Every time I start one of these comparisons it seems entirely innocent and doable, and then I find myself some 50+ differences later, triple-checking every stat and nuanced feature. Yet here again, I find myself comparing Apple’s top two models, the Apple Watch Ultra 3, and the Apple Watch Series 11.
I’m almost finished with my full in-depth reviews there, but I still want a couple more activities to validate a few things. However, in the meantime, I’ve gathered roughly 50+ features and how they compare. Some of these are big-ticket (or obvious) ones, like battery capacity differences and extra buttons. While others are more subtle, such as the differences in the speakers and microphones. Or how the display panels differ.
In total, the above video walks you through each of those things, including bits like comparing speakers side-by-side, as well as showing real-world footage of the display differences and whether or not the “larger” display on the Ultra 3 is all that meaningful compared to the Series 11 display. Here’s the complete index of said video (clickable to the exact sections):
0:00 Models, Pricing, Bands
1:42 External Case Aspects
2:58 Buttons, Button Guards
4:34 Display Differences
5:44 Screen Brightness & Viewability
7:46 Action Button
8:04 Data Field/Display Differences
8:50 GPS Differences & Accuracy
9:28 Satellite Texting & SOS
10:57 Battery Life Differences
12:03 Emergency Siren
12:17 Depth Gauge Differences (Scuba/Snorkeling)
13:28 Microphone Differences
13:41 Speaker Differences
14:00 Watch Face Differences
14:29 Everything that’s the same
16:04 Which watch do I prefer?
Of course, I know many of you prefer a text-based list. And given I had to write up the list first to shoot the video, I actually wrote this post, and then built the video atop it. In the video I do give a bit more nuance on some things (and many more shots), but most of the stuff is pretty self-explanatory.
The Pricing:
Obviously, the price itself is a huge piece of the story, but also frankly, the most simplistic piece of the story, as the Ultra 3 is basically double the price of the Series 11.
Apple Watch Series 11 Aluminum (42mm): $399USD
Apple Watch Series 11 Aluminum (46mm): $429USD
Apple Watch Ultra 3 (Titanium): $799USD (5G feature included)
Note that for the Apple Watch Series 11 Titanium edition, it’s only available with cellular. And for the Ultra 3, that comes with cellular as the only option.
Speaking of which, if you want the cellular editions, they are:
Apple Watch Series 11 Aluminum (42mm 5G/cellular): $499
Apple Watch Series 11 Aluminum (46mm 5G/cellular): $529
Apple Watch Series 11 Titanium (42mm cellular): $699
Apple Watch Series 11 Titanium (46mm cellular): $749
Note that in the case of the Apple Watch Ultra 3, we see a number of newly refreshed bands this year. Throughout the review you’ll see the new reflective-edge band I’m wearing, giving a bit more visibility at night. And then of course, on the Series 11, there’s an absolute boatload of bands as well. In the case of both, you can choose from tons of bands at the stock price (even fabric ones), and then plenty more at higher prices.
So, with the boring bits out of the way, let’s get into the good stuff.
The Hardware Differences:
This section is all about things that can’t change via software updates, so purely hardware differences. In general, these are the biggest differences, since Apple tends to make the two watches’ software near-identical, as hardware allows (e.g., there’s no reconfigured antenna for satellite connectivity on the Series 11, thus it can’t get the Ultra 3’s satellite messaging features).
