Final Test Results: Apple Watch Series 7

Apple's latest smartwatch features a larger, tougher display, but not much else is new

Allen St. John, Consumer Reports Senior Home & Tech Writer.

By Allen St. John
Senior Home & Tech Writer

Updated December 7, 2021

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white, black, and grey Apple Watch 7s — The Apple Watch Series 7 (far right) features a bigger display than the SE (center) or the old Series 5 (left)

Not long after William Shatner went into orbit with Blue Origin, the new Apple Watch Series 7 arrived on Earth and made a statement that channels "Star Trek": Even on something as small as a smartwatch face, space is still the final frontier.

By far the most significant change in the new model, which starts at $399, is a display that’s almost 20 percent larger than that on last year’s Series 6 Watch. And that growth is accomplished without making the case of the Series 7 watch noticeably bigger than its predecessor.

The other new features on Apple’s flagship smartwatch are somewhat faster charging (although battery life remains the same, the company says) and a crystal that’s said to be substantially more rugged and resistant to breakage.

And, of course, there’s a bunch of fun new colors, including a striking, and maybe even sexy, deep green.

The prices for the Series 7 start at $399 with the aluminum case, and climb quite rapidly from there. Stainless steel, which comes in Gold and Silver, starts at $749, while titanium starts at $799. The Hermès models max out at $1,759. In previous evaluations, we’ve found the base aluminum models to be rugged, look good, and wear well, so aesthetics and exclusivity are your main incentives to upgrade.

In our lab tests, the Series 7 performed very well, but it did fall just a bit short of the Series 6 and SE models.

"This is due to the heart-rate and steps accuracy scores," says Charles Davidman, leader of our smartwatch testing program.

Testers also noted that ease of interaction—the time that a watch takes to respond to user inputs—was slightly worse with the Series 7 than the previous models. These differences were consistent across multiple samples of the Series 7, all purchased by our shoppers at full retail.

As Davidman explains, those differences among the models are real, but also relatively minor. The Series 7 still earned an Excellent rating for ease of interaction, even though its ordinal score was slightly lower than that of the older Apple models. The differences in heart rate accuracy and step count accuracy were more significant, but far from a dealbreaker. "I personally don’t think the exact number of steps matters as much as your trend over time," he says.

Our testers did find that the glass covering the Series 7 display was more scratch-resistant than the crystals on the SE and the aluminum version of the Series 6. The stainless steel version of the Series 6, which has a sapphire glass, also earned an Excellent rating in this test.

To help you choose the best option, here’s a closer look at what we learned about the Series 7 watch.

A Modest Millimeter

When I unboxed the Series 7, what struck me first is how much the device looked like my Series 6 watch. The Series 7 is virtually the same thickness as its predecessor, as best I can tell without a micrometer.

And while Apple maintains that the case has grown by 1 mm—from 44mm for the Series 6 to 45mm (and from 40mm to 41mm for the smaller Series 7)—the difference is so small as to be almost indistinguishable, even when I held the models side by side.

Apple also says the contours of the corners on the Series 7 are slightly softer. But, while I guess I could see that change if I squinted hard, that seems to me like the kind of super-subtle modification that’s best appreciated by industrial designers.

detail of person's wrist wearing Apple Watch 7 — The Apple Watch Series 7 has a slightly larger case and slightly softer contours on the corners.

What is obvious is the striking green of the aluminum case on the model I tried out. The deep, elegant hue reminds me of the British racing green that adorned vintage Bentley speedsters of the 1930s. Indeed, in low-light situations, the case almost appears to be black, and only the pure black of the crown makes it clear that it’s not. My sample came with a light Clover green silicone Solo loop strap, but I’m guessing that a cognac brown leather strap would make a green Apple Watch look like a million bucks.

The other new colors also channel the super-saturated aesthetic of the green watch. Midnight, which replaces the venerable Space Gray, is a navy so dark it can appear black; the revised Product Red is deeper, too; a rather mundane blue might look better in person than in Apple’s press photos. The most controversial shade seems to be Starlight, a warm champagne tone that’s supposed to split the difference between last year’s Silver and Gold, but instead has managed to rile fans of both of those classic Apple colors.

One good thing: The Apple Watch Series 7 can use the same bands as the Series 6, which no doubt will save thousands of previous-gen straps from going to the landfill. I tried the Pride-color Nike Sport Band I bought with my Series 6 on the Series 7 watch, and it fit perfectly. A Solo band from the Series 7 also fit like a glove on the Series 6 watch.

Larger Display, Tiny Keyboard

Once I loaded iOS 15 onto my iPhone and powered up the Series 7, I could see what all the fuss is about. Apple has enlarged the display mostly by reducing the size of the bezel, the rim that frames most electronic displays.

