Apple Watch Series 11: the 24-hour battery life isn’t what you think

The Apple Watch Series 11 got announced not too long ago, and now, apparently, it seems that the advertised 24-hour battery life may not be… well, that huge of an upgrade in battery size as many people thought at first.

24-hour battery life on Apple Watch Series 11: the small print 

It seems that the runtime of the Apple Watch Series 11 may not be much longer than previous generations. Apparently, the Cupertino tech giant has changed how battery life is determined. The Series 10 and Series 11’s battery life should be enough to withstand 300 display activations, 90 push notifications, 15 minutes of app usage, and 60 minutes of music playback with training. 

Apple adds 6 hours of sleep tracking to the small print for the Series 11.

However, things get interesting when we go to the energy-saving mode. We have 38 hours for the Series 11 and 36 for the Series 10. But Apple has tested the Series 10 with 600 display activations, 180 push notifications, and 30 minutes of app usage. The Series 11 was tested with 530 display activations, 160 push notifications, and 25 minutes of app usage. So obviously, Apple is cutting some corners with the testing here. Overall, the Series 11’s battery capacity may have grown realistically by 7 to 10%, depending on the model, and in practice, the battery life of the two smartwatches may not be that different.

Is Apple being disingenuous?

Technically, the advertised gain of 6 hours is if you’re asleep, and that’s a caveat Apple didn’t mention. When you hear an increase of 6 hours for a battery, you’d assume it’s for active use of the smartwatch, at least, and many people assumed that’s a huge upgrade from what Apple Watches had achieved previously. 

For previous models, Apple has not included “sleep” time in how the company measures battery life. So, with the claim of a jump from 18 to 24 hours, people would naturally assume we’re talking about a 33% increase in battery life. 

In Sleep focus mode, though, the Apple Watch uses relatively less battery. So in reality, there may not be such a huge difference between the Series 10 and Series 11 when we’re talking about regular use. 

So basically, when Apple is talking about the Series 11, the company says “all-day battery life with sleep tracking”, and the Series 10’s battery is an “all-day battery life”. 

Does it really matter?

Well, it depends on who you ask. Apple has clever marketing strategies and is very good at making it sound like their newest product is the most unique ever. And most people know that.

Here, the Apple Watch Series 11 will most likely be able to last through the day (let’s wait with the conclusions until we test the timepiece really soon) and last a little bit longer than the Series 10, but for some people, the way it was worded may be slightly annoying.

Of course, if you ask me, I’d like marketing to be as transparent as possible. But the reality of it is, Apple never mentioned a 33% increase in battery size.

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