Pros & Cons
Starting at $249, the Apple Watch SE 3 brings a number of upgrades to the budget-minded smartwatch line for the first time, including an always-on display, gesture controls, on-device Siri processing, ovulation estimates, sleep apnea detection, and wrist temperature sensing, without a bump in price from the previous generation. Thanks to watchOS 26, it offers similar exercise and sleep metrics as the $399 Series 11, and it uses the same power-efficient chip, delivering comparable performance—and even longer battery life—for $150 less. The Series 11 has a better display and more health features like blood oxygen saturation, ECG, and hypertension monitoring, making it our Editors’ Choice winner, but the Apple Watch SE 3 is a worthy alternative if you're looking to save money.
The Latest Apple Watch Lineup: The SE Holds Its Own
The SE 3 is the most affordable model in Apple’s latest smartwatch lineup. Featuring a 100% recycled aluminum case, it's offered in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm, starting at $249 and $279, respectively. GPS comes standard, and 5G cellular support costs $50 extra.
In both sizes, the Apple Watch SE 3 comes in Midnight or Starlight colors. You can also pick from compatible bands made of rubber, textile, or stainless steel materials, each available in a variety of colors.
The Apple Watch SE 3 is smaller than both the Apple Watch Series 11 and the premium, rugged Apple Watch Ultra 3 ($799). The Series 11 comes in 42mm and 46mm sizes in either aluminum or titanium and a range of finish colors, while the Ultra 3 is offered in a single 49mm case size in either natural or black titanium. If you really want to get fancy, Apple sells deluxe Hermès bands, but only for the Series 11 and the Ultra 3.
Compared with its predecessor, the second-gen Apple Watch SE from 2022, the SE 3 features a number of important upgrades that bring it much closer in capability to Apple’s flagship Series line. Most notably, it’s the first SE watch with an always-on display, a big usability improvement that lets you check the time without having to lift your wrist. It also gains media playback capabilities, so you can listen to tunes through its tiny speaker, and adds several new health features, including overnight wrist temperature sensing, retrospective ovulation estimates, and sleep apnea notifications.
Like the Series 11 and the Ultra 3, the SE 3 is powered by Apple's efficient S10 chip, which enables fast charging, on-device Siri processing, and gesture controls, in addition to the always-on display. While wearing the SE 3, you can double-tap your thumb and index finger to make selections in certain apps, or flick your wrist to dismiss calls and notifications or return to the home screen. Put it on its charger, and it promises to gain eight hours of battery life in just 15 minutes, just like the Series 11. Another upgrade for this generation is an Ion-X display coating, which Apple says offers quadruple the scratch resistance of its predecessor's glass.
As for connectivity, the SE 3 has 2.4GHz-only Wi-Fi instead of dual-band like its more expensive siblings, and it's missing their ultra-wideband chip for precise location tracking with the Find My app. All three current Apple Watch models gain 5G support on cellular versions in addition to the already established LTE, making it much faster to stream music, download apps, and send messages when away from your phone and Wi-Fi.
(Credit: Andrew Gebhart)The SE 3 launches with Apple’s latest smartwatch software, watchOS 26, which features a Liquid Glass makeover with transparent buttons. It allows for translation directly in Messages, call screening in the Phone app, and your Smart Stack of widgets now shows hints on the watch face to highlight particularly timely suggestions, like enabling Do Not Disturb when a meeting on your calendar is about to start.
Apple gives the SE 3 access to its latest sleep and workout guidance via watchOS 26. That includes a new Sleep Score metric, which encompasses your time slept, bedtime consistency, and interruptions into a single holistic value. A new Workout Buddy feature uses AI to offer encouraging words and contextual updates about your stats throughout your exercise routine.
By contrast, the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE ($199.99), one of the only budget-friendly options featuring Google’s rival Wear OS smartwatch platform, doesn't offer access to any of Samsung's excellent Galaxy AI health features, like the holistic Energy Score. It’s fallen further behind since its launch last year, now that Samsung has added Google Gemini, as well as an AI-powered Running Coach and Sleep Coach to its flagship Galaxy Watch 8 ($349.99).
