Apple Watch Series 10 Review ⌚️

The Apple Watch Series 10 is a curious product from Apple. Touted as a major redesign, it represents the tenth anniversary of Apple’s smartwatch. For reasons I’ll get into, it’s been a difficult product to review. The main reason being that I always try to review products on their own merits without over-reliance on comparisons to the previous year’s model. That wasn’t so straightforward with the Series 10. This review is broken down into design, hardware and software. And with that, let’s dive in 👇

Design ✨

Apple has fully reengineered the Apple Watch this year. The Series 10 is the thinnest Apple Watch ever with a case that’s 10% thinner than its predecessor. It’s also lighter and you can really appreciate that on your wrist. In my case I reviewed the new Titanium model which feels notably lighter than the Stainless Steel that it replaces. The Series 10 is also available in anodised Aluminium which is lighter still. While thinner, this year Apple has increased the sizes of the case to 42mm and 46mm making them a little wider and taller. I’ve been using the 46mm.

The Titanium models are polished to a mirror-like finish and have a physical vapor deposition coating (PVD). PVD creates a highly durable surface that protects the metal from bumps and scratches. It’s very resistant to scratches and dings, but it’s not impervious. My unit, however, held up well, and I didn’t experience any scratches. As an owner of silver stainless steel models in previous years, I appreciated the option to polish them and buff out scratches. That isn’t possible with these PVD-coated models. They should hold up much better than steel with long-term use. But once they scratch, and they will, it won’t be possible to polish them.

This year, Apple took the opportunity to add larger displays. Hence the increased case sizes. The displays retain their rounded edges, with the glass tapering to meet the rounded corners of the case. Curiously, the black bezels around the display have increased in size, not decreased. The displays do have a larger active area. But to my eyes at least, the displays’ bezels look much larger than the Series 9. We’re talking semantics here because the metal borders around the display have shrunk relative to the Series 9. But if I’m honest, I don’t like this change, and it feels like a downgrade. I would have liked Apple to retain the thin black display bezel from the Series 9 while also shrinking the metal borders. Instead, the Series 10 trades a metal bezel for more of a glass bezel.

In terms of the visual appearance of the watch, finishes and thinness aside, the Series 10 looks remarkably similar to all previous models of Apple Watch. It’s very much an evolution of the design and not anywhere close to a revolution. I have to admit I was disappointed that Apple didn’t go further. I welcome the thinner case, the slight rounding of the corners, and the lighter design. But I felt underwhelmed. Not that the design isn’t beautiful, iconic even. But after ten generations, I rightly or wrongly anticipated a more meaningful aesthetic design update.

As it relates to functional design, the Apple Watch Series 10 has elevated the experience with a thinner and lighter case. And they’ve added a larger display with more functional screen area. I have no doubt that this was a massive engineering challenge, necessitating the need for a full redesign of internal components to accommodate the new form. But as design changes go, the Series 10 is disappointing. Then again, there is merit in retaining the iconic design which has become synonymous with the Apple Watch. And to be clear, this is a stunning device. It’s beautiful. But if this isn’t your first Apple Watch and you upgraded hoping to see a more substantial design overhaul, this isn’t it, I’m afraid. At least not aesthetically.

Hardware 🛠️

Audio

It’s now possible to play more audio sources through the built in speakers thanks to a redesigned speaker and new placement on Apple Watch Series 10. If you’d like you can even play music or audio from videos. It sounds pretty good, surprisingly so. Not tinny but I wouldn’t say the audio is loud either. It’s useful in a pinch in quiet places, at home or where there aren’t too many people around. But you’ll struggle to discern music in louder environments. I tested it during an outdoor walk and it just wasn’t a good experience. You’ll still need to keep your AirPods handy for workouts outdoors or at the gym. Still, I won’t complain about added functionality and the speakers do sound better than previous models.

The microphone placement has also been improved for better call quality. But that isn’t the full story. Apple has also added machine learning functionality to the processor. It further improves the experience for phone calls and FaceTime audio by eliminating background noise. Cumulatively calls sound much clearer. But it works a bit differently to the Apple Watch Ultra which relies on a hardware solution with three physical microphones for noise cancellation. Nonetheless this is a welcome improvement.

Display

As mentioned earlier in the review, Apple has added larger displays to the Series 10. While I’m not overly sold on the aesthetics of the larger black display borders, the larger active area is welcome and makes for a much nicer experience in day to day use. You can see more of your content, buttons are easier to see and touch targets are larger. It makes the experience of seeing content and navigating the UI easier and more comfortable.

