The best smartwatches available in 2024

Apple’s second generation Ultra watch was something of a surprise, replacing the company’s first rugged watch less than 12 months after its own debut. It’s an expensive option, but that money does buy you a super-rugged watch that’s just as home scuba diving as it is mountain trekking, with the longest battery life of any Apple Watch. The larger display lets you set more onscreen widgets – Apple calls them “Complications” if you care – and the side-mounted action button makes it very easy to quickly launch into whatever style of exercise you prefer most.

The larger style won’t suit everyone, and neither will the high asking price, but if your wallet can bear the strain, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is Apple’s best smartwatch; we’re only not picking it as the best for iOS users thanks to the fact that you can score the Series 9 for half the asking price.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch line has seen a lot variance over the years – one of the earliest models even had a slightly creepy inbuilt camera! – but where the South Korean manufacturer got it right first time was with its iconic spinning physical dial control. You can get a facsimile of it with the cheaper Galaxy Watch6, but there’s just something so satisfying about an actual dial that you spin to adjust volume, move between screens and more.

The Galaxy Watch6 is also nicely set up for battery life, especially given its asking price, and it looks the part of a properly “sports” watch to boot. The flip side there is that the larger style might not suit every wrist, and having such a large chunk of metal and glass on your wrist isn’t the easiest weight to bear if you also want to use it for sleep tracking.

Google sure took its time to release its first Pixel Watch, but the sequel came through relatively quickly afterwards, dealing with many of the issues we had with its debut wearable. The Pixel Watch 2 is faster than its predecessor while retaining its elegant design style; so many smartwatches seem to simply want to serve the sports market rather than those who want a wearable that’s as home in the ballroom as it is on the running track.

Battery life on the Pixel Watch 2 is also quite decent, with up to 24 hours of battery endurance with its always-on display enabled, nicely up from the original Pixel Watch. Fitbit is integrated – not a shock, given Google owns Fitbit outright – though like the Fitbit Charge 6, if you want the full suite of Fitbit features you’ll have to pay for a subscription to get them.