Looking for a smartwatch to help you tackle your 2026 fitness goals? The Apple Watch Series 11 is on sale for the first time this year.
Apple Watch Series 11
The Apple Watch Series 11 is on sale for $299 right now, $100 less than its original price.
Apple’s newest baseline smartwatch offers upgraded health features and fantastic battery life.
Although affordable, it’s trumped by the sheer value of its younger sibling, the SE 3.
If you’ve been considering an Apple Watch to track your health in the new year, there are a few watches that could fit your needs. In this review, I’m going to focus on the Apple Watch Series 11, one of the most popular smart watches on the market right now, and the one I use personally to track my workouts, monitor my sleep, and do a whole lot more. Allow me to break down the pros and cons.
Apple rolled out three new Apple Watches in 2025 — the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and the Apple Watch SE 3, and I’ve been testing all three for months since. Apple Watch Series 11
The smartwatch comes with several improvements, with the biggest one being a 24-hour battery life that will last through a day of exercise tracking and a night of sleep tracking. It’s currently discounted by $100 on Amazon.
Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, Wi-Fi, Matte Black):
$300 (save $50)
Garmin Venu Sq 2 GPS Smartwatch (Shadow Gray):
$150 (save $100)
CMF Watch 2 Pro Smartwatch (Blue):
$49 (save $30)
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band):
$339 (save $60)
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (40mm, Bluetooth, Graphite Band):
$280 (save $70)
Many of the features stayed the same from Series 10 to Series 11, but the most significant thing is Apple’s chipset. Normally, it updates its chips every year, but the Series 11 keeps the S10 processor, the same chip as 2024’s Series 10.
When comparing the Apple Watch Series 11 to the Ultra 3 or SE 3, battery life is one of the biggest differentiating factors. The SE 3 gets 18 hours of normal use battery life, while the Series 11 gets 24, and the Ultra 3 gets 42.
Apple says that in adding more battery life through an internal design change that replaced its jelly roll cells with a metal can design, it was able to keep the form factor of the watch the same and use 2024’s chip to process the new device. This means that the build of the watch is identical to the Series 10.
The screen brightness also remains the same at 2,000 nits, despite its competition, the Pixel Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 8, amping theirs up to 3,000 nits. You have to upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to get a 3,000 nit screen in the Apple ecosystem.
