4 Budget Smartwatches With Better Battery Life Than The Apple Watch Ultra 3

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Apple's flagship Watch Ultra 3 is known for its relatively longer battery life in the company's smartwatch lineup. It is claimed to last up to 42 hours in the standard mode and up to 72 hours in the low power mode, which is significantly higher than the battery life claims for the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Watch SE 2. However, unless you don't have a problem plugging your Apple Watch in for charging every other day, the 42-hour battery life isn't very long, and let's not forget that you are spending $799 for the Ultra 3.

Fortunately, if your heart isn't completely set on the Apple Watch lineup, manufacturers like Amazfit, CMF by Nothing, and Garmin offer smartwatches with multiday battery life at a fraction of the Ultra 3's price. More importantly, all these smartwatches are compatible with iPhones. We picked up these smartwatches after not only considering their battery life claims but also health and fitness features that can add actual value to your everyday life.

Although CMF is a relatively recent entrant in the smartwatch space, it has already become one of the better cheap smartwatch brands. The CMF Watch 3 Pro is a $99 smartwatch that claims to last 13 days on a single charge with typical usage and 10 days on heavy usage. It can also be charged from zero to 100% in 99 minutes. These 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. Although it can't compete with the best fitness trackers on the market, you can still track a host of workouts, get a heart rate sensor, and find support for sleep tracking and blood oxygen monitoring. There is also a dual-band GPS onboard for better location accuracy.

Of course, the affordable pricing means that CMF had to cut some corners, and one notable downside is its inability to handle a swim. That said, it's rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, meaning it's capable enough for taking on a dunk for up to 30 minutes in still, clear water (to a depth of around 5 feet). But don't wear it in hot showers, saunas, pools, or natural water bodies. Plus, the CMF Watch 3 Pro is not big on smart features as it lacks support for third-party apps and NFC for contactless payments. It does offer quick access to your calendar, a voice assistant, voice recorder, Bluetooth calling, phone notifications, and more. That said, it is a fairly large watch and it might not suit slender wrists.

Amazfit has long made some of the best budget smartwatches on the market, and the company's Active Max is an excellent choice for anyone looking for long battery life on a budget. The smartwatch has a claimed battery life of up to 25 days with typical usage and up to 13 days with heavy usage. This isn't completely surprising considering it packs a large 658mAh battery — nearly double that of the CMF smartwatch's 350mAh battery. The Active Max also comes with a 1.5-inch AMOLED display with 323 ppi and 3,000 nits peak brightness, which is the same you get in the Apple Watch Ultra 3, despite it only costing $170.

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

Like most other budget smartwatches, it's pretty light on smart features. However, it can show your phone notifications, make or receive calls, and make contactless payments. Moreover, you can control music playback on your phone and use the voice recorder for 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, and more. Sadly, its design is a bit dull and the smartwatch lacks a dual-frequency GPS, which you can find in some of our other recommendations. The smartwatch's companion app needs a little more polishing. 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 for 14 days in standard mode and 26 days in battery saver mode. However, it's claimed to last only six days on heavy usage, which, although not as amazing as some of our other recommendations, is still a lot better than the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Of course, being so affordable, the Bip 6 is not chock-full of smart features. But it can work with your iPhone, attend calls using Bluetooth, sync its data with Apple Health (among several other services), and mirror your phone notifications. You can also use it to find your phone if it's misplaced. Other highlights include its ability to track over 140 workouts and your vitals, including heart rate, sleep, stress, blood oxygen levels, and breathing. More importantly, like the Active Max, it's rated 5 ATM for water resistance 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 cheap smartwatch owing to its solid price-to-performance ratio.

It packs a 1.97-inch rectangular AMOLED screen with 302 ppi and 2,000 nits peak brightness, which looks good, given its price point. Additionally, it has an aluminum frame with a reinforced polymer casing that supports standard 22 mm bands. That said, the Bip 6 does have some missing features and downsides. For example, it lacks NFC support, 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 Garmin's portfolio, but that doesn't mean it's light in features or specs. More importantly, like many of the company's offerings, it offers good battery life, with a claimed backup of up to 11 days in standard mode and up to 20 days in power saver mode – all for $200.

As the name suggests, it's a smartwatch primarily targeted at runners; however, it can track a host of other workouts, including swimming, racket sports, and gym activities. Besides the typical sensors included in most mainstream budget smartwatches for heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep tracking, it features a barometric altimeter, compass, and a thermometer. Garmin has included a bunch of smart features as well. For example, you get notifications, calendar access, weather, music control, Garmin Pay, and more.

Like our other recommendations, it has a touch-capable AMOLED display but with a relatively smaller 1.2-inch size and decent brightness. While some may prefer a larger size, the smaller build works well for folks with slender wrists. The display is also bright enough and remains visible under direct sunlight. Moreover, there are five physical buttons that allow you to interact with the smartwatch without needing the touchscreen too often. It does miss out on some training metrics as well as a triathlon mode that you get in the more expensive Garmin watches, and there is no voice assistant if you care about that. Users say that it can be a bit slow in getting a GPS lock and can get scratched up easily; otherwise, there is a lot to like here.

Although there is no dearth of affordable smartwatches that support iPhones, their performance and overall experience can vary widely. Hence, while picking up the budget smartwatches that offer better battery life than the Apple Watch Ultra 3, we focused on the actual capabilities of each smartwatch as well as their battery performance. We considered expert reviews and buyer feedback to refine our selection. We also limited our budget to under $200 to ensure our recommendations are reasonably affordable without being too underpowered or under-featured. All our recommendations have the essential health and fitness features as well as a decent selection of smart features, if not extensive.