In terms of notable omissions, the SE 3 lacks a blood oxygen sensor for on-demand SpO2 measurements, an electrical heart rate sensor for ECG readings, and an underwater depth gauge and water temperature sensor, features that are available on its more expensive siblings. The Ultra 3 and the Series 11 also add hypertension notifications, with the ability to monitor for high blood pressure in the background and let you know if you should see a doctor and get it checked professionally.
Design: Stylish, With Some Trade-Offs
The SE 3’s screen looks sharp and vibrant, but it is a noticeable step down when viewed alongside the Series 11. The flagship model has a wide-angle OLED that is visible at sharper angles than the SE 3 display. The Series 11 screen is also brighter with a maximum output of 2,000 nits compared with 1,000 on the SE 3.
The SE 3's thick black display bezel is a telltale sign that it is a budget-friendly model. Like its predecessor and the Galaxy Watch FE, it has a noticeably larger digital bezel than its flagship counterpart.
The SE 3 has a 759-square-millimeter display area with 324 by 394 pixels on the 40mm size, or 977mm^2 with 368 by 448 pixels on the 44mm size, matching the second-gen SE. Even the 44mm SE 3 has a smaller active display area than the 42mm Series 11 (989mm^2).
Otherwise, the SE 3 looks just as attractive, elegant, and modern as the Series 11, featuring a squared case with rounded corners, a ridged Digital Crown and a side button, and a sapphire crystal back cover. It has the same dimensions as the second-gen SE; the smaller model measures 1.57 by 1.34 by 0.42 inches (or 40mm by 34mm by 10.7mm, HWD) and the larger 1.73 by 1.49 by 0.42 inches (44mm by 38mm by 10.7mm). The Series 11 is thinner at 0.38 inches in depth.
In terms of durability, the SE 3 is water-resistant to 164 feet, but lacks an IP6X rating for dust resistance, a feature of the Series 11, so be careful if you wear it to the beach. For an even more premium, rugged build, the Ultra 3 has a 3,000-nit wide-angle OLED screen, satellite connectivity for emergency communications, and superior durability ratings to greater underwater depths and higher altitudes.
Setup and Controls: Simple and Straightforward
Getting started with the Apple Watch SE 3 is quick and easy. The watch ships with your strap of choice and a charging puck. The strap slides into place in slots on the top and bottom of the case and locks in with a satisfying click. When you want to swap in a new band, you can readily release it by depressing buttons on the bottom of the watch.
To turn it on, hold the side button. The watch will ask you to select your language and region, then prompt you to continue on your iPhone. It gives you the option to set up the watch for yourself or a family member, then asks if you want to import data from an older model before walking you through various steps like creating a passcode and picking your text size.
During setup, Apple will ask for your birth date, gender (with options for male, female, and other), height, and weight so it can calibrate its sensors. It then goes over the various safety features, including Compass Backtrack navigation (for if you get lost in the wild), car crash detection, Emergency SOS, fall detection, and loud noise detection. The watch then prompts you to set up Siri, cellular service (if you have a model that offers it), and Apple Pay. Then, it walks you through gesture controls (both double-tap and wrist flick), and then offers a tour of the rest of the controls.
You can tap the crown button from the watch face to open your app list, or from any other screen to quickly return to the watch face. Press the side button to open and close the Control Center (for quick access to common settings), or double-tap it to open Apple Pay. Hold it to toggle power or trigger Emergency SOS. Swipe down from the top of the screen for notifications, or swipe up for your customizable Smart Stack of widgets.
Press and hold the display to customize your watch screen. Apple offers lots of high-quality options at this point, and the SE 3 has access to the latest ones, including the stylish Flow and the informative Exactograph.
You can also manage your watch face and other settings like notifications in the iOS Watch app. Collected activity, sleep, and vitals data reside in the iOS Health app, and workout data in the Fitness app. The latter offers a premium service called Fitness+ with a library of guided workouts and meditations for $9.99 per month. Needing to toggle between three different phone apps to manage your watch and track your data can be tedious, but Samsung smartwatches require using just as many.
