The smartwatch for you will depend on a whole host of factors depending on your budget, your needs, and whether or not you're already invested in an ecosystem like iPhone or Android.
Naturally, if you've got an iPhone or Android smartphone, you're quite restricted in your choice, but there are still great options for both sets of users. If you haven't yet committed to a smartphone OS, or you're thinking of making the switch, then it's open season.
Right now, our very best smartwatch pick is the formidable Apple Watch Ultra 2. While it's one of the most expensive smartwatches out there, it's also one of the most feature-rich and well-built models going. which delivers on almost every single front.
We also have picks for users on a budget, users on Android, and more.
Every model here has been extensively tested by our team of expert reviewers, alongside literally hundreds of other models that didn't make the cut.
So whether you want a new cheap Apple Watch, a Pixel-perfect Google number, or Samsung's latest and greatest, here are the best smartwatches going in 2024.
Matt is TechRadar's Fitness and Wearables Editor, which means he's an expert on workouts, smartwatches, and all things fitness tech. Matt's spent years covering the health and fitness beat: a former staffer at Men's Health magazine, he's also written for publications like Runner's World, Women's Health, Men's Fitness, LiveScience and Fit&Well.
The quick list
The best watch overall
Despite the upgrades of the Series 10, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 remains the best smartwatch on the market. It's got an incredibly rugged design, brilliant battery life, and a vibrant display. Just remember you'll need an iPhone to use one.
The best cheap Apple Watch
The second-generation Apple Watch SE does almost everything you could expect of a standard Apple Watch (excellent health and workout metrics, seamless iOS integration) with a few cost-cutting corners like nylon backing rather than stainless steel.
The best Samsung watch
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is top of the list because it does everything you want a Samsung watch to do. It runs Wear OS 5, offers advanced health features such as ECG and blood pressure monitoring, has Samsung's biggest battery life, and shares many of the Apple Watch Ultra 2's qualities. Top choice for most Samsung users.
The best Google watch
New for 2024, the Google Pixel Watch 3 offers the same sleek build as its predecessor, with an all-new larger display. The new display is also brighter, and the battery life has been increased, now offering up to 36 hours.
The best Wear OS watch
The OnePlus Watch 2 got a big 4.5 stars from us thanks to its long battery life, excellent workout tracking capabilities, and great GPS credentials. It'll see you right on long runs and rides, while still interfacing well with Android phones as a lifestyle companion.
The best cheap watch
This stripped-back smartwatch is compatible with both iOS and Android devices and has all the basic functionalities of a smartwatch squared away. True, you lose screen quality, third-party apps ,and Bluetooth is occasionally unreliable, but it's astonishingly good value as-is.
| Component | Apple Watch Ultra 2 | Apple Watch SE 2 (40mm) | Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra | Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) | OnePlus Watch 2 | CMF Watch Pro by Nothing |
| Price | $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 | $249 / £259 / AU$399 | $649 / £599 / AU$1,299 | $399 / £349 / AU$579 | $299.99 / £299 / AU$459 | $69 / £69 / AU$131 |
| Dimensions | 49 x 41 x 14 (mm) | 40 x 34 x 10.7 (mm) | 47.4 x 47.4 x 12.1mm | 41 x 41 x 12.3 (mm) | 47 x 46.6 x 12.1 (mm) | 46.9 x 39.87 x 12.89 (mm) |
| Weight | 61g | 27.8 grams (cellular) | 60.5g | 31g | 80g (including strap) | 47g |
| Case/bezel | Titanium | Aluminum / nylon | Titanium | Aluminum | Stainless Steel | Aluminium alloy |
| Display | 502 x 410 px poly-silicon always-on OLED Retina Display | 324 x 394 retina OLED display | 480 x 480 px full-color AMOLED | 384 x 384 px always-on AMOLED 320 ppi | 466 x 466px, AMOLED | 410 x 502 px, AMOLED |
| GPS | Yes (unspecified) | Yes (unspecified) | Dual-frequency GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou, QZSS | GPS, Beidou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS | GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/QZSS/Beidou |
| Battery life | 36 hours | 18 hours | 590mAh, up to 100 hours | 36 hours | 100 hours | Up to 13 days |
| Connection | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, LTE | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, LTE | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi | Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi, 4G LTE | Bluetooth 5.0, BLE | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Water resistant | WR100 (diveproof) | WR50 | 10ATM + IP68 | WR50, IP68 | 5ATM | IP68 |
The best watch overall
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the ultimate smartwatch with one of the best screens we've ever seen on a wearable, its sumptuous Retina Display OLED commanding up to 3,000 nits of brightness. It's bigger and bulkier than the standard Apple Watch and has a faster S9 processor, enabling that excellent Double Tap gesture. In all other respects, it's identical to its predecessor, the original Apple Watch Ultra.
