Apple is the leading name in the smartwatches market. An Apple Watch puts your phone’s screen on your wrist, giving you notifications and apps without you needing to draw your phone out of your pocket – plus fitness features and cutting-edge health features.
If you go for an LTE version, you can leave your iPhone safely at home and still stay connected. All the watches share the same design, but what are the differences between them?
Processor, price and features – these are just some of the differences between the Apple Watches. We take a look at the Apple Watch range, from the Series 1 through to the newest Series 7.
There's a lot to love about Apple Watches, but they're not perfect either: for example one watch was out by 50% when measuring steps in a routine scenario of walking around the house doing chores.
You can also see how Apple Watches compare to other smartwatches by heading to our list of the best smartwatches.
Or, if you just want the most accurate smartwatch, regardless of brand, check out our guide to the how accurate is your fitness tracker or smartwatch?, which reveals how each smartwatch and fitness tracker we've tested scores for step tracking, distance tracking and heart-rate accuracy.
Logged-in Which? members can view the full Apple Watch results in the table below. If you’re not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.
Which Apple watch is best?
This good looking watch has plenty of smart and fitness-tracking features. It generally tracks activities well, although it's not the most accurate watch for logging steps around the home, if that's something you're interested in.
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The Apple Watch Series 7 is available in two screen sizes, 41mm and 45mm, and the screen is larger than previous iterations too. It's excellent at tracking steps, distance and heart rate, and we found it very easy to use, but as with other Apple models it's massively let down by lacklustre battery life.
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This watch looks beautiful. It's packed with features, including heart rate monitoring, and tracks metrics like heart rate and distance accurately. However, it was as much as 30% out when tracking steps during household tasks, and its battery life is still annoyingly short.
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It’s available in two screen sizes, 38mm and 42mm, so you can pick the one to fit the size of your wrist. It’s available with an aluminium bezel and range of colours. In terms of smart features and notifications, there isn't much this watch can't do, and there’s a heart-rate tracker and GPS.
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Table updated June 2022
Not found the product for you? Browse all of our smartwatch reviews.
How much will an Apple Watch cost?
Whichever watch you go for, you'll have a number of customisation options. So the price you pay will depend on factors like size of the screen, the material of the band and casing, whether you go for a designer version and whether you want LTE (also known as cellular connectivity).
The current range includes the Apple Watch Series 3 GPS, Series 6 GPS, Series 6 GPS + Cellular, SE, SE + Cellular, Series 7 GPS and Series 7 GPS + Cellular.
Apple Watches range in price from £199 for a Series 3 with an aluminium case and a sports band, right up to more than £1,000 for a designer Hermès version of the Series 7.
The Apple Watch Series 7 with GPS starts at £369 for the smallest version. The Series 7 with LTE starts at £469 for the smallest version.
The original Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Sport, Series 1, Series 2, Series 4, Series 5 and Series 6 aren’t available to buy from Apple any more.
The Series 5 was discontinued when the Series 6 was launched, and the Series 6 was discontinued when the Series 7 was launched this year. But a couple of retailers are still selling the Series 6 while stocks last, and you can pick up second-hand versions of several of the older models from Apple's Refurbished store. Apple is still selling the Series 3.
Choosing the best Apple Watch
All of the models in the Apple Watch range are compatible with iOS devices, such as your iPhone and iPad, and offer similar features. Find out what sets them apart in our tough tests, or read on to see the different benefits each version of the Apple Watch has to offer.
watchOS
All Apple Watches run watchOS, Apple's operating system. This is designed to work exclusively with iOS devices and so can’t be used with Android or Windows. Check out our smartwatches reviews for devices that are compatible with other operating systems.
watchOS is a touch-based interface that offers the gamut of smart features beyond reading and responding to messaged and emails, making and receiving phone calls, and dealing with social media notifications. You can also use the watch to craft social media posts, such as tweets, from scratch, and make contactless payments via Apple Pay. You can use the voice-command feature courtesy of Siri. You can take screenshots, unlock your Mac from your watch if you can't be bothered to type in the password yourself, and you can send your live location direct from your wrist.
You can share your activity rings with friends if you want to show them your progress, and you can comment on friends' activity rings.
For a bit of fun, you can hear the time spoken aloud by Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse.
In September 2021, Apple released a new version of its operating system – watchOS 8. This comes pre-installed on the Apple Watch 7 and is available for the Series 6, SE, 5, 4 and 3.