Lifestyle Features: Nearly Everything
For day-to-day use, the Apple Watch SE 3 offers all the features you'd want in a wrist-based companion to your smartphone. It lets you make calls, send texts, pay for purchases, and simply raise your wrist to talk to Siri.
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With access to Apple’s App Store, the SE 3 offers a large selection of third-party software you can download to supplement its built-in features. Android smartwatches running Wear OS are catching up on this front, but Apple still wins in terms of sheer volume. If you have the cellular version, thanks to 5G, you can download apps and music without your phone nearby, and it feels just as snappy as doing so on your phone.
(Credit: Andrew Gebhart)As one practical limitation of the SE 3’s smaller screen, you don’t have access to a full QWERTY keyboard, which can be helpful when sending texts and searching in the App Store. If you don't want to dictate, scribble with your finger, or use your nearby iPhone for text input, you'll need to upgrade to one of the more expensive models. That’s the only main hindrance of the budget model I noticed in testing. It doesn’t take long to adapt, but if you’re setting up an older relative with the SE 3, you might need to spend an extra moment making sure they know how to enter text.
Thanks to the S10 chip, the Apple Watch SE 3 is very responsive. The buttons, touch screen, and gesture controls consistently work as expected, and the watch responds promptly. Using the SE 3 to manage everyday tasks is fluid and fun.
Battery Life: Even Better Than the Series 11
In testing, the SE 3 lasted nearly two full days on a single charge, which is well beyond Apple’s 18-hour battery life estimate for the watch. It powered 46 hours with typical use in the real world before it ran out of juice and needed to be plugged in. During that time, I had the always-on display enabled, used the GPS for two different workouts, sent texts, downloaded apps, and regularly checked my activity and sleep stats.
Surprisingly, it did better than the Series 11, which lasted 43 hours on a charge in my testing. That's a surprising result because Apple claims a higher battery life estimate for the Series 11 (24 hours with the always-on display active) than the SE 3. The base model likely beats the Series 11 due to its smaller screen and fewer sensors, especially since it uses the same processor. The SE 3 also outlasts its predecessor, which stayed powered for 37 hours in testing.
Nevertheless, 46 hours is a great result for any smartwatch, especially an affordable one. For comparison, the Galaxy Watch FE lasted 27 hours, the Galaxy Watch 8 lasted 26 hours, and the Google Pixel Watch 3 lasted 34 hours in our battery testing.
After it depleted, the SE 3 took 89 minutes to recharge back to 100% using the included cable and my 18W brick (not included). The Series 11 charged more quickly, climbing back to full in 77 minutes under the same conditions.
Exercise Monitoring: Accurate Metrics and AI Help
For workouts, the Apple Watch SE 3 tracks the same wide range of activities and metrics as the Series 11. Options for tracking include basics like biking, running, and walking, as well as a number of different sports such as basketball, pickleball, and soccer, and other activities like elliptical workouts, high-intensity interval training, pilates, and yoga. You can manually start tracking an activity through the Workout app, or the SE 3 will automatically start a session on its own after five to ten minutes.
The Workout app gets a new design as part of watchOS 26, making it easier to customize your experience with four new buttons in each corner. The top left button lets you rearrange which metrics are visible as you exercise. You can set up different screens of metrics and customize their order for scrolling. The top right button lets you set goals and targets for metrics such as distance, pace, and time. The lower left button offers media controls; you can set it to automatically play music when you start working out, and either pick your own playlist or have Apple customize the tunes for you.
The lower right button enables Workout Buddy. You can choose the voice for Workout Buddy in a submenu and configure what criteria will trigger a response. Workout Buddy will always chime in as you start and stop your workout with stats and words of encouragement, but you can also enable alerts related to heart rate, pace, and even form metrics for running workouts. Workout Buddy isn’t available for every supported activity, but it launches with an impressive range, including indoor and outdoor runs and walks, high-intensity interval training, outdoor cycling, and both traditional and functional strength-training workouts.
To use Workout Buddy, you’ll also need an iPhone equipped with Apple Intelligence, such as an iPhone 15 Pro or later, and Bluetooth earbuds like the Apple AirPods Pro 3.
