Apple Watch Series 10 Review: Bigger display, same old battery

The Apple Watch Series 10 is a delightful smartwatch to use… for as long as the battery lasts.

Score: 3/5

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In this review

Apple Watch Series 10 Specifications
Apple Watch Series 10 Design
Apple Watch Series 10 Camera
Apple Watch Series 10 Performance
Apple Watch Series 10 Battery
Apple Watch Series 10 Conclusion

Apple’s 10th generation Apple Watch – it hasn’t quite been selling them for 10 years, because the first generation model didn’t go on sale until 2015, though it was unveiled in 2014 – ups its game primarily by offering an even larger Apple watch option with a. 46mm display.

It’s a lovely smartwatch, as most Apple Watch models have been, though it’s somewhat irritating that the same old battery life concerns haven’t been addressed, especially given that Apple’s shown it can make a multi-day Apple Watch in the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Design

Apple’s design for the Apple Watch has only gently evolved over the years, and that’s an incredibly Apple way of looking at design. Most of the time changes are quite gradual, and while I don’t have a 1st gen Apple Watch to put beside the Apple Watch Series 10, were I to do so, you’d see much the same watch – only bigger.

The Apple Watch Series 10 sells in 42 or 46mm watch face sizes, and it’s the larger model that Apple sent my way for review. Its 46mm display has OLED display with a resolution of 416x496, and while those numbers might not seem impressive, on a smaller display like this they’re more than adequate.

Where the Apple Watch Series 10 gets even fancier is with the use of an LPTO display that can alter the refresh rate all the way down to 1Hz. That has battery life implications, but it also allows for a couple of custom watch faces that make use of that lower refresh rate to cleanly display a second hand or build up a display frame by frame to indicate the passing of time.

The OLED display on the Apple Watch Series 10 also benefits from wider viewing angles, making it simpler to make out the watch face or notifications in nearly any environment – or at least all the ones I’ve tested it with, which includes a lot of direct sunlight, low light and night-time viewing in less than optimal conditions.

Do you need those features to speak of? Maybe not, but there’s little doubt that Apple has long courted the fashion crowd more than the technology crowd when it comes to the Apple Watch specifically, and in that space neat visual features really do matter.

In terms of controls, you get the same side button and digital crown combo that prior generations had, but there’s no sign of Apple bringing across the super-handy action button from the Apple Watch Ultra.

An action button, it seems, remains a quite premium-priced feature, and I won’t lie, I’m quite annoyed it’s not present on this year’s regular Apple Watch. It's a useful feature to have, as it is on the iPhones that have it, and keeping it Ultra exclusive just feels like price gatekeeping to me.

Aside from the near countless Apple Watch bands you could strap to it, you’ve got a choice of Jet Black, Rose Gold or Silver finishes in the cheaper aluminium body, or Slate, Gold or Natural Titanium finishes in the (you guessed it) more expensive titanium frame. Apple supplied me with the Jet Black finish Titanium model, and visually, it’s really nice. Obviously tastes will vary – I’d find the Rose Gold model a little too gaudy for my wrist – but the choices here should match up with most people in a pleasing kind of way.

Apple also claims the Apple Watch Series 10 as its thinnest and lightest Apple Watch ever, though obviously weights vary depending on the size and case material. For the 46mm Jet Black Aluminium model tested, it’s certainly not a hefty watch on the wrist the way that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 most definitely is. However, there’s an oddity here, because there’s variance in the weights depending on whether you opt for the straight GPS model or the LTE-equipped variant that can act as a standalone phone if your telco supports that feature.

You might think that the LTE (or as Apple puts it, cellular) models would be heavier due to the extra circuits needed beneath the frame – but you would be wrong, as for the aluminium models they’re nearly a gram lighter than the lesser equipped GPS models.

Is Apple packing tiny bricks in the spaces where the LTE circuitry should be on the straight GPS models? If you do opt for Titanium, there’s no option for a straight GPS, so there’s no weight difference.

Performance

The Apple Watch Series 10 is an all-new Apple Watch, but the reality here is that, rather like the design, Apple’s much more tinkering around the edges of what people might want from a smartwatch than adding a whole host of new features or design ideas.

It does everything the Apple Watch Series 9 does , so you get the full suite of WatchOS features, double tap, on-device Siri and so on baked in from the get-go.