It could still offer better battery life (despite surpassing the regular Apple Watch) but the powerful and accurate GPS is great for exploring, especially with watchOS 11's improved hiking waypoints feature, plus it's a working dive computer thanks to the Oceanic Plus app.
Despite the launch of the Apple Watch Series 10, this just about beats the latest Apple flagship to retain its title thanks to its hefty battery life and rugged design.
During testing, we easily found this to be the most capable wearable that the brand has ever made. Unfortunately, it is limited by its reliance on the iPhone and its high price. However, when looking at the smartwatches on this list in a vacuum, it is the best smartwatch from a technical standpoint. As you can see in the specs table, it's got the biggest, brightest screen, it can dive the deepest underwater, and its case is comprised of ultra-hard titanium.
Read our full Apple Watch Ultra 2 review
The best cheap Apple Watch
The Apple Watch SE 2 is arguably the best Apple Watch for most people, as it’s a lot more affordable than the Apple Watch Series 10, yet has most of the core features for those models, and even the same chipset as the Series 8.
The main things it lacks are an always-on display, ECG, and blood oxygen tracking from the 8 (although the Apple Watch Series 9 and 10 are now being sold without blood oxygen tracking), and the Double Tap feature from the 9, but the Apple Watch SE 2 still has a wide range of health and fitness features, plus potentially life-saving additions like Car Crash Detection.
It’s also powerful, has impressive battery life for a proper smartwatch, and is very light and comfortable to wear. So it strikes a superb balance between price and performance and is a great relatively affordable pick.
Read our full Apple Watch SE 2 review
The best Samsung watch
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is, from a technical standpoint, Samsung's biggest and best watch yet. It lasts longer, is more powerful, more durable, and is radically different in design from the other Samsung watches in its lineup. It sits on a conspicuous titanium cushion and offers powerful outdoor-focused features.
A larger Super AMOLED display is sharp and clear, as well as able to handle very bright outdoor scenes. Performance-wise, it's fast although you'll reap the most benefits when paired with a Samsung smartphone. There's no iPhone support here either, but it's very much Samsung's version of Apple's successful Ultra line.
Besides SmartThings integration, the highlights here are the updated chipset, the Exynos W1000, its durability, accurate GPS features, and Samsung's cool ability to monitor your body's muscle and fat composition.
It's bordering on the ultimate fitness tool with extensive sleep tracking also helping you get the most from yourself every day, but we found it big and heavy to wear overnight during our tests.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review
The best Google watch
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is the latest iteration of Google's classic smartwatch design for 2024. It retains the sleek, modern, circular form factor that made the first two great, but now comes with an added 45mm size option. There are some fantastic optimizations built into Wear OS for the larger display, too.
The band attachment system sadly hasn't been improved from previous models. However, the chip is still performant and it delivers everything you'd expect from a Google wearable. It's the perfect companion to the Pixel smartphone, and will even work well with other non-Samsung Android devices.
That minimalist design is still an absolute classic, and sure to catch the eye on your wrist. With battery saver enabled the Pixel Watch 3 now delivers up to 36 hours of use time, matching the Apple Watch Series 10.
Read our full Google Pixel Watch 3 review
The best Android smartwatch
The OnePlus Watch 2 is an excellent all-rounder smartwatch, knocking the TicWatch Pro 5 from this place in the list, and an outstanding Pixel Watch alternative.
It has a lot going for it. For one thing, it uses the mighty Snapdragon W5+ Gen1 processor, so performance is good, and it also runs a second operating system, which it switches to when needed, in order to prevent unnecessary battery drain. That's how it gets to its impressive 100-hour battery life: clever use of its dual chipset.
It also offers very accurate fitness tracking metrics, which we tested during forest walks in Finland against the Garmin Epix Pro. It looks great on wrist, too, with leather strap options, a design based on analogue chronographs, and a few cool color choices such as Nordic Blue.