It’s not like the bezel has disappeared—it has merely shrunk from a thick line to a medium-width line. And with the company’s clever user interface, most Apple Watch apps have a black background, so even the thicker black bezel of the Series 6 was never particularly obvious.

The icons and buttons on the menu are noticeably bigger, too. Apple has introduced two new watch faces to take advantage of the Series 7’s additional acreage. A fun and funky Contour analog face (shown below) takes the numerals out to the very edge of the screen, while the Modular Duo allows two large horizontal complications—non-timekeeping functions found on your watch face, like heart rate trends or an hourly weather forecast—to be displayed at the same time. Not earth-shattering, but potentially useful.

detail of person's wrist wearing the Apple Watch 7 — The new Contour watch face takes advantage of the slightly larger screen on the Apple Watch Series 7.

Reading the same text message on both the Series 6 and Series 7 watches put things in perspective: The morning after attending a Lou Barlow house concert, I got a text notification from my friend Wes. The larger display yielded exactly one extra letter, turning "liber . . . " into "libera . . . " and making me open the full text to realize he was saying "liberating."

Leveraging the extra real estate, Apple has created a new QWERTY keyboard feature (shown below) that allows you to input text right there on the watch display. I tried responding to Wes about the show, but my large fingers and the less-than-agile autocorrect turned my attempt at typing "Barlow is a force of nature" into "Barlw os a scorching Marie." FWIW, my attempt at sending the same message with the watch’s Scribble feature was even worse, resulting in an illegible scrawl that I’d be embarrassed to send even to a good friend.

I can see how the itsy-bitsy keyboard could be useful for replying to an urgent text, but make sure you proofread your answer before sending it to your boss or significant other.

detail of finger typing text message on an Apple Watch 7 — The new QWERTY keyboard requires dexterous fingers to avoid typos.

The display on the Series 7 is supposed to be up to 20 percent brighter than its predecessor, but when I tried the Series 7 and Series 6 indoors and out in the autumn sunshine, the difference was quite subtle and only obvious upon direct comparison.

The most telling point? I’ve been wearing a silver 44 mm Series 6 watch on a regular basis since the spring. When I swapped bands between the watches during the day, I often forgot which model I was wearing until I looked carefully at the color of the cases.

Charging Up Your Sleep Tracking

The Apple Watch Series 7 includes a new and improved charging cable that, according to Apple, lets the new watch charge 33 percent faster than the Series 6, although battery life remains the same.

When I tried the new charger for a quick top-up, it largely worked as promised. To go from 88 percent to 100 percent took 21 minutes and might have been slowed a bit as I activated the display several times to check the progress.

The fast-charging feature requires that new charging cable, which is included with the Series 7 watch and can be distinguished by a charging pad that’s silver instead of the all-white of earlier Apple Watches. And before you ask, no, you can’t game the system by using the new cable to quick-charge your Series 6.

As with the Series 6 watch, the Series 7 watch ships with just the cable but no brick. And while previous Apple Watch chargers used USB-A connectors, this one sports a smaller USB-C connector like the one on the latest iPhone cables. Despite living in a house full of Apple gear, none of my bricks were compatible with this cable, so I ended up charging the Series 7 watch from my MacBook Pro laptop.

Whether the charging update represents an important improvement really depends on how you use your Apple Watch. If you take it off when you go to bed and slap it on the charger, you’ll hardly notice the change. But if you’re like me, and you wear your watch overnight for sleep tracking, the ability to add some juice on the fly–Apple claims that 8 minutes of charging is enough for 8 hours of sleep tracking–makes the device’s 18-hour battery life a little easier to manage.

Should You Buy an Apple Watch Series 7?

After using the Series 7, I found it’s better in some ways than the Series 6. But I have to add that it’s only incrementally better.

The 7’s new display is somewhat easier to read, and the improved charging also counts as a benefit.

Are these upgrades worth the extra money over a likely-to-be-discounted Series 6 or the $280 of the Apple Watch SE, which lacks a few features like blood oxygen monitoring? That’s your call and one best made by handling the watches in person.

(If you’re considering a cellular model, note that AT&T and T-Mobile are both offering a $200 discount if you buy two Apple Watches.)

But if you already have a Series 6 watch, spending the money to upgrade to the Series 7 watch makes less sense. You’d have to be pretty impressed with the Series 7’s larger display and marginally faster charging. Unless, of course, you find that one of the attractive new colors complements your ride or your favorite sweater.

Allen St. John

Allen St. John has been a senior product editor at CR since 2016, focusing on digital privacy, audio devices, printers, and home products. He was a senior editor at Condé Nast and a contributing editor at publications including Road & Track and The Village Voice. A New York Times bestselling author, he's also written for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Rolling Stone. He lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife, their two children, and their dog, Rugby.