Apple has introduced its latest smartwatch lineup featuring Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and a refreshed Apple Watch SE, expanding its wearable offerings with new performance and health features.
The watches, introduced on Tuesday, run on the new S10 chip and ship with watchOS 26, which brings a redesigned interface called Liquid Glass, new watch faces and gesture controls such as double tap and wrist flick. A new feature called Workout Buddy uses Apple Intelligence to suggest exercises and track performance. Apple says watchOS 26 will be available for supported models from September 15.
Apple Watch Series 11
Apple’s Series 11 introduces hypertension notifications, which can alert users if signs of chronic high blood pressure are detected, and a sleep score feature designed to help users understand the quality of their sleep.
Apple reveals that the feature is expected to notify over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension within the first year, and recommends users who receive a notification log their blood pressure for seven days with a third-party cuff and share results with a provider.
Apple explains that hypertension notifications use data from the optical heart sensor and an algorithm that runs passively in the background, reviewing data over 30-day periods, and notifying users if it detects consistent signs of hypertension. This feature was developed with advanced machine learning using training data from multiple studies totaling over 100,000 participants, and its performance was validated in a clinical study of over 2,000 participants. Apple reveals that the feature is expected to notify over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension within the first year, and recommends users who receive a notification log their blood pressure for seven days with a third-party cuff and share results with a provider.
On sleep, Apple says the new sleep score draws on sleep duration, bedtime consistency, how often a person wakes up, and time in each sleep stage to provide an overall score and a breakdown of the most critical components. This scoring approach and prioritisation algorithm are informed by guidance from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation, and the World Sleep Society, and that more than five million nights of sleep data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study were used to develop and test the algorithms.
Pre-orders for all three models opened Tuesday with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 19. Apple lists Series 11 at $399 (about ₦600,734.4), Ultra 3 at $799 (about ₦1,202,974.4) and SE 3 at $249 (about ₦374,894.4). These prices are before shipping, import fees or retailer markups.
Apple also describes hardware changes that it says make Series 11 more durable and convenient to wear. Apple says aluminum models use Ion-X glass with a new ceramic coating that bonds to the glass at an atomic level, making the cover glass twice as scratch resistant as before, while titanium models continue to use a sapphire front crystal. Series 11 supports fast charging, with 15 minutes of charging providing up to eight hours of battery life, and the device offers up to 24 hours of battery life on a full charge. The watch also offers 5G cellular capabilities and a redesigned cellular antenna to cover more bands and engage two system antennas as needed to boost reception.
“Apple Watch is the world’s most popular watch, using advanced sensing capabilities to empower millions of people around the world to better understand their health simply by wearing it, while also serving as a fitness coach, message center, mobile wallet, and beautiful timepiece,” Stan Ng, Apple’s vice president of Apple Watch and Health Product Marketing, says.
Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple describes Ultra 3 as its most advanced sports and adventure watch, designed to combine a sports watch, an elegant smartwatch and a health companion. Apple says the Ultra 3 features the largest display ever in an Apple Watch, an LTPO3 display with wide-angle OLEDs, and supports a 1Hz always-on refresh rate so users can see a ticking seconds hand without raising their wrist. LTPO3 enables borders to be 24 percent thinner, increasing active screen area, and the wide-angle OLEDs optimize pixels to emit more light at wide angles to improve readability.
For connectivity off the grid, Apple’s Ultra 3 features built-in two-way satellite communications that allow users to text emergency services, message friends and family, and share their location when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. Emergency SOS via satellite can text emergency services and notify emergency contacts with a few taps, and Find My via satellite lets users send their location once every 15 minutes to contacts added to Find My.
Ultra 3 offers up to 42 hours of battery life for daily use and up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode, according to its maker. For continuous outdoor workout tracking, Apple says Ultra 3 gets 20 hours of battery life in Low Power Mode with full GPS and heart rate readings. Apple adds that fast charging gives up to 12 hours of battery life from a 15-minute charge.
For connectivity off the grid, Apple’s Ultra 3 features built-in two-way satellite communications that allow users to text emergency services, message friends and family, and share their location when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. Emergency SOS via satellite can text emergency services and notify emergency contacts with a few taps, and Find My via satellite lets users send their location once every 15 minutes to contacts added to Find My. Apple says Messages via satellite supports texts, emoji and Tapbacks with end-to-end encryption and that users can also send SMS via satellite. These satellite communication features are free for two years with Apple Watch Ultra 3 and that Emergency SOS via satellite is included without a cellular plan. Apple explains it reengineered the radio and redesigned the antenna to double signal strength and to communicate with satellites as far as 800 miles above Earth.
Apple’s Ultra 3 expands health and fitness insights with hypertension notifications and sleep score among other tools. On fitness, the tech company says the watch includes advanced features for runners, cyclists, swimmers, hikers, divers and golfers. Apple describes dual-frequency GPS, an Action button for Precision Start or marking segments, advanced running metrics such as vertical oscillation and ground contact time, automatic track-running detection, cycling metrics and compatibility with power meters, swimming features including automatic stroke detection, lap count and SWOLF, offline maps with turn-by-turn directions for hikers, and Oceanic+ dive computer support for recreational scuba diving.
Apple Watch SE 3
Apple’s new Watch SE 3 delivers a more advanced set of health features than the previous generation and brings the S10 chip to the SE line. Apple says SE 3 adds sleep score, retrospective ovulation estimates, sleep apnea notifications, and wrist temperature sensing to provide richer Vitals app data. The S10 chip enables an Always-On display, the double tap gesture and wrist flick gesture, on-device Siri, and faster charging. According to Apple, the SE 3 charges up to two times faster than the previous generation and offers up to 18 hours of battery life.
The SE 3 includes safety features such as Fall Detection, Crash Detection, Emergency SOS and Check In, and that it supports 5G cellular for faster downloads of music, podcasts and apps. Apple adds that the SE 3 cover glass is four times more resistant to cracks than the previous generation and that the device is an option for the new Apple Watch For Your Kids setup, letting parents reach their child, identify location via Find My and provide safety tools like Emergency SOS.
All three watches will run watchOS 26, which introduces a fresh design called Liquid Glass and adds new watch faces, Smart Stack hints, Live Translation in Messages with Apple Intelligence, and the Workout Buddy feature powered by Apple Intelligence. Apple says Workout Buddy analyzes a user’s workout data and fitness history to deliver personalized spoken motivation during sessions based on heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings and personal milestones, and that it will be available in English across some popular workout types with an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone nearby.
News Apple Watch series availability and pricing
Pre-orders for all three models opened Tuesday with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 19. Apple lists Series 11 at $399 (about ₦600,734.4), Ultra 3 at $799 (about ₦1,202,974.4) and SE 3 at $249 (about ₦374,894.4). These prices are before shipping, import fees or retailer markups.
In Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest smartphone market, a retailer at Computer Village in Ikeja told Technology Times that it often takes two to four weeks after a global launch for Apple products to arrive locally.
That timeline applies not just to iPhones, like the newly launched iPhone 17, but to Apple Watch models as well. This means that early adopters in Nigeria may have to wait several weeks after the September 19 global in-store date before they can purchase SE 3, Series 11 or Ultra 3 locally.
Home
