Apple Watch SE 3 vs Apple Watch Series 1

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

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Watch SE 3 compared with Watch Series 1

	AppleWatch SE 3	AppleWatch Series 1
Overview
Released
Released	September 2025	September 2016
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	40 mm or 44 mm	38 mm or 42 mm
Panel
Panel	LTPO OLED	OLED
Peak brightness
Peak brightness	1,000 nits (better)	450 nits
Always-on display
Always-on display	Yes	No
Display detail
Display detail	Always-On Retina display with OLED and LTPO; 324 x 394 pixels (40mm) or 368 x 448 pixels (44mm) at 326 ppi; 759 or 977 sq mm display area; 2 nits minimum brightness	Retina OLED with Force Touch; 272 x 340 pixels (38mm) or 312 x 390 pixels (42mm)
Screen protection
Screen protection	Ion-X front glass, 4x more crack resistant than SE 2	Strengthened Ion-X glass
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	No
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	No
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	Yes	No
Sleep apnoea alerts
Sleep apnoea alerts	Yes	No
High blood pressure alerts
High blood pressure alerts	No	No
Body composition
Body composition	No	No
Fall detection
Fall detection	Yes	No
Crash detection
Crash detection	Yes	No
GPS
GPS	Single-band	None
Water resistance
Water resistance	50 m	–
Sensors
Sensors	Second-generation optical heart sensor; temperature sensor; compass; always-on altimeter; high-g accelerometer; high dynamic range gyroscope; ambient light sensor	Optical heart-rate sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope and ambient light sensor
Health features
Health features	Heart Rate app; high and low heart rate notifications; irregular rhythm notifications; sleep apnoea notifications; sleep stages and sleep score; Vitals app (heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature and sleep duration); Cycle Tracking with fertile window and retrospective ovulation estimates, perimenopause and menopause support; Medications; Mindfulness; Noise	Heart-rate monitoring; Activity rings and Breathe app in watchOS 3
Fitness features
Fitness features	Custom workouts; Training Load; customisable heart rate zones; VO2 max; Race Route; Pacer; cadence, stride length, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and running power; automatic track detection; multisport workouts; offline maps with custom route creation; Backtrack; pool and open-water swimming with SWOLF; cycling power zones with Bluetooth accessories; GymKit	Workout tracking; outdoor route tracking uses a paired iPhone's GPS (PhoneArena)
Safety features
Safety features	Emergency SOS; international emergency calling; Fall Detection; Crash Detection; Check In; Backtrack; noise monitoring	–
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 18 hours	Up to 18 hours
In low-power mode
In low-power mode	Up to 32 hours	–
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	Yes	No
Works with
Works with	iPhone	iPhone
Chip
Chip	S10	S1P
Storage
Storage	64 GB (better)	8 GB
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 18 hours of normal use; up to 32 hours in Low Power Mode; up to 7 hours of outdoor workout	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Charging
Charging	Fast charging to 80% in about 45 minutes; 15 minutes for up to 8 hours of normal use; 8 minutes for up to 8 hours of sleep tracking	Magnetic charging cable
Connectivity
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) at 2.4GHz; Bluetooth 5.3; NFC for Apple Pay; L1 GPS (GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou); GPS + Cellular models (A3326, A3328) with 5G RedCap and LTE	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n at 2.4GHz; Bluetooth 4.2; Apple support's updated compatibility requirement is iPhone 5s with iOS 11 or later
Storage
Storage	–	S1P dual-core processor name reported by Wareable; Apple specifications confirm a dual-core processor and 8 GB capacity
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	26.3 g	25 g (better)
Software
Software	watchOS	watchOS
Case materials
Case materials	100% recycled aluminium case with nylon composite and sapphire crystal back; water resistant to 50 m (ISO 22810:2010)	Anodised aluminium case and composite back; IPX7 under IEC 60529, splash and water resistant but submersion is not recommended
Size
Size	40mm is 40 x 34 x 10.7 mm, 26.3 g (GPS) or 26.4 g (GPS + Cellular); 44mm is 44 x 38 x 10.7 mm, 32.9 g (GPS) or 33.0 g (GPS + Cellular)	38mm is 38.6 x 33.3 x 10.5 mm and 25 g; 42mm is 42.5 x 36.4 x 10.5 mm and 30 g; weights exclude the band
Bands
Bands	Fits 130–200 mm wrists (40mm) or 140–245 mm wrists (44mm)	Sold with Sport Band; compatible with Sport, Woven Nylon, stainless steel and leather bands
Colours
Colours	Midnight or Starlight aluminium	Silver, Space Grey, Gold and Rose Gold aluminium
In the box
In the box	Apple Watch SE 3, strap, Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m)	–