By Adrienne So

Copyright wired

Since 2023, its blood oxygen sensing feature has been mired in an ongoing series of patent infringement lawsuits. Right before this year’s Apple Event, the company finally launched a workaround via a software update that allows you to check your blood oxygen on your phone, instead of on the watch itself. That didn’t stop Masimo, the medtech company that alleges that Apple copied the feature, from suing US Borders and Custom Protection for allowing Apple to reactivate the feature.
The lawsuits cast a pall over last year’s Watch Series 10, which was supposed to be the best-selling wearable’s triumphant 10-year celebration but turned into a mostly iterative update. (It got a new wide-angle screen and sleep apnea notifications.)
This year sees a return to form for Apple, with not one, not two, but three new watches: the Watch SE, the Watch Series 11, and the Watch Ultra 3. All have significant, usable upgrades that include hypertension monitoring and two years of free satellite messaging on all watch versions. Here’s how they stack (Smart Stack?) up.

It’s been several years since we’ve seen an update to the Watch SE, which is Apple’s entry-level watch and the one that you’re probably going to buy for your kid or nana. This year, it finally gets upgrades that make it more usable for a general audience, like the new S10 chip that will let you use gesture controls like Double Tap that showed up in 2023.
Other hardware upgrades, like fast charging, 5G cellular connectivity, and an always-on display, will help support the new suite of health features. It will offer a Sleep Score similar to the ones that have been on Fitbit’s wearables, along with last year’s sleep apnea notifications that showed up last year on the Watch Series 10. It will have wrist temperature sensing which will support ovulation prediction.
You will also be able to use the new fitness features that showed up on Watch26 OS, like your AI-powered Workout Buddy that delivers personalized, and perhaps overly peppy, advice and encouragement as you’re working out. It will also have satellite messaging, live translation, and the new Liquid Glass face that Apple debuted at WWDC earlier this year. It will be available in 40mm and 44mm sizes and in Starlight and Midnight finishes.
The SE 3 starts at $249 and is available on September 19.
Watch Series 11
The big update on the more expensive watches this year is hypertension notifications. Blood pressure is monitored from the watch’s optical sensor. It will work by monitoring data over a 30-day period, after which it can start notifying users if there are symptoms of hypertension. At that point, the user should probably consult a doctor and use a more accurate blood pressure monitor.
Undiagnosed hypertension is actually a health condition that affects one out of three adults globally and can lead to long-term problems like heart attacks, strokes, or kidney disease. Apple expects the feature to be FDA-cleared soon. The company says it was developed from studies with over 100,000 participants.
The second big update on the Series 11 is a full 24 hours of battery life. Battery life is a perennial problem on the Apple Watch; even last year’s Series 10 could offer no better update than faster charging (which also shows up on this year’s watches). This makes it much easier to get a Sleep Score if you actually wear your watch throughout the night, instead of missing out on sleep tracking because you need to take it off and charge it every night (like me).
It also has the latest S10 chip and thinner body that showed up on last year’s Series 10, along with live translation in messages, 5G connectivity, and WatchOS 26 workout upgrades. It will be available in aluminum in Rose Gold, Silver, Space Gray, Jet Black finishes and in titanium in Gold, Natural, and Slate finishes.
The Series 11 starts at $399 and is available September 19.
Watch Ultra 3
The Watch Ultra 3 is Apple’s rugged outdoors watch, but I’ve always backed away from using it for many outdoors excursions because of its limited battery life. With 42 hours of battery life on the new Watch Ultra 3 (and up to 72 hours in low power mode), that makes it significantly more useful for weekend-long snowboarding or camping trips. That, combined with the new satellite messaging services, makes this a more useful outdoors watch than ever.
Hardware upgrades for the Watch Ultra 3 also includes the wide-angle OLED display that showed up on last year’s Series 10. The upgrade makes the Watch Ultra 3’s screen the biggest screen ever to show up on an Apple Watch. A new, dynamic Waypoint watch face will keep you continuously oriented when you run it on the always-on display, which lets you see where you are at a glance even if you’re careening down a mountain on two wheels.
You will now be able to use satellite messaging to text your friends and family and also contact emergency services. Crash or fall detection will also send situation and location information to emergency services and emergency contacts, even if you’re unconscious. (It’s important to note here that you do have to be within the line of sight of a satellite, which might make it harder to operate under tree cover.)
In addition to the hypertension detection available in the Watch Series 11, Sleep Scores, and workout updates available in WatchOS 26, the Watch Ultra 3 will also have a series of sport-specific updates and features, like Swolf scores for swimmers to track their stroke efficiency and a track-running detection feature for runners.
The Watch Ultra 3 starts at $799. Like the others, it can be preordered now and will be available starting September 19.