Apple Watch SE 3 vs OnePlus Watch 2R

Apple Watch SE 3

Apple

8.5

The best-value Apple Watch ever made

OnePlus Watch 2R

OnePlus

Best-value Wear OS battery champ

Apple Watch SE 3

What Reviewers Agree On

Same S10 chip as the $399 Series 11 and $799 Ultra 3 — identical core performance for the lowest price in the lineup.
Always-on display arrives on the SE for the first time — reviewers call it 'a huge upgrade' for the line.
Fast charging is new to the SE — roughly 0-80% in 45 minutes, and a 15-minute top-up buys about 8 hours.
Outstanding value at a held-steady $249 — TechRadar: 'the best-value Apple Watch ever made'; Gizmodo: 'a stupidly good value for $250.'
The full Apple Watch experience — workouts, activity rings, crash and fall detection, Apple Pay, the App Store — with nothing core missing.

Pros & Cons

Apple Watch SE 3

Pros

Same S10 chip as the $399 Series 11 and $799 Ultra 3 — identical core performance for the lowest price in the lineup.
Always-on display arrives on the SE for the first time — reviewers call it 'a huge upgrade' for the line.
Fast charging is new to the SE — roughly 0-80% in 45 minutes, and a 15-minute top-up buys about 8 hours.
Outstanding value at a held-steady $249 — TechRadar: 'the best-value Apple Watch ever made'; Gizmodo: 'a stupidly good value for $250.'
The full Apple Watch experience — workouts, activity rings, crash and fall detection, Apple Pay, the App Store — with nothing core missing.

Detailed Comparison

Battery & Charging

Apple Watch SE 3

Apple still rates the SE 3 at 18 hours of all-day battery, and that conservative number holds — but independent endurance tests stretched it to 37-41 hours of continuous wear depending on size. The genuine upgrade is fast charging: roughly 0-80% in 45 minutes, with a 15-minute top-up buying about 8 hours. A low-power mode reaches ~32 hours.

Fast charging is new to the SE line — about 0-80% in 45 minutes, matching Apple's claim in testing.
A 15-minute top-up buys roughly 8 hours of use — enough to rescue a sleep-tracking night.
Endurance test: the 44mm SE 3 ran ~41 hours of continuous wear and the 40mm ~37-38 hours — far beyond Apple's conservative 18-hour rating.
Still rated 18 hours — fast charging helps, but daily charging is the reality, and you may need a pre-bed top-up for sleep tracking.

TechTalkTown may earn a commission from purchases made through links below. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not influence our reviews. Learn more.

Buy Apple Watch SE 3

Buy OnePlus Watch 2R

People Also Compare

Apple Watch SE 3 vs Google Pixel Watch 4 Google Pixel Watch 4 vs OnePlus Watch 2R Apple Watch SE 3 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs OnePlus Watch 2R Apple Watch SE 3 vs Apple Watch Series 11 Apple Watch Series 11 vs OnePlus Watch 2R Apple Watch SE 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 OnePlus Watch 2R vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Apple Watch SE 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic OnePlus Watch 2R vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic

Browse all reviews

OnePlus Watch 2R

What Reviewers Agree On

Class-leading Wear OS battery life — a dual-chipset (Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 + BES2700) design gives ~3-4 days of real use, far beyond Pixel/Galaxy Wear OS rivals
Genuinely fast charging for a smartwatch — roughly 0-100% in ~50-65 minutes and a 10-minute top-up for about a full day
Excellent value at ~$229 (often $175-200 on sale) — close to flagship functionality for a fraction of the price
Lightweight, comfortable aluminium build (~25% lighter than the Watch 2) with IP68 + 5ATM and standard 22mm straps
A clean, responsive Wear OS 4 experience with the liked 'Bubbles' app interface — better than its early reputation

Deal Breakers

Single-band GPS and a dimmer 1,000-nit (600-nit typical) screen versus the Watch 2's dual-frequency GPS and brighter rivals
Only ~2 years of software updates and no fall detection — short support for a long-life watch
Basic OHealth fitness/sleep tracking and slow (~8-10 min) auto workout detection — not for serious athletes
Panda Glass (not sapphire) build is more scratch/crack-prone than the steel OnePlus Watch 2
Large 47mm-class body and quiet speaker; no LTE and no rotating crown