Interesting new features of watchOS 8 include:
- New workouts – fitness tracking for tai chi and pilates, auto-pause and resume features during cycling workouts, more accurate measurements while riding an e-bike and voice feedback that automatically announced workout milestones while you exercise.
- Mindfulness updates – the Breathe app is now the Mindfulness app, which includes guided meditations (for Fitness+ subscribers only) that can be playing directly from the Apple Watch when paired with AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones.
- Sleeping respiratory rate – sleep tracking has been updated so users can now track their respiratory rate (the number of breaths per minute) while they sleep.
- More watch faces – the new Portraits watch face allows you to feature portrait photos you've shot on your iPhone on your watch, with multilayered effects to highlight the subject.
- Message tools – users can now combine the use of Scribble, dictation and emoji within the same message, edit dictated messages and select from trending GIFs to send to friends and family.
- Focus time – a new way to help reduce distractions by filtering notifications from certain people or apps based on what a user is currently doing, eg starting a workout or going to sleep.
Design
All Apple Watches look similar, with a round-cornered rectangular face, touchscreen display and circular button on the side for scrolling through menus and notifications. As of the Series 4, the digital crown gives haptic feedback (small vibrations) for what Apple calls a more 'precise, mechanical feel'.
In 2021, Apple released the Series 7. You can choose between aluminium, titanium and stainless steel case, and there's a wide range of straps to choose from too. Apple has come a long way from the Series 1, which could only be bought with a rubber strap. For the Series 7 you can buy silicone straps, nylon straps, leather straps and designer straps. If you already own a band from a previous Apple Watch, you'll be able to use it for the Series 7.
Processor
All Apple Watches use an on-board processor, which was updated for the Series 7 and is designed to be faster than the Series 6.
The original Apple Watch has an S1 chip, Series 1 models have an updated S1P dual-core processor and Series 3 has an S3 processor, which is more powerful and includes on-chip GPS functionality. The Series 4 has a new dual core 64-bit processor for (Apple claims) double the performance. This was updated for the Series 6 and again for the Series 7.
Built-in GPS
Built-in GPS lets you track your routes without relying on your smartphone, so you can leave your mobile at home when heading out for a run. It’s available on the Series 3, Series 4, Series 5 and Series 7 models.
Water-resistance
The now discontinued Series 2 was the first range of smartwatches from Apple to be made water-resistant, with a rating of 5ATM (so water resistant to up to 50 metres in depth for 10 minutes). All subsequent Apple watches have followed suit. This means they're fine to wear while showering or swimming, even in open water, but won’t be suitable for watersports or diving.
Check your strap is swimproof if you plan to take your Apple watch swimming, though.
It’s currently impossible to seal a speaker, because it needs air to produce sound, but Apple has got round this by creating a speaker that lets water in and then uses sound vibrations to eject it back out.
What's new with the Apple Watch Series 7?
The Series 4 was a much bigger step forwards in many ways than the Series 6, SE or Series 7. That's presumably why Apple is continuing to sell the Series 3, but has discontinued those in between the 3 and SE: it knows most people will want something more recent.
Exciting features which you'll find on the Series 5, 6 and 7 include three FDA-approved heart monitors. These watches can:
- notify you if your heart rate is too high or low (the Series 3 notified you if it was too high but not low)
- detect atrial fibrillation – irregular heart rhythms. Apple is being careful not to say that it definitely will detect this, mind you – but it could do
- take ECG (electrocardiogram) readings which you can share with your doctor.
They can also detect if you've fallen over and call 999 on your behalf if you've been immobile for a minute. The cellular versions will do this even if you're not near your phone.
Other differences between the latest watch and the Series 3 include:
- an always-on display for the Series 7. The Series 3 will need waking up by raising your wrist or tapping the display
- larger, edge-to-edge display for the Series 7 compared with the Series 6
- cellular versions are available for the Series 7, but not the Series 3 anymore
- a built-in compass.
One thing that hasn't improved much over the years is battery life, which is still limited to one day for. Granted, the Apple Watch is a hard-working little device that's going to eat a lot of battery, but it's still a pain to keep having to charge it so often – and it could scupper your plans to use the Series 7 for sleep-tracking.
Read our full review of the Apple Watch Series 7 to find out what we thought of it overall.
Prefer to buy a Samsung? Discover which are the best Samsung smartwatches.