Read the full OnePlus Watch 2 review
Take a look at our OnePlus discount codes for the best OnePlus offers and savings.
The best cheap smartwatch
The CMF Watch Pro by Nothing is a very cheap, very attractive smartwatch that offers a lot for the money. It's got a built-in GPS, up to 13 days of battery life, and in our review, we mentioned the design was great, both in software and hardware. If you want a simplified smartwatch with a few health metrics, this is the one to get.
The downsides? With that low price point, of course, comes some missing features. It's never going to be as stacked with third-party apps or as versatile as an Apple or Samsung Galaxy watch, and you have to go through the rigmarole of manually adding contacts before calling them on the watch. The OS is pretty minimal, as one might expect from Nothing.
However, if you're looking for a cheap do-it-all watch that still looks attractive, you could certainly do a lot worse. The CMF Watch Pro is well-built, attractive, and simple to use, and will certainly pick up a cult following.
Read our full CMF Watch Pro by Nothing review
How to choose the best smartwatch for you
Unfortunately, your choice of smartwatch often depends on your choice of phone, as not all wearables are compatible with competitor devices. Apple Watch only works with Apple iPhones. Samsung and Google watches, and other Wear OS devices, only work with Android devices, but you can use a Samsung watch with a Google phone and vice versa.
Fitness tracking wearables from Fitbit will work with any device and synchronize with the Fitbit app, but those devices tend to focus more sharply on fitness features and don't offer all of the robust apps and services you'll find on other smartwatches.
Most wearables will get about a day of battery life, which will be disappointing if you're converting from a Garmin watch that lasts weeks. You can find a few watches that last longer on this list.
Finally, smartwatches can be expensive, and frankly ,they don't offer much value for what you pay. Before you spring for an Apple Watch Ultra, you might ask if you are really going Scuba diving this year, or if you're just going to check your text messages without disturbing your dinner mates.
The best smartwatch for women vs men: Is there a difference?
There are no specific differences when it comes to smartwatches for women or men, but it's largely down to personal preference. One of your main considerations will be making sure the size of the watch fits your wrist; many smartwatches nowadays are far too large for slender wrists, and you won't want a device that disproportionate to your wrist size. To help you decide, take a look at the watch size options before buying, as many come in multiple sizes. When this is the case, we've listed the size options in our full reviews.
Some smartwatches do provide features specific to women's health, such as menstrual cycle tracking based on heart health and skin temperature. This isn't to say those watches can only be worn by women, nor that women have to use these features: most are opt-in, and easily disabled or simply not set up in the first place unless you choose to do so.
If you are going to use those features, it's always advisable to read the privacy policy of the watch you've just bought to get a better understanding of where your health information is stored, and who has access to it.
Can you use Apple Watch with an Android phone?
The first thing to check is whether your phone is compatible with the smartwatch you want. You can't use an Apple Watch with an Android phone, as all the functions of watchOS require iOS to interface with.
You can use a Fitbit or Google Pixel Watch with an iPhone, but without Android or Google accounts, your experience will be sorely diminished. Samsung and Huawei also require handset-watch synergy to operate at their best.
However, many devices like Garmin watches and the CMF Watch Pro by Nothing require nothing more than their own apps to work, meaning you can use them with either handset just fine.
Which is the best smartwatch?
The best smartwatch in 2024 is the Apple Watch Ultra 2, but it requires an iPhone to use. If you have an Android device, the best alternative is the Galaxy Watch Ultra.
How we test smartwatches
Every smartwatch on this list has been fully and extensively reviewed by the expert team at TechRadar, so we know exactly what makes them tick.
Our review process involves using the devices as if they were our own personal wearables, ensuring every smartwatch gets fully tested in the real world. A comprehensive sweep of features takes place, and usage is varied over a week to give us a clear idea of how battery life performs.
When testing in-house, we generally look at how accurate the GPS is on each smartwatch by testing it against an industry leader such as the Garmin Epix Pro. Likewise for workout metrics. We also rank how usable the watch's operating system is, whether it supports third-party apps, and where it sits in the market. For example, a cheap watch with fewer features is more likely to get four stars than a feature-stuffed premium watch that isn't worth the expensive price.
Using that knowledge we've then ranked them, factoring in their value, design, features, and performance to get an overall star verdict.
