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Apple has just announced a trio of new Watches. At this year’s Awe Dropping event, the California tech monstrosity unveiled the Watch Series 11, alongside the latest in the high-end Watch Ultra and value Watch SE lines; we also caught a glimpse of the new iPhone 17 range, which includes for the first time an iPhone 17 Air to compete with Samsung’s S25 Edge. Oh, and Apple also revealed a new pair of AirPods Pro with a fresh design and heart-rate sensing.
But back to the watches. With 5G support and the new long-awaited blood pressure monitoring for the Series 11 and Ultra 3 and a “new” processor and Gestures support for the SE, these watches are shaping up to be Apple’s most substantial wearables revamp in some time. So let’s explore the announcement in more depth.
Apple Watch Series 11
The latest wearable in Apple’s standard watch range has received the mother of all incremental upgrades. Connectivity has been bolstered with long-overdue 5G support, and the battery has received a much-needed boost – it’ll now give you a full 24 hours on a single charge. It runs WatchOS 26 and uses a composite screen that’s twice as durable as the last model.
There are two new health-tracking features to note here: the first is the highly anticipated blood pressure monitor, which will alert you to possible hypertension using the existing heart rate sensor. I should note that the feature seems to be pending FDA approval in the States – Apple said it’s expected to arrive “in September”.
The second is a new sleep-tracking metric, called Sleep Score. This combines the various measurements of sleep – bed time, total duration and time spent in each sleep stage – into a single score out of 100 that can give you a feel for how well you’ve slept, at a glance.
The Watch Series 11 starts at $399, and it’s available for preorder now for 19 September shipping. It’s available in Jet Black, Silver, Rose Gold and Space Grey.
Apple Watch Ultra 3
The high-end Watch Ultra has had an even more interesting makeover. Like its sibling, it also now supports 5G and the blood pressure monitoring and Sleep Score health trackin. But the screen now uses a similar wide-angle LPTO3 OLED to the Watch Series 10/11 for improved viewing angles, with a new resolution of 422 x 514 (up from 410 x 502) and a 1Hz refresh rate in Always-On mode, meaning you can see the second hand ticking. The battery lasts for an impressive 42 hours, or 72 hours in low power mode – a new record for an Apple Watch.
The most interesting new feature, however, is satellite connectivity. When regular cellular connectivity fails you – eg. when you’re in the wilderness, hiking one of those national parks after which Apple names its MacOS – a satellite connection will kick in, granting you continued access to essential communication with civilisation. It’s slower than cellular and limited to basic messaging/geolocation only, but it’s still a useful feature given the target audience of this ruggedised Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 costs $799 for the 49mm model and is available for preorder now. It’ll ship 19 September and comes in Black and Natural Titanium.
Apple Watch SE 3
Last, and perhaps least, is the Apple Watch SE. This value offering gets last year’s S10 chipset, and it now supports both Always On and Gestures as a result (that’s on top of the usual frenzy of health-tracking and communication tech, of course). Plus, it gets the new Sleep Score metric introduced at the event on the Series 11.
The battery will now drop out after 18 hours of continuous use, and the SE supports fast charging, too: you’ll get 8 hours from 50 mins of charge. There’s also a built-in speaker, although as ever it’ll only really be good for taking calls.
The Watch SE starts at $249 for the 40mm model. It’s available to preorder now in two colourways – Starlight and Midnight.