In any case, here we go:
– Ultra 3 has a 49mm case size, Series 11 comes in either a 42mm or 46mm case size
– Ultra 3 stock case is titanium, whereas Series 11 base case is aluminum
– Ultra 3 has dedicated ‘Action’ button for dedicated quick actions
– Ultra 3 has ‘Precision Start’ for workout modes, versus 3-second countdown in Series 11
– Ultra 3 has satellite messaging capability (emergency SOS, text messages, FindMy location sharing)
– Ultra 3 has cellular built-in on all models, whereas Series 11 only in certain models
– Ultra 3 gets ~2.5 days battery life in the real world, Series 11 gets ~1-1.5 days (or 38hrs vs 72hrs in low power mode)
– Ultra 3 has GPS battery life of 14+ hours, Series 11 is 8 hours
– Ultra 3 has depth gauge to 40m/131ft, Series 11 to only 6m/20ft
– Ultra 3 has depth gauge certified for scuba diving (and meets EN13319 standard), Series 11 does not
– Ultra 3 has water resistance to 100m, versus 50m for Series 11
– Ultra 3 has 86dB emergency siren, Series 11 does not
– Ultra 3 has multiband/dual-frequency GPS/GNSS, Series 11 has regular GPS/GNSS
– Ultra 3 has a secondary antenna that it can use for low-signal cases, whereas the Series 11 does not
– Ultra 3 has three microphones, versus Series 11 has one microphone
– Ultra 3 has dual speakers, Series 11 has a single speaker (but there’s no audible difference in my tests)
– Ultra 3 has sapphire crystal display, and Series 11 base has Ion-X glass with ceramic coating, though Series 11 Titanium has sapphire crystal
– Ultra 3 display max brightness is 3,000 nits, Series 11 max brightness is 2,000 nits
– Ultra 3 has a fully flat screen display top, whereas Series 11 has glass curves on edges
– Ultra 3 case weight is 61.6g/61.8g (natural/black), versus 37.9-43.1g (46mm), and 29.7-34.6g (42mm)
– Ultra 3 case thickness is 12mm*, versus 9.7mm for Series 11
– Ultra 3 case has button guard around Digital Crown & Button, Series 11 does not
– Ultra 3 has been validated to MIL-STD 810H standards, Series 11 has not
– Ultra 3 has a ceramic & sapphire crystal back case, Series 11 has a metal and sapphire crystal back case
– Ultra 3 Black has protective DLC coating on the titanium, whereas neither Ultra 3 (natural/grey) nor Series 11 have DLC
– Ultra 3 fast charges to 80% in 45 minutes, but Series 11 does 80% in 30 minutes
Most of these are self-explanatory, but a few might need some additional explanation/expansion:
– Two-way Satellite Messaging: This was introduced in the Ultra 3, and includes basically three core features. The first is emergency SOS via satellite (if outside of cellular range), the second is text messaging via satellite, and lastly, the ability to update your FindMy location via satellite. This does have some coverage limitations; currently, about 17 countries are supported (the US, Canada, and most of Europe), so keep that in mind.
– 1 Mic vs 3 Mics: The Series 11 has a single mic and then uses the S10 SIP chipset to do audio voice isolation when calling from the watch, despite having only a single microphone. Whereas the Ultra 3 has three mics, so it can do the majority of that in hardware, but will still take advantage of the just-added S10 SIP as well to improve that even further than the Ultra 2 did.
– 1 Speaker vs 2 Speakers: Both watches can play music back these days (without headphones), as well as of course a wide variety of other tones/notifications/sounds. Now, despite the Series 11 only having a single speaker, it seemed just as loud for music in my side-by-side tests as the Ultra 3. There was no apparent difference in quality in my test either.
– Multiband/Dual-Frequency GPS vs Regular GPS: There’s nobody who will dive into GPS accuracy testing as deeply (or stupidly) as I do. Yet thus far, I’m not seeing any meaningful difference between the two models in real-world tests. Undoubtedly, there may/will be some situations that multiband handles better, but even in some tall building tests and cliff tests, I haven’t had any issues with the Series 11 accuracy. As we’ve seen over the last few years, antenna design and firmware/algorithms can, and will, often beat less sophisticated multiband setups. Both Apple and Garmin have proven this time and time again.
– Case Thickness: I just want to put this somewhere, but the Ultra 3 did not decrease in case size this year compared to the Ultra 2. Both are identical cases. However, Apple changed how they measure the Ultra 3 case to exclude the sensor bump. Previously, the Ultra 1 & Ultra 2 included it. Whereas all the other Apple Watches excluded it, so this aligns with that. But that very much confused the internet. To repeat: The Ultra 3 case is identical to the Ultra 2 case.
– Display Differences: Both displays now have the same LTPO3 OLED display introduced first on the Series 10, and now on both Ultra 3 & Series 11. This improves so-called off-angle viewing. However, the Ultra 3 has a 3,000 nit display, whereas the Series 11 has a 2,000 nit display. Let’s be clear: Both displays are well beyond overkill for even the sunniest of days (I live on an island in the Mediterranean), you won’t have any issues seeing either. The only notable difference related to the display is that the Ultra has a flat-display cover (lens), whereas the Series 11 has a domed display cover. But I don’t see any difference in real-world visibility either way there.