Apple has also improved the underpinning display technology, upgrading it to LTPO3 up from LTPO2 (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon). LTPO 3 includes an oxide layer for improved brightness and lower power consumption. That lower power consumption brings improvements to the always on display mode. The always on display means that when your wrist is lowered, you can still see the time. But now you can also see the seconds hand ticking around at all times instead of just the hours and minutes. This is only available on certain watch faces for now. This is a small change but it’s nice to have.

In another first, the Series 10 uses wide-angle OLED technology. It means that when the watch is tilted at an angle, the display looks brighter, clearer, and colours remain vivid. OLED displays of lesser quality can sometimes colour shift, and brightness can diminish when the displays are tilted. Not so on the Series 10. It’s also worth mentioning that the display is exceptionally bright, reaching 2000 nits in peak outdoor conditions. But it can also get as dim as 1 nit in dark conditions. It means you can easily read the display in any lighting condition. And not feel blinded when glancing at the time in the middle of the night during sleep tracking.

The display on the Series 10 is a meaningful upgrade. It’s larger and adds LTPO3 and wide-angle OLED technology which are both firsts for any Apple product, period. They aren’t earth shattering improvements over the Series 7, 8 or 9. But they’re positive changes and if you’re upgrading from older models or an SE, this will feel like a really big upgrade.

Connectivity

Underpinning many of the capabilities of the Apple Watch is its connectivity. There isn’t much in the way of changes in the Series 10. It’s connectivity remains unchanged to last years Series 9. Here’s the full spec list:

• L1 GPS, GNSS, Galileo and BeiDou
• LTE and UMTS (cellular only)
• Wi‑Fi 4 (802.11n)
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Second-generation Ultra Wideband chip
• Apple Pay
• GymKit

This isn’t too much of a surprise. Given that the S10 SiP is mostly a re-packaged version of the chip from last year’s Series 9. The antennas are however integrated into a now partially metal back crystal. What was formerly a ceramic design has been replaced with metal with a thin antenna window encompassing the outer edge. Apple claims this improves cellular performance while enhancing durability. I didn’t notice any particular improvements as far as signal strength is concerned, with wifi and cellular performance seemingly unchanged.

While improvements to connectivity are modest at best, the feature set is capable, robust and provides a solid user experience. Even without your iPhone you can pay for things with Apple Pay, connect to bluetooth headphones and stream locally stored music, connect to WiFi networks and track your route during a workout thanks to built in GPS. You can locate lost items with the ultra Wideband chip. And for folks that shell out for a pricier model with built in LTE, you can even make calls, send texts and get notifications anywhere that you would be able to get phone signal.

Processor and Battery

This year Apple has made only modest changes as far as performance and battery life are concerned. The Series 10 features Apple’s S10 system-in-package (SiP), a chip that packages together the processor, graphics processor, storage, and more. It maintains similar performance to last year’s S9 SiP. The chip is plenty fast enough with apps launching quickly and in most cases, instantly. Siri requests are usually fast with a decent internet connection and I haven’t experienced any app crashes. It seems like the only changes to the chip relate to an unspecified element dedicated to machine learning. It’s what enables noise cancelling with just one hardware microphone. Apple hasn’t stated that the chip includes a dedicated neural engine for AI, a feature of the iPhone and iPad, but it sounds like Apple is experimenting with AI on the Apple Watch. At least for now.

Battery life remains unchanged. At least officially. Apple still rates the Series 10 as getting 18 hours of battery life with typical use. Or 36 hours in low power mode. That’s the same rating as all recent Apple Watch models with the exception of the Apple Watch Ultra. That said, this is the thinnest Apple Watch ever. It would have been acceptable if battery life had at the very least, been maintained. And yet in my testing I found the battery to last longer. As it turns out, the battery capacity has increased by 6% over the Series 9 in spite of the thinner case. The battery in Series 10 (46mm) is 327mAh, up from 308mAh on Series 9. When combined with the lower power display, there is a modest improvement here. Even if Apple doesn’t officially acknowledge it.

One big improvement is charging speed. The Series 10 can charge up to 80% in 30 minutes. By comparison, the Series 9 charges to 80% in just under an hour. This is great because one of the best health features of the Apple Watch is sleep tracking. And with fast charging, it’s quick and easy to top up your watch before heading to bed. I prefer to charge my Apple Watch in the morning while showering. By the time I’m ready to go, the watch is usually fully charged. Apple supplies a fast charging cable in the box. Older cables still work with the Series 10 but they won’t charge it as quickly as the new cable.