Specific to the Apple Watch Series 10 are a couple of new features. The speaker can now act as its own music speaker if you really feel the need to broadcast your tunes to the world at large.

You’ve been able to use the speaker for calls since the inception of the line, and I’m not really sure who was asking for this specific feature. You’ve got to have an iPhone to pair up with the Apple Watch, and the speaker there is always going to be superior – and honestly, pairing up to a set of AirPods would be even better if you care at all about audio fidelity.

Also read:
Apple AirPods 4/AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancellation Review

The Apple Watch Series 10 isn’t pitched as a full deep sea diver’s watch – there’s the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for that – but it does come with a depth app that Apple says is suitable for measuring shallow dives in water up to 6 metres deep… with a potential catch.

Apple has (at the time of writing this review) not updated its guidance (this document specifically) around warranty claims for water ingress on non-Apple Watch Ultra models to cover the Apple Watch Series 10. The way Apple treats the same kinds of immersion issues for iPhones strongly suggests that it might not cover water damage to an Apple Watch Series 10 under warranty – it’s genuinely unclear, and that would make me nervous about using it too much in the pool, if you know what I mean.

The other big headline feature for the Apple Watch Series is sleep apnoea tracking, which could be very big for those with that condition – but it’s a feature I can’t yet test, as while it’s passed US FDA approvals, it’s yet to emerge from its presumed test period with the Australian TGA.

We had to wait quite a while for ECG on Apple Watch to be available in Australia, and Apple Australia itself remains tight-lipped about timeframes for sleep apnoea tracking availability. As such, it sits in the “maybe excellent” pile, but as I can’t test it, that qualifier has to apply for now.

Battery

I had high hopes for the Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life specifically because Apple sent me the 46mm model to test. A larger screen does mean more battery power draw, but it also gives Apple space to pack in more battery capacity – or at least it would, had Apple not opted instead for a thinner Apple Watch instead.

What you’re left with is a claimed “all day” battery life that’s also qualified as being good for up to 18 hours.

From the optimist’s side, it’s good engineering that Apple can make a thinner watch with a bigger screen last for the same claimed time as prior Apple Watch generations.

From the pessimist’s side, 18 hours is not 24 hours, and the actual reality of using the Apple Watch Series 10 over the past few weeks has shown that it’s often capable of quite a lot less. I have had some days where it has started pleading with me to go into its low power mode after only 12 hours of usage.

While faster charging is supported, I also hit an issue that can affect the Apple Watch Ultra 2 as well in terms of power supply. The Apple Watch Charger is a specific charger design that Apple does licence out to third parties, but a number of the third party chargers I’ve tested with can have issues with larger Apple Watches and getting the charge strike zone just right for optimal charging.

More than once I’ve dropped the Apple Watch Series 10 onto an overnight charger only to wake up to a flat Apple Watch because it didn’t charge properly, or an only semi-charged one because one of my cats has nudged past it in the middle of the night. My cats are not Apple’s responsibility to be clear, but it’s an issue that doesn’t seem to happen as much with the smaller Apple Watches.

Using Apple’s supplied Apple Watch charging cable does dodge this issue, but it’s annoying given that there is an ecosystem of supposedly compatible chargers that deliver less than optimal performance if you're using a larger Apple Watch.

Apple Watch Series 10: Alex’s Verdict

The Apple Watch Series 10 is generally a very good smartwatch, and it’s the easy and obvious choice for iPhone users – not that Android users can utilise an Apple Watch in any kind of adequate way anyway – if you’re after your first smartwatch, or if you’re upgrading from an Apple Watch older than at least 2-3 generations.

Given the asking price I cannot see the sense in upgrading from, say, an Apple Watch Series 9 to this unless a feature like sleep apnoea tracking is vital to you – and even then I’d wait until it’s formally approved for use in Australia.

While I can’t deny that Apple is doing some interesting engineering work with the Apple Watch Series 10, it does feel a little like this is more of an iterative improvement than a truly radical one, and it is disappointing that it’s not addressing the battery life issue in a more effective way.

I’d gladly take a small hit in weight in return for more battery life, but the only way to do that is with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 – and that’s an Apple Watch that costs nearly twice the price of the Apple Watch Series 10.

Apple Watch Series 10: Pricing and availability

The Apple Watch Series 10 retails in Australia with pricing starting at $649. Pricing varies depending on case and band choice.

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