Next, the Ultra 3 got a very tiny 5% display size increase this year (same case size), ensuring that it remains the largest Apple Watch display (last year, the Series 10 actually overtook the Ultra 2 display size, just barely). Whereas this year, we can see we have a mere 45sq mm bigger display on the Ultra 3 than the Series 11. You won’t notice it (your eyes will notice the larger case size, which tricks them into thinking the display size is meaningfully different – it’s only 2% bigger.
The official dimensions for the units are:
Series 11 (42mm): 374 by 446 pixels (989 sq mm display area)
Series 11 (46mm): 416 by 496 pixels (1220 sq mm display area)
Ultra 3 (49mm): 422 by 514 pixels (1245 sq mm display area)
When it comes to battery life, the TLDR is the Ultra 3 will get you 2-ish days, whereas the Series 11 will get you 1 strong day. At least in normal smartwatch mode. It’s as simple as that. Both received slight battery increases this year, with the Series 11 now getting ‘true’ all-day battery life (24 hours versus the standard 18-hour claim). And the Ultra 3 got a bump in battery too, especially in GPS modes.
As for the GPS battery life, here are the specs per Apple:
Apple Watch Series 11: 8 hours outdoors GPS (they don’t publish low power claims/specs)
Apple Watch Ultra 3: 14 hours outdoors GPS, 20 hours low power GPS, 35 hours outdoor GPS lower power + fewer readings
In my testing, these specs do indeed hold up. In fact, I’ve consistently gotten better results in my testing than Apple’s specs. Not by much, but slightly. I’ll cover all the final battery testing in my full in-depth reviews of each over the coming days.
The Software Differences:
There are very few differences here, but there are a couple:
– Ultra 3 has Modular & Waypoints watch face, Series 11 does not
– Ultra 3 watch face has night mode (goes to a red coloring), Series 11 does not
– Ultra 3 allows up to 7 data fields per sport mode setting, whereas Series 11 allows 6. Note this includes the time in the upper right corner
– Ultra 3 has Precision Start (using the Action button), though I’d argue that’s a software feature and not really a hardware feature, hence why I’m including it in both places
Again, this excludes software features dependent on hardware features from the previous section. For example, scuba diving modes require the better depth gauge of the Ultra 3, and satellite messaging requires the redesigned antenna of the Ultra 3, and so on…
Beyond that, it’s all identical across the board.
Things That Are The Same:
One could basically surmise that everything else is the same, and that’s essentially true. Nonetheless, I want to call many of these out, just to illustrate that they are indeed, the same:
– Both run WatchOS 26
– Both have features like DoubleTap
– Both have offline Siri introduced with the S9 chipset (and now on S10 chipset too)
– Both have the same optical HR sensor
– Both have Blood Oxygen capability
– Both have ECG, Sleep Apnea features, wrist temperature, and all other health metrics
– Both have the new Sleep Score, and Hypertension Detection features
– Both have all the same sport modes (as listed in the Workout app)
– Both models have full access to Workout Buddy, and all the other sports features
– Both can do snorkeling via the Depth gauge (and Oceanic+ app), but only Ultra 3 does full diving
– Both have the Compass app, Backtrack, Offline Maps, etc (these are all WatchOS features)
– Both can play back music on their speakers
– Both have a minimum display brightness of 1 nit
– Both have an LTPO wide-angle viewing display, just different top-glass & sizes
– Both have 64GB of internal storage
– Both have a 4-core Neural engine (S10)
– Both have the S10 SIP (chipset)
– Both have a water temperature sensor
– Both units come with a wide variety of stock/base bands, even fabric ones as default options
– Both units have an LTPO3 OLED wide-angle viewing display
See, there ya go, it’s not too messy!
Now, some of you will ask my preference, and I think my Apple Move Ring streak sorta speaks for itself: I’ve worn the Ultra 2 for the previous 365 days, and then over the last week, switched to the Ultra 3 (the black titanium model specifically).
In my case, previously, it’s mostly because I preferred the longer battery life, so it meant that I could go essentially two days without charging, versus really only one on the regular Apple Watch editions. But now with the satellite pieces, that’s even more valuable to me, especially since I often run on trails and in the mountains out of cellular connectivity. A mere 10-12 minutes running from my house on trails, and I’m out of cell range. So having one more backup in case something goes wrong on a casual 40-minute run is definitely important to me.
With that, thanks for reading!
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