Sensors

The Apple Watch has become something of a Swiss Army knife of health and fitness sensors. Every year, Apple seems to add more and more. This year is no different. Returning sensors include an optical heart rate sensor, an electrical heart rate sensor for taking ECGs, a blood oxygen sensor (turned off in the US), a temperature sensor, ambient light sensor, altimeter, gyroscope, and compass. New for 2024 is a depth gauge and water temperature sensor. Newish, at least. These sensors were first introduced on the Apple Watch Ultra and have now made their way to the Series 10.

Apple is taking full advantage of these sensors, both old and new, to deliver more health and fitness experiences than ever. For instance, the new vitals app introduced in watchOS 11 takes average readings of metrics like your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood oxygen while you sleep. And that data is compiled to show if your previous days’ readings fall within the typical range. More on that later. Another good example is the depth app, first debuting on Apple Watch Ultra, but this year coming to the Series 10. It accurately detects the depth at which you are submerged in water, ideal for water sports and snorkeling. Combined with the water temperature sensor, it even enables the Oceanic+ app to work with a non-Ultra watch for the first time.

In my testing, the suite of sensors has worked flawlessly and performed without any notable quirks. I haven’t been able to extensively test the depth gauge and water temperature sensors. I’ve only tested them rudimentarily by submerging the device in a jug of water to verify that they work as advertised (they do). But all other sensors have performed very well in workouts, for sleep tracking, and in checking in on my vitals. The sensors worked particularly well for passive tasks. Like tracking my health data in the background with little to no input. That’s powerful because most people don’t tend to enjoy obsessively logging data. It becomes a chore. Being able to refer back to this autonomously collected data is helpful in identifying trends and changes in your health. Apple has nailed this.

Software 🍦

The Apple Watch Series 10 ships with watchOS 11. The new operating system is also available on older Apple Watch models, as far back as Series 6. There are few, if any, exclusive features for the Series 10 enabled by watchOS 11. The new features of watchOS 11 are also available on older supported models. Some of the new feature highlights of watchOS 11 include:

• The ability to pause your activity rings to enable rest days without losing your activity streak
• A new vitals app that monitors your overnight vitals while you sleep and indicates when different metrics are trending outside of your baseline
• Training load which helps you to understand if you’re putting your body through its paces and when you might want to consider some recovery time. It also helps you to understand when you’re under-training and might want to pick up the pace
• A new photos face that uses machine learning to select the best photos for use on your watch face based on things like composition
• Live activities come to widgets in the Smart Stack so that you can see quick, bite size pieces of information in a timely and glanceable way
• The ability to start a safety check in from messages or from outdoor workouts to ensure people you choose to share with, know when you’ve completed your workout safely and made it home
• Custom workouts with an up next view for interval training
• An all new tides app for water sports enthusiasts to better plan their activities safely
• The translate app from iPhone makes its way to Apple Watch with support for 20 languages. It works without your iPhone provided you have an internet connection

watchOS is without question the most advanced wearable operating system. And watchOS 11 extends that lead. The new features are genuinely useful and focus on quality of life improvements. It isn’t the revolutionary change that last years watchOS 10 was. But the new features are useful, meaningful additions, not gimmicks.

My personal favourites are the new vitals app and training load feature. The Apple Watch has long captured plenty of health data but it wasn’t always easy to interpret it or understand how to take action. Vitals fixes that by showing you if key health metrics are consistent with your baseline. And training load will help you to decide when to prioritise recovery or when to push harder. When you complete a workout, the watch will provide an estimate of your effort score from 1 to 10. That effort score helps to determine your training load. Apple also lets you adjust your effort score if you think the watch has undershot or overestimated your effort.

In general day to day use, the compelling hardware and design take full advantage of watchOS 11. Performance is great and the feature set is rich. It enables you to be more present and in the moment by handing off many of your iPhones functions. It doesn’t replace iOS entirely but it serves as a way to take a screen break by keeping core functionality at hand. It’s a great update.

Wrap Up 🌯

Apple Watch Series 10 is a fantastic smart watch. It offers compelling upgrades for owners of Series 7 and older. With more modest changes compared to Series 8 and 9. If this is your first Apple Watch it will be a fantastic experience. The design updates although not radical, make what was an iconic design even better and more functional. The array of built in sensors make it easy to keep track of your health and fitness. And the software is easy to use, glanceable and surprisingly capable.

With a new display, a thinner case, faster charging and great software, this is the best Apple Watch to date. A meaningful evolution, a fantastic device, but not the revolution that some were expecting. Still, if you’re in the market for a new smartwatch, this is the best one that money can buy.