OnePlus Watch 2R

Pros

Class-leading Wear OS battery life — a dual-chipset (Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 + BES2700) design gives ~3-4 days of real use, far beyond Pixel/Galaxy Wear OS rivals
Genuinely fast charging for a smartwatch — roughly 0-100% in ~50-65 minutes and a 10-minute top-up for about a full day
Excellent value at ~$229 (often $175-200 on sale) — close to flagship functionality for a fraction of the price
Lightweight, comfortable aluminium build (~25% lighter than the Watch 2) with IP68 + 5ATM and standard 22mm straps
A clean, responsive Wear OS 4 experience with the liked 'Bubbles' app interface — better than its early reputation

Cons

Single-band GPS and a dimmer 1,000-nit (600-nit typical) screen versus the Watch 2's dual-frequency GPS and brighter rivals
Only ~2 years of software updates and no fall detection — short support for a long-life watch
Basic OHealth fitness/sleep tracking and slow (~8-10 min) auto workout detection — not for serious athletes
Panda Glass (not sapphire) build is more scratch/crack-prone than the steel OnePlus Watch 2
Large 47mm-class body and quiet speaker; no LTE and no rotating crown

OnePlus Watch 2R

The headline strength. The dual-chipset design makes this the longest-lasting Wear OS watch — 3-4 days real-world against OnePlus's 100h smart / 48h heavy / 12-day power-saving claims — and it recharges in about an hour.

OnePlus claims up to 100 hours in Smart Mode, 48 hours heavy use, and 12 days in power-saving mode from the 500mAh cell.
Real-world: ~3 days with the always-on display off and lift-to-wake — closer to 4 days light, not quite the 100h claim without battery-saver tweaks.
Hands-on: hit ~90 hours in Smart Mode with brightness near max before being forced into battery-saver — the longest battery life of any Wear OS watch tested.
Day test: 100% in the morning, a gym hour plus heavy Google Maps walking, and it still had ~62% the next morning.
Charging: 0-100% in roughly 50-65 minutes on the included charger, exactly as OnePlus claims; a 10-minute top-up gives about a full day's use.
Charging is via a magnetic 4-pin/Pogo dock with a removable USB-C cable — there is no wireless charging (despite some spec listings citing 7.5W wireless, which appears to be Watch 2 data).
Power-saving auto-engages at 10%; the secondary RTOS chip flattens drain so the watch keeps notifications and basics for days more.

Value vs Competition

Apple Watch SE 3

At a held-steady $249, the SE 3 is the cheapest way into a current Apple Watch and the obvious pick for most iPhone owners. The $399 Series 11 adds ECG, blood oxygen, hypertension alerts, a brighter screen and 24-hour battery; the $799 Ultra 3 adds far more. For the majority, the SE 3's gaps will not be felt.

TechRadar's verdict: the SE 3 'might be the best-value Apple Watch ever made.'
Mike O'Brien calls it 'the best Apple Watch for most people' — major improvements with very few noticeable differences from the $400 Series 11.
Gizmodo: 'The Apple Watch SE 3 is a stupidly good value for $250.'
Step up to the $399 Series 11 for ECG, blood oxygen, hypertension alerts, a 2,000-nit screen and 24-hour battery — worth it only if you actually need those.
Best for: first-time Apple Watch buyers and anyone who wants the core experience for the lowest price — Tom's Guide names the SE 3 'the best value, great for first-time users.'

OnePlus Watch 2R

At ~$229 (often $175-200 on sale) the 2R is widely called the best-value Wear OS watch — it delivers ~95% of flagship functionality and the platform's best battery, against a Watch 2 that costs more for steel and dual-frequency GPS.

The best budget Android watch tested at this price — frequently discounted a further $50.
Verdict: 'Hey, not half bad' — a genuinely good affordable Wear OS option.
At ~$229 it delivers roughly 95% of flagship-watch functionality (those cost 2-3x) with no significant compromises for everyday use.
Versus rivals at similar money: far longer battery than the Galaxy Watch 7 (40h, ~£289) and Pixel Watch 3 (24h, ~£349), and well beyond an Apple Watch SE (18h).
Versus the Watch 2 (~$299): the 2R felt slightly shorter on battery in real use and trades the steel build for plastic-ier glass — a ~$50-100 saving that doesn't fully justify itself for some.