2020, as a result of smartwatches don’t depend on mobile the best way telephones do; many shoppers gained’t really feel it’s price the additional $50, and so they might be proper. However 5G infrastructure, within the U.S., the U.Ok., and different components of the world, is much extra developed now than it was in 2020, so in case you do pay for 5G you’ll get the advantage of sooner mobile connections in additional locations. And that is one other step in the direction of the Apple Watch as a standalone machine that may survive with out its companion iPhone.
David Value / Foundry
Apple Watch SE 3 battery life: Secretly very good
The large information this yr was that, for the primary time in historical past, Apple Watches got longer battery estimates than their quick predecessors. The usual mannequin jumped from 18 hours on the Sequence 10 to 24 on the Sequence 11; the Extremely 2’s 36 hours was elevated to 42 hours on the Extremely 3. All very thrilling.
Formally, the SE 3 misses out on this competition of generosity, remaining stranded on 18 hours like each earlier SE fashions. However one thing doesn’t fairly add up. As my colleague Halyna Kubiv found, this yr’s SE does have a higher-capacity battery, by a bigger margin than both of its costlier siblings. The Extremely 3’s battery is 6 p.c larger, the Sequence 11’s is 10 to 11 p.c larger, whereas the SE 3 is high of the category with a 12 p.c enhance.
That is complicated. Given these numbers, why doesn’t the SE 3 get an elevated runtime estimate too? Does Apple assume new options (notably the always-on show) will enhance energy consumption a lot that the additional battery capability is cancelled out? Or is it merely attempting, because it has finished so usually up to now, to make its cheaper merchandise sound much less interesting to prospects?
My expertise with the SE 3 factors to the latter rationalization, as a result of battery life was wonderful. It will usually make it to bedtime with 50-70 p.c remaining, nonetheless be going sturdy at 30-50 p.c the following morning (after an evening of sleep monitoring), then comfortably make it effectively into the afternoon of a second day. A number of instances it lasted till a second bedtime, and on one event it made it by two days and two nights and died early on the third day.
That is very good efficiency. It’s harking back to the glory days of the Sequence 2, which may final two and half days, however had the frankly unfair benefit of not providing both sleep monitoring or an always-on show.
Now, it’s necessary to emphasize that Apple Watch battery efficiency is extremely subjective. In case you use the watch to trace your sleep, it’ll expend considerably extra energy than if it’s sitting on the nightstand or tucked in a drawer; you’ll additionally see noticeable drops in battery ranges everytime you do a exercise. So, relying on whether or not you may have an lively day or not, you’re prone to see big swings between most and minimal battery efficiency.
However this ingredient of unpredictability makes it extra necessary than ever for the SE 3 to have a superb battery. It’s not sufficient to final for a day of “advisable” utilization. It has to have the ability to cope with these outlier days while you get super-motivated and do three exercises. And by chance, the SE 3 is greater than as much as the duty.
And when the battery is lastly depleted, it’s a consolation to know that it may be topped up shortly due to new fast-charge options. Apple claims you’ll be able to cost from zero to 80 p.c in round 45 minutes (it took me a wonderfully cheap 48), and {that a} mere quarter-hour of charging will earn you 8 hours of runtime (which once more appears about proper based mostly on my testing). Prior to now, charging velocity felt irrelevant to the Apple Watch as a result of this occurred in a single day, however the rising significance of sleep monitoring means it’s way more prone to cost in a spare hour or two through the day, and these upgrades are good to have.
David Value / Foundry
Apple Watch SE 3 worth: Stable worth
The Apple Watch SE 3 begins at $249/£219, which is similar worth Apple charged for the SE 2 till this fall. (That machine is not out there direct from Apple, though chances are you’ll discover that different retailers nonetheless have inventory remaining at a reduced worth.) Making an allowance for the variety of upgrades added for this technology, that worth represents excellent worth for cash.
- Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm, GPS): From $249/£219
- Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm, GPS + mobile): From $299/£289
- Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm, GPS): From $279/£249
- Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm, GPS + mobile): $329/£319
In addition to chassis dimension and mobile connectivity, costs range relying on the strap you select.
David Value / Foundry
Do you have to purchase the Apple Watch SE 3?
It is a large step ahead for the Apple Watch SE. Simply have a look at the record of upgrades: always-on show, larger and better-performing battery, quick charging, improved scratch resistance, new (if comparatively minor) well being options, expanded gesture help, on-device Siri, and the choice of 5G. All of this with out growing the worth. The Apple Watch SE 3 is an enormously spectacular improve on an already interesting product.
Positive, plumping for the Sequence 11 will get you an even bigger and brighter display, Precision Discovering, and a few extra well being options which might be maybe overdue for an look on the SE. However it prices $150 extra, and it’s robust to argue that it’s price the additional cash. The SE 3 has every thing you want from a smartwatch at an inexpensive worth, and I don’t hesitate to advocate it.