I tested the Apple Watch SE 3’s tracking capabilities during a 30-minute run while wearing the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic ($499.99) on my other wrist. The SE 3 showed accurate heart rate values throughout the run. It was a little slow to adapt during the first 5 to 10 minutes, but most smartwatches I’ve tested require a little time to get calibrated during my first tracked workout.
After that initial period, it stayed within 5 to 10 beats per minute (bpm) of the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic throughout the rest of the workout. It even kept up with my heart rate spikes and dips when I sprinted at intervals during the last few minutes of the run. Its optical heart rate tracker, which carries over from the previous SE, is one generation older than the one in the Series 11, but I didn’t notice a difference in accuracy.
Like the Series 11, the SE 3 showed accurate stats after the workout as well. It matched the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic for average heart rate, and its chart of my pulse throughout the workout showed similar ebbs and flows. During my outdoor run, the SE 3 also measured my calories, distance, elevation gain, pace, time, and advanced form metrics like power, vertical oscillation, ground contact time, and stride length. Cadence, calories, and distance all matched Samsung’s numbers exactly. The form metrics all stayed within a reasonable range.
I did this 30-minute test while letting Apple pick my music for me and using Workout Buddy. The music was a mix of hip-hop and rock that kept me motivated. I’ve found during other tests that Workout Buddy can be a little too repetitive when offering pace or heart rate notifications, as it will chime in constantly if you’re wavering back and forth near your target threshold. I turned off those specific notifications during my test with the SE 3, and enjoyed the more limited interactions with Workout Buddy.
Workout Buddy is intentionally less prescriptive than the Running Coach on the latest Galaxy Watches. Samsung's Running Coach requires less hardware, as you only need the watch. However, as the name suggests, it only works if you’re running, as opposed to the variety of activities Workout Buddy supports. Running Coach has you start with a test to calibrate the feature, then offers a series of specific workouts and pace goals to help you train for an event like a 5K or marathon.
Apple's version only responds to goals you set yourself via Pacer or the Workout Buddy menu. It’s a flexible feature that’s probably a better fit for you if you already know what you’re doing. Samsung's Running Coach offers more active guidance if you’re a beginner trying to get started. That said, Running Coach isn’t available on the Galaxy Watch FE, so Apple deserves credit for making its AI workout companion available on its budget-friendly model.
Sleep Tracking: Holistic Data
Apple also brings its latest sleep tracking feature to the SE 3. The SE 3 monitors your total time asleep, duration spent in each sleep stage, overnight resting heart rate and respiration, and sleep apnea monitoring. It collects this data in a holistic Sleep Score.
Sleep Score grades your slumber on a scale from 0 to 100, and gives it a classification spanning five levels: Very Low (0 to 29), Low (30 to 49), OK (50 to 69), High (70 to 89), and Excellent (90 to 100). I consistently earned excellent or high ratings during my testing, and by tapping the information button near the classification, Apple shows the exact breakdown of the score.
You can earn up to 50 points for duration, up to 30 for keeping a consistent bedtime, and up to 20 for minimizing interruptions. Your score in each subsection adds up to your total out of 100. After showing how I earned my last score of 89, the page informed me that my sleep was restorative and should support long-term health, even though interruptions kept it from being a perfect night's rest.
Both Google and Samsung provide sleep scores in their respective smartwatches, and they take more criteria into account. Samsung’s, for instance, also factors in data like deep sleep and sleep latency. Apple’s is the simplest, but it’s also the most straightforward, as it's the only one of the bunch that shows exactly how the different criteria add up to the overall score.
Like Workout Buddy, Sleep Score isn’t meant to be prescriptive, just informative. Samsung's Watch 8 models have a Sleep Coach that offers specific steps to take to improve your shut-eye, but again, that’s not available on the budget-friendly Galaxy Watch FE.
I tested the SE 3's sleep tracking capabilities while wearing the Galaxy Watch 8 on my other wrist to compare their figures. Once again, the SE 3 acquitted itself as well as the Series 11 in terms of accuracy. Time asleep, time in each cycle, and the associated charts matched those of Samsung to a reasonable degree. The SE 3 also produced accurate heart rate and respiration values from its measurements throughout the night.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Andrew Gebhart)