Apple Watch Series 11 review: The same tale, retold with a twist

Aside from their release date, there’s not all that much that separates the Series 10 and the Series 11. If you were given the two to compare side by side, you likely wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. But the Series 11 brings more to the table than likeness to its sibling. It’s a book you’ve read a hundred times over, but with an alternate ending that’s genuinely better than the original. It might feel like a carbon copy, but those additional six hours of battery life and fast charging had me more impressed than I thought possible.  

The sun is brighter, the sky is clearer, and I’m no longer beholden to the shackles of the charger. I can take advantage of all the Apple Watch Series 11 has to offer without scheduling my next charge. It’s not just an extra hour or two in the bank; it’s a reframed flexibility and freedom to let you do more with less. 

The Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $679, a $30 price increase from last year’s model. You’ll pay an extra $50 for the 46mm case size, and an additional $170 if cellular connectivity is a non-negotiable.

Even though the Apple flagship is more expensive than the Google Pixel Watch 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, Apple still offers a greater variety of case finishes and colours. 

As usual, there are two case finishes up for grabs: aluminium and titanium. There are four finishes available for the aluminium material, including Space Grey, Jet Black, Rose Gold, and the new Space Grey. When it comes to the titanium, take your pick out of Slate, Gold, and Natural finishes. 

Internally, they’re the same. On the exterior, you’ll find the aluminium lighter, but less scratch-resistant, with minimal changes to the signature Ion-X glass coating. On the other hand, the titanium features sapphire glass, a luxurious, durable alternative with a glossy, polished finish. The aluminium is likely to be your pick if you’re a baller on a budget. It lends itself to a casual, sporty vibe, while the titanium is the bougier choice. 

The aluminium starts at $679, while the titanium starts at $1,249.

It’s looking a lot like "spot the difference" this year, with the Series 11 rocking most of the same specs as its predecessor. They’re the same weight, and both have the always-on, wide-angle OLED screen with 2000 nits of max brightness, and even the same Apple S10 processor. 

The Series 11 has received a minor screen bump, though, with Apple enhancing the Ion-X glass screen with a ceramic coating. It’s not the same Ceramic Shield 2 you’ll see on the iPhone 17, but you can still expect a comparable level of scratch resistance, as Apple claims the Series 11 is twice as scratch-resistant as the Series 10. 

Despite the absence of new colourways, Apple have come through with a treasure trove of new band materials and colours. After complaining about last year's lacklustre colour choices, I’m pleased to see several vibrant players in the new Nike Sport Loop drop.

There are the standard black and grey selections, joined by a new crew of Blue Ribbon, Alpenglow Pink, and Volt Splash. Maybe I’m just chronically online, but it’s delightfully clear Apple took inspiration from the hues of Charli XCX’s Brat Green era for Volt Splash. Honestly, I’m not even mad that they’re a year late to the party. I’ll be bumping that, and the beautifully girly Alpenglow Pink, til the day I die.

I have a healthy relationship with my Apple Watch. It’s taken years to cultivate, but we’re in a well-established routine. Every workout is tracked, and I relish the regular reminders to stretch, especially since I spend most of my days with a shrimp-like posture. By day, it lives on my wrist,  and come the evening, it’s relegated to the charger. 

Even though most nights it doesn’t need a charge, it's a habit that’s grown out of necessity so we can pick back up in the morning with a full tank. The Series 10’s 18-hour battery life wasn’t a shortfall by any means. It could easily last more than 12 hours on a single charge. But having to bear the brunt of a dead watch halfway through a workout has scarred me, and it only took one failed workout to nudge me into a charging routine. 

Now, I can abandon my nightly charge. After 18 consecutive hours of workouts, calls, texts, and sleep tracking, I still started the following day with 40% charge. It only took half an hour on the charger to kickstart it back to 100%. One particularly busy weekend, I hadn’t charged the Series 11 for 40 hours. Despite my forgetfulness, it still had over 20% of juice left. 

It was like a fog had lifted. I was no longer bound to the shackles of my charger and was now free to charge on alternate days or start a habit of speedy morning charges. It’s an extra layer of flexibility, a realm of possibilities that can be explored without throwing the next day out of whack. 

More battery means more time to play around with new features, like the sleep score and an AI workout buddy, included in the WatchOS 26 software update. The sleep score was a personal favourite. I loved gamifying my power naps and interpreting the visualisations of my nightly slumber, but WatchOS 26 isn’t all smooth sailing. 

I was cautious about giving the fitness app’s new workout buddy a shot. The Nike Run Club app was a reliable companion during high school, and I loved how it personalised your workout feedback based on your selected distance, time, or pace. It felt like a real coach pushing you to the end of each split, offering genuine words of encouragement. I was expecting the workout buddy to adopt the same general framework, but it fell far below my expectations. 

Aside from the light words of encouragement at the beginning of my run, it offered little valuable insight. Whenever I fell short of, remained inside, or surpassed my pace goal, it chimed in. Every. Single. Time. Not just a ‘great job, you’re ahead of the curve’ comment, but a full-fledged yap session on how my pace and heart rate in this moment compared to my previous runs. It was so irritating that I had to mute the voice after less than ten minutes. Even still, the workout buddy buzzed with pace-related notifications every 15 to 20 seconds. 

Instead of pushing me to remain in my desired pace zone, its utterances made me want to chuck it into a nearby bush. It would have been great to hear some genuine encouragement, or at the very least a cool-down between comments. It felt clunky and half-baked, and the interruptions to my carefully crafted running soundtrack didn’t feel worth it.

If you feel like your battery isn’t lasting the day, and you need that extra boost, or you’re upgrading from an older model, it could be worth considering the Apple Watch Series 11. The cumulative improvements from the Series 8 will feel much greater than if you're switching from a more recent model. Even though the number of updates this year can be counted on one hand, it’s still a dependable workhorse with a battery life bump that makes a compelling case.

Even though the increased battery life is the star of the show, the addition of a more scratch-resistant display and interesting band colours might just be enough to tip you over the edge. 

The Apple Watch Series 11 doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It's everything you know and love about the Series 10, just with some iterative updates. Like a fairytale you know and love with an alternate ending, that might just prompt you into making the switch.