Which Apple Watch Should You Buy In 2025? My Verdict On The Most Disputed Model

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Apple's rugged smartwatch is connected waste connected Amazon for $100 off, astatine $699.
• The watch gets an further six hours of artillery life for a full of 42 hours of wear.
• Sleeping pinch nan smartwatch is difficult.

What's nan deal? 

Amazon is taking $100 disconnected nan Apple Watch Ultra 3 for nan first time. Apple's rugged and astir costly smartwatch sees its first discount since debuting successful September. 

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If nan caller Apple Watch Series 11, Apple's baseline smartwatch, is nan woman adjacent door, past Apple's Ultra 3 is nan Mt. Kilimanjaro-scaling, rugged neighbor. People mightiness beryllium utilizing nan Series 11 to train for their first marathon, but group are surely utilizing nan Ultra 3 to grounds their 5th Ironman.

Apple unveiled its latest rugged smartwatch astatine its yearly September iPhone event, with The Ultra 3 arriving alongside 2 Apple Watch options - nan affordable SE 3 and nan baseline Series 11. Its biggest upgrades travel successful mini but meaningful packages, for illustration a wide-angle show for quicker viewability, longer artillery life, and emergency features.

Also: The Apple Watch Series 11 is 1 characteristic distant from making maine ditch my Oura Ring

Over nan people of months, I've tested each 3 to understand their capabilities, similarities, differences, and to find which watch would output nan astir benefits. So, really does nan Ultra 3 stack up? Let's dive in. 

After a period of usage and tinkering, nan Ultra 3's astir notable characteristic is its awesome artillery life. Apple includes nan S10 spot successful nan Ultra 3, lengthening its artillery life by six further hours, for a full of 42 hours pinch regular use. I'm not religiously proactive astir charging my smartwatch, but nan 42-hour upgrade kept maine up of artillery drain and made continuous usage simple. 

The Ultra 3's 2nd biggest trading constituent was Emergency SOS, Location sharing, and messaging done Satellite. ZDNET contributor and hiker extraordinaire, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, goes connected off-grid adventures regularly. He's tested nan Apple Watch Ultra 2 connected his hiking adventures, sent his location, and utilized outer communications during his explorations. 

Jason Hiner/ZDNET

The Ultra 2's outer communications didn't execute arsenic good arsenic his Garmin inReach Messenger aliases Spot X outer messenger, though. "It's a faff uncovering satellites" connected nan Ultra 2, he tells me. The Ultra 3's upgrade could alteration that. 

When utilized successful an emergency, Apple has designed a questionnaire that Ultra 3 users tin click done to quickly and efficaciously person help. Users tin telephone 911, past prime options astir their predicament, for illustration whether they're successful a car crash, personification is sick, aliases they're lost. The watch personification tin picture their situation, for illustration if they're stranded aliases trapped connected steep terrain. Apple besides asks to notify emergency contacts done Satellite communications. 

Also: I compared Apple and Samsung's champion smartwatches - here's who wins for now

Once each this is filled in, nan watch will instruct you to move to get a nonstop relationship pinch nan satellites 800 miles above. In my demo, we moved near and correct (because nan satellites are not stagnant and actively orbiting) to get a due position of nan outer and nonstop that report. The study includes a user's location, their aesculapian ID, artillery level, and nan specifications of nan questionnaire. 

Then, a personification is connected pinch an worker astatine a relay halfway for further assistance. The Satellite connectivity characteristic could thief group connected hikes, successful emergencies for illustration car crashes, aliases successful agrarian areas wherever work is scarce.  

Kingsley-Hughes told maine that these features are for illustration information blankets, providing users pinch bid of mind while they're off-grid. Still, nan main waste remains nan artillery life upgrades. While Emergency SOS via Satellite is simply a characteristic that will prevention Apple's hikers and off-grid adventurers, it's 1 that could beryllium useful erstwhile successful a bluish satellite -- erstwhile disaster strikes. But artillery life makes a regular quality successful nan watch's usability and is 1 logic Adrian and I urge nan caller watch. 

Apple Watch Ultra 3 (left) and Series 11 (right).

Nina Raemont/ZDNET

Other nice-to-have features see nan Ultra 3's ginormous screen, which could easy usability arsenic a standalone phone. It now incorporates a wide-angle OLED show and LTPO3, which improves nan display's powerfulness and power efficiency. Typing messages connected it was easy, and I could battalion tons of complications connected nan Ultra 3's display.  

Like nan Series 11, nan Ultra 3 besides comes pinch Apple's precocious FDA-cleared Hypertension Detection. This characteristic doesn't supply by-the-minute humor unit readings. Instead, it uses Apple's PPG sensors to return a 30-day average, which its algorithm determines is either supra aliases beneath nan hypertension threshold. Since I had only a fewer days pinch nan watch, I hadn't yet had nan opportunity to usage nan feature. I'll study backmost successful a period erstwhile I person further acquisition pinch it.

Also: Apple conscionable sewage FDA clearance for Hypertension Detection - does your watch support it?

The precocious announced Sleep Scores besides get connected nan Ultra 3, though this smartwatch, successful particular, was nan hardest for maine to slumber with. Its bulky quality and immense surface made its beingness connected my wrist astir unforgettable passim nan night. This is not nan perfect watch for sleep-tracking, and I'd urge nan lighter Series 11 aliases SE 3 instead. 

It mightiness not beryllium perfect for sleeping, but nan Ultra 3 is my favourite watch from nan lineup for exercising. I get a awesome position of my workout stats connected nan larger screen, and nan Action Button makes initiating a workout quick. It's besides water-resistant to a extent of 100m, IP6X dust-resistant, and tested to withstand utmost temperatures, shock, altitude, and different rugged conditions. 

ZDNET's buying advice

While nan Apple Watch Ultra 3 is surely Apple's astir precocious hardware retired of nan watch lineup, it's nan smartwatch I'd urge slightest to nan mean personification owed to its precocious value point. However, its current $100 discount sweetens nan woody a bit. The Ultra has a devout pursuing and personification guidelines of rugged exercisers, hikers, and off-grid explorers, and nan caller updates will undoubtedly please them. 

Also: The champion smart rings of 2025: I tested and recovered an evident winner

I wouldn't opportunity nan Ultra 3 is simply a worthy upgrade for Ultra 2 users, arsenic it shares similar, if not negligible, specs that, successful my opinion, don't make nan adjacent $800 finance worthy it, unless they are chiefly purchasing it for nan Emergency SOS done Satellite services aliases request six much hours of battery, some of which nan Ultra 2 does not have. 

However, nan Ultra 3 would beryllium perfect for Ultra users aliases first-time buyers of rugged smartwatches who want to return advantage of nan astir precocious features Apple offers. 

I'd urge nan Ultra 3 astir to nan aforementioned demographic and group who intend to usage nan watch for its health-tracking features, arsenic it offers Apple's full array of health-tracking capabilities, including slumber apnea detection, humor oxygen monitoring, hypertension detection, ECG, and more.