Apple Watch Series 11 review: Smarter, better, smoother

Rating: 4/5

Apple Watch Series 11 is a thoughtful evolution of Apple’s flagship wearable, refining nearly every aspect of the experience without tinkering with what it stands for. With a sharper, brighter display, faster performance powered by the S10 chip, and meaningful upgrades to health tracking including Sleep Score and Hypertension Notifications, it’s designed to be more helpful, more personal, and more enduring than ever.

Priced at Rs 46,900, the Apple Watch Series 11 positions itself as your ultimate health and fitness companion. If you're considering making it your next wearable, here's our complete review to help you decide.

Design and display

Apple Watch Series 11 comes with a thin and elegant design while maintaining its signature look that fans love. The all new Apple Watch Series 11 has retained the sleek and minimalist design but it comes with some refinements which elevate the look, feel and durability of the smartwatch.

Apple has retained the same case size in Watch Series 11 as its predecessor. Same as Watch Series 10, the Watch Series 11 comes in two case sizes — 42mm and 46mm.

The smartwatch comes with enhanced material finishes including aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium. Customers purchasing the Aluminum case can choose from Space Grey, Silver, Rose Gold and Jet Black colour options. On the other hand, those considering buying the Titanium case can select from Slate, Gold, Natural colour options.

We got the Jet Black unit for review and it is definitely a stunner. The classy Apple Watch Series 11 uses the same old combination of Digital Crown and a rectangular button placed on the right side. The left side of the smartwatch houses the speaker grille which helps during calls. You will find the toughened glass with curved edges on the front and the crystal-covered heart rate sensor is located at the back. The back is perfectly matched in material, finish, and colour to the rest of the case, making it appear like the device is made from a single piece of metal.

Apple Watch Series 11 comes with Apple’s proprietary slide-and-click strap mechanism which ensures its compatibility with the existing bands from previous models. This means that users upgrading from Apple Watch Series 7, 8 or 10 can reuse their favourite straps. Apple has also introduced new strap options with new materials and finishes. The new straps include eco-friendly woven bands made from recycled yarn, premium leather straps with magnetic closures and sport loop and solo loop options.

The Apple Watch Series 11 features a crisp and sharp OLED Retina display which offers up to 2,000 nits of brightness. The display on the aluminium models of Apple Watch Series 11 offers 2x more scratch resistance. Made from a unique Ion-X (ion-exchanged strengthened) glass — a custom, proprietary glass that is already the toughest in the industry. On the other hand, the titanium models continue to have a sapphire front crystal, the most scratch-resistant and crack-resistant material covering a display.

The screen is brighter when viewed from any angle, making it easier to read with a quick glance. The screen on the Apple Watch Series 11 offers 416x496 pixel resolution and 374x446 pixel resolution for the 46mm and 42mm, respectively. The high brightness levels of the display make it easier to use under direct sunlight. Apple Watch Series 11 features the biggest and most advanced display of any Apple Watch. The smartwatch also comes with improved touch sensitivity mainly around the edges of the display making swipes, taps, and gestures more accurate and fluid.

The display on the Apple Watch series 11 also supports a wide colour gamut delivering richer hues and deeper blacks that make watch faces and animations pop. The more power-efficient wide-angle OLED display delivers sharper text and smoother animations, thanks to a refined refresh rate.

With the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple also introduced new watch faces. The watch face Flow uses Liquid Glass numerals that beautifully refract swirls of colour that also respond to the movement of a user’s wrist, and Exactograph, a modern reinterpretation of a traditional regulator clock that separates the hours, minutes, and seconds for precise timekeeping.

In addition, over 20 watch faces are updated so users can see a ticking seconds hand without raising their wrist.Apple Series 11 strikes a perfect balance between elegance and functionality.

Performance, health/fitness features

As expected, the Apple Watch Series 11 delivered a noticeable leap in performance, thanks to its S10 SiP and the redefined software optimisations introduced in WatchOS 26. Powered by the same chipset as its predecessor, the Apple Watch Series 11 delivers performance and improved battery efficiency.

During our testing, the Apple Watch Series 11 delivered a smooth performance. Apps launch quickly, and navigating between tasks feels smooth and responsive.

The watch handles daily activities like notifications, calls, and apps with ease. Apple Watch Series 11 is the ultimate health and fitness companion. The smartwatch runs watchOS 26 and empowers users with new insights into sleep quality with sleep score, adding to the robust suite of health features included in the device.

Sleep Score is one of the most notable additions made to Series 11. The feature offers a comprehensive analysis of your sleep quality, factoring duration, consistency, heart rate and movement.

Sleep quality is influenced by several factors, such as duration, bedtime consistency, how often a person wakes up, and how much time is spent in each sleep stage. With sleep score, Apple Watch helps track each of these categories to assign transparent and easy-to-understand metrics for a user’s overall sleep quality.

After each night, sleep score provides an overall score and classification in the Sleep app on Apple Watch, plus a clear breakdown of the most critical components, so users know what to prioritise to improve their sleep.

Users can also choose to easily access their sleep score in a watch face complication or in the Smart Stack, and they can track their sleep scores over time in the Health app on iPhone.Along with Sleep Score, another important upgrade is Hypertension notifications.

The feature uses historical heart rate and activity data which alert users to potential signs of elevated blood pressure. While it is not a diagnostic tool, it is designed to alert the users that they may need medical advice. With watchOS 26, Apple Watch Series 11 features Workout Buddy, a first-of-its-kind fitness experience powered by Apple Intelligence that analyses a user’s workout data and fitness history to deliver personalised, spoken motivation throughout their session, based on data like heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings, personal fitness milestones, and more.

Additionally, the new layout of the Workout app makes it easier to customise workouts with Workout Views, custom workouts, Pacer, Race Route, and more.

Apple Watch users can now conveniently view and create workouts in the Fitness app on iPhone, including custom workouts.

We were also left impressed with the gesture controls included in the Apple Watch Series 11. You can now double-tap on the screen and answer calls, dictate a message and also control your music.

Also, you can use the one-handed wrist flick gesture to easily dismiss notifications, stop a timer, or silence an alarm. We also enabled cellular connectivity on the watch and the call experience was loud and clear. Apple has made some meaningful improvements in the area of battery life. While the previous models offered solid performance for a day’s use, the Series 11 pushes well beyond that and Apple claims that the Watch Series 11 can deliver up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge.

During our testing we found the claim to be true as the smartwatch easily lasted for 24 hours on a single charge. Also, with power-hungry features like GPS tracking and continuous heart rate monitoring during workouts, some users might expect slightly shorter battery backup.

Apple Watch Series 11 also supports fast charging, with just 15 minutes providing up to eight hours of battery life.

Verdict

At Rs 46,900, the Apple Watch Series 11 will surely leave you impressed with its looks and performance. While the Watch Series 11 may not look dramatically different, it is definitely a more refined and capable version of what was already the best smartwatch on the market. With enhanced battery life, smarter health tools, and watchOS 26’s customisation, it’s a compelling upgrade especially for users coming from Series 8 or earlier.

If you’re seeking a reliable, stylish, and health-focused wearable, the Series 11 is Apple’s most complete offering yet.