Apple Watch Series 10 review: Who’s it for?

So this is the new Apple Watch Series 10 that I’ve got in for review today, and it’s probably the most iterative upgrade to an Apple Watch ever. Which… is also what I said about the Apple Watch Series 9 (review) last year by the way.

It’s not like there haven’t been any interesting new things to talk about with every new Apple Watch every other year, but it has been a while since I was really wowed by an Apple watch that doesn’t have “Ultra” in its name.

And after wearing the Watch Series 10 for over a week now, I gotta say there’s not a lot going on this time either. This is still a perfectly “good” smartwatch that I’m sure most folks will be happy to put on, but should you buy it? Or are there better options out there?

Well… let me help you with all that.

Apple Watch Series 10 review: Specifications

• Case: 42 / 46 mm, Aluminum or titanium frame
• Color options:
  • Aluminum: Jet Black, Rose Gold, Silver
  • Titanium: Slate, Gold, Natural
• Dimensions and weight:
  • 42 mm: 42 x 36 x 9.7 mm, 30 / 34.4 grams (aluminum / titanium)
  • 46 mm: 46 x 39 x 9.7 mm, 36.4 / 41.7 grams (aluminum / titanium)
• Durability: 5 ATM + IP6X dust resistant
• Display: 1.89 / 2.04-inches LTPO3 OLED panel
• Processor: Apple S10 SiP, 64GB storage
• Software and UI: watchOS 11
• Sensors: Always-on altimeter, Ambient light, Compass, Depth gauge, Electrical heart rate, High dynamic range gyro, High-g accelerometer, Temperature, Third-gen optical heart rate, Water temperature
• Battery: 327 mAh battery, Up to 18 hours of normal use
• Price in Nepal: NPR 79,000 (42mm) | NPR 85,000 (46mm)
• Check the full specifications of Apple Watch Series 10 here
• Buy Apple Watch Series 10 here

Apple Watch Series 10 review:

Design and build

• Aluminum or titanium case (42 / 46 mm)
• 5 ATM + IP6X dust resistant

Okay.

So believe it or not, two of the biggest upgrades the Watch Series 10 has are in terms of the design and the display. Although — at first glance — this thing doesn’t look any different from what we’ve seen on previous Apple watches.

It has the same squarish design, the same digital crown on the side, and a variety of watch bands to choose from. The Watch Series 10 also fits and wears the same, but it’s a little bit bigger, a little bit thinner, and a little bit lighter now. You can get it in either 42 or 46 mm cases — instead of the usual 41 / 45 mm sizes — while Apple also says it has managed to make it 10% slimmer than the last three generations of Apple watches.

Which… is great… I guess?

I doubt anyone was hoping for a slimmer Apple Watch but I’ll take it. And you know what? I actually thought slimming down an already-slim watch would mean bad news for haptics and phone calls but nope. The Watch Series 10’s vibration feedback feels as crisp as ever, and its call quality is even better since it now supports “Voice Isolation”.

Just like on iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and AirPods.

It’s enabled by default, and it does a fan…tastic job at making my voice sound audible and clear in the middle of all the ruckus around me. And hey, you can also play media directly on the watch now.

Alright, as far as durability is concerned, the Watch Series 10 has the same old, same old IP6X dust resistance and 5 ATM water resistance. Its base model still comes with an aluminum case, although I like how you can get the Watch Series 10 with a titanium case as well now.

Just like the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

And the titanium Watch Series 10 gets a couple of other spec buffs too, including cellular connectivity and a tougher, more scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass for the display.

That sounds awesome but I think the price gap between the aluminum and the titanium watches is gonna be the dealbreaker to most folks straight away since this “titanium” upgrade is gonna cost you a pretty penny. Like… it’s anywhere between 60 – 70% more expensive than the aluminum version. Ouch!

Display

• 1.89 / 2.04-inches LTPO3 Wide-angle OLED panel
• Ion-X (aluminum) or Sapphire crystal glass (titanium) protection
• Up to 2,000 nits of max brightness

Anyway, like the design, this guy brings some big display upgrades too.

Quite literally.

‘Cause the Watch Series 10 has the biggest display out of every other Apple Watch you can find. Even bigger than the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (review) and get this, the 42 mm Watch Series 10 actually has the same size display as the 45 mm Watch Series 9.

That’s pretty cool and exactly the reason why I went with the smaller watch this year.

Apple says it has narrowed the bezels, made the edges more rounded, and also extended the front glass further over the sides this time, and yes… I’m loving all the extra screen space on this thing. It’s hard to quantify exactly how big of a difference that has made in my everyday use but everything from texts in the new “Translate” app to the UI elements in the “Weather” app and typing up a text in the “Messages” app feels more… spacious on the Watch Series 10.

Is that wide-angle OLED thing any good?

I also tried to convince myself that its “Wide-angle OLED” display would be a big deal since that’s supposed to improve the readability when looking at the watch from certain angles but… it turned out to be the biggest nothingburger. And after all this time, I’ve never really found a solid reason to be thankful for this upgrade.

