The Apple Watch SE is the best Apple Watch option for most people with an iPhone. It is very reasonably priced – not something we can often genuinely say about Apple hardware products.

It has many of the features of the more expensive Apple Watch Series 8, including the new car crash detection, while maintaining a modern design with the same chipset and solid battery life – for an Apple Watch, that is.

If you equally value smart features like third-party app integration, music storage, contactless payments, and full fitness tracking, the Apple Watch is still the best smartwatch if you have an iPhone. The SE does everything surprisingly well considering it’s the cheapest one.

Samsung ditched the Classic version of its Galaxy Watch in 2022, but it’s returned in style in 2023. While it doesn’t come cheap, this is the best Android smartwatch you can buy.

Its defining feature is a physical rotating bezel, the main difference compared to the regular Galaxy Watch 6. Not only does it make using the watch easier, it adds some useful protection to the screen.

That display is another highlight, whether you go for the 43mm (1.3in) or 47mm (1.5in) option. It’s a crisp OLED, combining vibrant colours with excellent detail.

As you might expect, health and fitness tracking is extensive, with support for over 100 workouts and detailed sleep analysis. Battery life is also good, but only if you keep the always-on display turned off.

You’ll also have to make do without the ECG, blood pressure monitoring and irregular heart notifications if you don’t have a Samsung phone. But overall, this is still a fantastic smartwatch.

One of the biggest draws of the first official Pixel Watch is its beautiful design. Not only does it look and feel great, with its own personality, but it’s also compact, light, and comfortable too.

More than that though, it’s packed with loads of great tech and works brilliantly thanks to the combination of the intuitive Wear OS 3 software, a digital crown, and a dazzling screen.

Fitness tracking is handled by Fitbit, which also makes this the best smartwatch right now for anyone who wants to keep their data in the Fitbit family, as it’s comfortably better than Fitbit’s own Sense 2 and Versa 4, which weren’t good enough to feature in this chart.

Sadly, Google hasn’t nailed it in every department, with unpredictable battery life, restrictions when it comes to charging and, most odd of all, lacking proper automatic workout detection despite featuring Fitbit-powered tracking. Still, this sets the bar for the new default smartwatch experience on Android, and gives rivals something to aim for.

While the Series 8 is only an incremental upgrade over 2021’s Series 7, it’s still a great buy for iPhone owners, and packs a couple key features that the cheaper SE (above) doesn’t.

The big difference compared to the SE is the support for an always-on display, letting you check the time and other alerts at a glance – with a hit to battery life. Some of the health tracking features are also more advanced, with ECG and blood oxygen measurement plus a temperature sensor for cycle tracking, which is new to the Series 8.

Battery life remains the biggest weak spot – unlike most rivals this still needs a daily charge, and you’ll need to plan that well if you want to make the most of the sleep-tracking features. If you don’t need the top health features then you may want to consider the cheaper SE, while those with more demanding needs should look at the souped-up Apple Watch Ultra, which you’ll find below.

Unlike the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, the regular Watch 6 is a small upgrade compared to its predecessor – the Watch 5. This more affordable option ditches the Classic’s physical rotating bezel for an underwhelming virtual version, but it’s still excellent in many areas.

That includes a slick design, complete with 1.3in (40mm) or 1.5in (44mm) OLED displays that perform superbly in all situations. Combine that with Samsung’s intuitive take on the WearOS software, and you’re onto a winner.

Performance is solid, but the Watch 6 really excels when it comes to health tracking. Tons of workouts are supported, alongside sleep tracking and a variety of ways to monitor your health.

However, three of these – ECGs, blood pressure monitoring and irregular heart rate detection – are only available if you have a Samsung phone. And even if you turn off the always-on display, a full day of battery life is only just within reach.

Nonetheless, the Watch 6 is still compelling enough to be one of the best smartwatches around, making it undeniably good value for money.

If running is your workout of choice, the Garmin Forerunner 265 is the best option available. The real reason to buy it over competitors is that OLED display, which looks great – even in bright sunlight.

Battery life is compromised slightly to included it, but you’ll still get up to 20 hours of constantly using the impressively accurate GPS. That’ll be plenty for even marathons, with extensive running data combining with genuinely useful coaching for a great user experience.

It also works well for cycling and swimming, making the 265 an excellent choice for triathlons. But various other activities are supported, and it’s lightweight design makes sleep tracking very comfortable.

Regular smartwatch features are more limited, though you can still get phone notifications (from iPhone or Android) and download songs for offline listening. But Garmin Pay is limited to only a few banks in the UK, and there’s no map app.

If you can live with those and the premium price, there’s no better watch out there for runners.

But if an OLED display, touchscreen and the training readiness feature aren’t important, go for the more affordable Forerunner 255S instead.

The Apple Watch Ultra might just look like a bigger, more rugged Apple Watch, but there’s more to it than that. It’s not only more durable but boasts a number of improvements that benefit outdoor sports enthusiasts, from extreme temperature protection to improved water resistance capabilities.

The new Action button is a welcome addition that I hope makes its way to the standard Apple Watch, providing a handy way to access key functionality without the touchscreen, and the dual-GPS is a real game-changer for those that like to wander off the beaten track.

Sure, it’s bigger, bulkier and weightier than the standard Apple Watch, but if you’re looking for something that’ll take a knock or two and last days on a single charge, the Apple Watch Ultra is a solid premium option. However, if you’re only looking for an Apple Watch for day-to-day use, the cheaper, slimmer Apple Watch SE and Series 8 are better bets.

Mobvoi isn’t one of the first smartwatch companies you might think of, but the TicWatch Pro 5 shouldn’t be ignored.

It’s certainly a premium wearable, but it has plenty of high-end features to match. That includes a durable design, complete with intuitive rotating bezel, without feeling bulky.

While a sizeable 50mm case makes it unsuitable for people with smaller wrists, the 1.43in OLED display within it is a joy to use. And opting for Wear OS makes it easy to access the wide range of health and fitness features, including over 100 types of workout and detailed sleep tracking.

Sadly, accessing this data relies on the underwhelming Mobvoi Health app, and there’s no option to use a virtual assistant or add LTE connectivity.

But with such great battery life (a big improvement compared to the earlier TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra), the TicWatch Pro 5 is definitely worth considering.

Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra is one of the most rugged timepieces we’ve seen from the company; integrating the Pro line’s signature dual-display technology into a hardy form factor, running Wear OS 2 and offering respectable battery longevity.

It can’t quite match the battery life of dedicated premium outdoor watches like Polar’s Grit X Pro, or those with more modest hardware, like Amazfit’s recent offerings, but there’s little else that’s this hardy and this capable in the smartwatch space right now.

Alongside Google’s Wear OS, software the Pro 3 Ultra sports a full-colour AMOLED display and a monochromatic FSTN display that, in Essential Mode, can help extend longevity from 3 to 45 days per charge.

There’s no denying that the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is a great looking compact smartwatch, with a sleek, slim, and comfortable design that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Apple Watch.

It also benefits from brilliant two-week battery life, among the longest of any smartwatches, despite the fact that it’s also among the cheapest and smallest.

The downsides are that third-party app support is limited, so really this sits halfway between a full smartwatch and a simple tracker. That tracking can also be slightly less reliable than the competition, so to some extent you get what you pay for.

Still, it’s sufficient for basic tracking, as is the larger Amazfit GTS 4 and the similar (but circular) Amazfit GTR 4.