4 budget-friendly smartwatches with better battery life than the Apple Watch Ultra 3

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Apple’s flagship watch, the Watch Ultra 3, is known for its relatively longer battery life in the company’s smartwatch lineup. It’s claimed to last up to 42 hours in standard mode and up to 72 hours in low power mode, which is significantly longer than the battery life claimed for the Apple Watch Series 11 and Watch SE 2. However, unless you have no problem plugging in your Apple Watch to charge every other day, the 42-hour battery life isn’t very long, and let’s not forget that you’re spending $799 for the Ultra 3.

Luckily, if your heart isn’t completely set on the Apple Watch line, manufacturers like Amazfit, CMF by Nothing, and Garmin offer smartwatches with multi-day battery life at a fraction of the price of the Ultra 3. Most importantly, all of these smartwatches are compatible with iPhones. We chose these smartwatches after considering not only their battery life claims, but also their health and fitness features that can add real value to your daily life.

Although CMF is a relatively new entrant in the smartwatch space, it has already become one of the best cheap smartwatch brands. The CMF Watch 3 Pro is a $99 smartwatch that claims to last 13 days on a single charge with typical use and 10 days with heavy use. It can also be charged from zero to 100% in 99 minutes. Those are pretty impressive numbers for a smartwatch that features a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with 326 ppi and 670 nits of peak brightness.

The smartwatch has a unique design and a decent selection of health and fitness features. While it can’t compete with the best fitness trackers on the market, you can still track a multitude of workouts, get a heart rate sensor, and find support for sleep tracking and blood oxygen monitoring. There is also dual-band GPS on board for better location accuracy.

Of course, the affordability means CMF has had to take shortcuts, and one notable downside is its inability to swim. That said, it’s IP68 rated for dust and water resistance, meaning it’s capable enough to handle submersion for up to 30 minutes in calm, clear water (up to a depth of around 5 feet). But don’t wear it in hot showers, saunas, swimming pools or natural bodies of water. Additionally, the CMF Watch 3 Pro isn’t very loaded with smart features as it doesn’t support third-party apps and NFC for contactless payments. It offers quick access to your calendar, voice assistant, voice recorder, Bluetooth calls, phone notifications and much more. That said, it’s a fairly large watch and might not be suitable for thin wrists.

Amazfit has long made some of the most budget-friendly smartwatches on the market, and the company’s Active Max is a great choice for anyone looking for long battery life on a budget. The smartwatch has a battery life of up to 25 days with typical use and up to 13 days with heavy use. This isn’t completely surprising given that it packs a large 658mAh battery, almost double the 350mAh battery in the CMF smartwatch. The Active Max also comes with a 1.5-inch AMOLED display with 323 ppi and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, which is the same as the Apple Watch Ultra 3, although it only costs $170.

The smartwatch tracks workouts well and supports over 170 sports modes. You can even pair it with external sensors via Bluetooth, in case you want more accurate or additional readings. Additionally, you get a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, blood oxygen levels, and stress levels.

Like most other budget smartwatches, it is quite light in terms of smart features. However, it can display your phone’s notifications, make or receive calls, and make contactless payments. Additionally, you can control music playback on your phone and use the voice recorder to take notes, but you don’t get support for third-party apps. That said, you can sync your health and fitness data with Apple Health, Strava, TrainingPeaks, Relive, etc. Unfortunately, its design is a bit boring and the smartwatch doesn’t have dual-frequency GPS, which you can find in some of our other recommendations. The smartwatch companion app needs a little more polish. Otherwise, it’s a pretty solid option for most casual users.

The Amazfit Bip 6 is an even more affordable smartwatch from the company that costs just $79 and has a decent feature set. It has a battery that can last 14 days in standard mode and 26 days in battery saving mode. However, it would only last six days with heavy use, which, while not as amazing as some of our other recommendations, is still much better than the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Of course, being so affordable, the Bip 6 isn’t packed with smart features. But it can work with your iPhone, answer calls via Bluetooth, sync its data with Apple Health (among several other services), and mirror your phone’s notifications. You can also use it to find your phone if it’s misplaced. Other highlights include its ability to track more than 140 workouts and your vital signs, including heart rate, sleep, stress, blood oxygen levels, and breathing. More importantly, like the Active Max, its water resistance is rated at 5 ATM and can handle up to 164 feet of water depth for about 10 minutes, allowing you to use it while swimming, unlike the CMF Watch 3 Pro. Consumer Reports also recommends this inexpensive smartwatch because of its solid value.

It packs a 1.97-inch rectangular AMOLED display with 302 ppi and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, which seems good, considering its price. Additionally, it has an aluminum frame with a reinforced polymer casing that supports standard 22mm bands. That said, the Bip 6 does have some missing features and drawbacks. For example, it doesn’t support NFC, can’t install third-party apps, and suffers from low Bluetooth range when communicating with iPhones.

The Garmin Forerunner 165 is one of the most affordable smartwatches in the Garmin lineup, but that doesn’t mean it’s light on features or specs. More importantly, like most of the company’s offerings, it offers good battery life, with up to 11 days of battery life in standard mode and up to 20 days in power-saving mode, all for $200.

As the name suggests, this is a smartwatch primarily aimed at runners; however, it can accommodate a host of other workouts, including swimming, racquet sports, and gym activities. Besides the typical sensors included in most consumer smartwatches for heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep tracking, it includes a barometric altimeter, compass, and thermometer. Garmin has also included plenty of smart features. For example, you receive notifications, calendar access, weather, music control, Garmin Pay, etc.

Like our other recommendations, it has a touchscreen AMOLED display but with a relatively smaller 1.2-inch size and decent brightness. Although some prefer a larger size, the smaller version works well for people with thin wrists. The screen is also bright enough and remains visible under direct sunlight. Additionally, five physical buttons allow you to interact with the smartwatch without needing the touchscreen too often. It’s missing some training metrics as well as a triathlon mode that you get in the more expensive Garmin watches, and there’s no voice assistant if that matters to you. Users say it can be a bit slow to get a GPS lock and can be easily scratched; otherwise, there’s a lot to like here.

While there is no shortage of affordable smartwatches that support iPhones, their performance and overall experience can vary widely. Therefore, while selecting the budget smartwatches with better battery life than Apple Watch Ultra 3, we focused on the actual capabilities of each smartwatch as well as their battery performance. We took into account expert opinions and buyer feedback to refine our selection. We also limited our budget to less than $200 to ensure our recommendations were reasonably affordable without being too underpowered or under-presented. All of our recommendations feature the essential health and fitness features as well as a decent selection of smart or even extensive features.