At least we get a couple of nice-looking new watch faces here.

• There’s one called “Flux” with bold typography, which looks especially rad in “Devanagari” font if you ask me.
• And the other one’s called “Reflections” that can even show ticking seconds hands in always on screen if… that’s something you care about.

But besides a bigger screen space, the Watch Series 10’s display is pretty much the same as the one on the Watch Series 9. From colors to brightness levels and touch response, nothing else has changed between these two.

Performance

• Dual-core Apple S10 SiP
• 64GB storage, watchOS 11

Moving on, Apple’s latest smartwatch gets a surprising chipset upgrade as well. The S9 chip in last year’s Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 already had such a massive performance leap so I really was curious to see exactly what big new thing Apple had in store this time.

But as it turns out, the Watch Series 10’s S10 chip doesn’t come with any performance upgrade. It has the same dual-core processor, the same quad-core neural engine, the same 64 gigs of storage, and the same everything else. Even Apple itself admits that the new chip was “engineered to achieve a thinner profile” more than anything.

I can’t say I’m mad about this at all though. “Performance” and “fluency” have never been an issue on Apple Watches and this guy feels perfectly snappy and smooth no matter what I throw at it. Which means most of the new experiences on the Watch Series 10 mostly rely on what Apple has done on the software side of things. With watchOS 11.

So first things first, the smart stack is even smarter now.

As it can automatically suggest different widgets based on time of day. Like… when I wake up, it will show the sleep widget and something else like weather and photos during the afternoon hours. There’s also that new “Translate” app I mentioned before, and I like how that “double tap” thing has gotten more intuitive across the whole UI as well.

Health and fitness tracking

• 25+ workout modes
  • With automatic detection support of a few
• Heart rate, stress, sleep, ECG monitoring
• Crash Detection, Fall Detection

Whereas watchOS 11 also brings a couple of interesting features that I’ve been asking for when it comes to health and fitness tracking.

‘Cause I can finally, finally pause my activity ring without losing my activity streak or even adjust my goals based on the day of the week.

I’m not much of a fitness person by any means but even if you are one, being able to set a rest day is a super big deal. Since getting proper rest is equally as important as hitting your daily activity targets. I can also log the level of “effort” I put into any workout on the Watch Series 10, but perhaps the most useful health feature on this thing is something called “Vitals”.

So by logging at least 7 sleep cycles, the watch keeps track of several key metrics like my heart rate, blood oxygen level, wrist temperature, and respiratory rate to look for any signs of abnormality. Everything looks good on my end so far but I’ve seen multiple users on Reddit report how the Vitals app correctly predicted they were about to get sick so… this is quite promising.

It can detect signs of Sleep Apnea now

The Watch Series 10 also has the ability to detect signs of sleep apnea now, which is a fairly common sleeping disorder where your breathing gets frequently irregular during sleep. Once again, everything looks good on my end so far and I can only hope it stays that way.

Other than this, the Watch Series 10’s health monitoring features are still as reliable as ever. From heart rate to blood oxygen and even ECG reading, it can do them all.

Apple has also borrowed a few fitness tracking features from its “Ultra” watches this time. Including a depth gauge and a water temperature sensor. It did make sure to nerf the depth gauge by limiting its reading up to 6 meters only — versus up to 40 meters on the Watch Ultra 2 — but casual swimmers should love this little upgrade anyway.

I kinda wish the Watch Series 10 also had dual-frequency GPS but it still only supports L1 GPS. So when you’re walking, running, or exercising through dense city streets, the Series 10 will struggle to accurately pinpoint your location at all times.

Battery life

• 327 mAh battery
• Up to 18 hours of normal use

Finally, let’s talk about battery life. And unfortunately, I still need to recharge this guy every. single. day. Unless I don’t record long workouts, use GPS, use wifi, or get a lot of notifications. But at least the good news is that it can now go from 0 – 80% in just half an hour.

Apple Watch Series 10 review: Conclusion

Al…right. I guess I better wrap things up now.

So it’s pretty clear that the Watch Series 10 is a pretty boring upgrade, right? I mean, besides the bigger display, slightly faster charging, and that “voice isolation” thing, it doesn’t have any truly standout feature at all. There are a few new health-tracking features that I found genuinely useful, but most of them will be available on the Watch Series 9 too.

Including all those enabled by watchOS 11 and even sleep apnea detection.

That means if you’ve been rocking the Watch Series 7/8/9, there really is no reason to upgrade this year either. Whereas if you have been waiting to upgrade from a much older Apple Watch Watch — like Series 5, Series 6, or something — then this thing actually makes the Series 9 look like such a better deal. Since that one is available at a bargain these days. And you’re still getting like 95% of what the Watch Series 10 offers.

Apple Watch Series 10 review: Pros and cons

• Watch our video review of Apple Watch Series 10