The Apple Watch Series 5 was the first to feature an always-on display, and it made a huge difference. The Apple Watch’s face stayed black until you raised your wrist in prior years. You may now view the clock and whatever other information you’ve selected when you gaze down at your wrist, no matter what position it’s in.
Apple Watch Series 5: Specs
Size: 44mm / 40mm
Display: 977 sq mm / 759 sq mm
Thickness: 10.7mm
Processor: 64-bit dual-core S5 processor
Capacity: 32GB
Display: LTPO OLED Always-On Retina display with Force Touch, 1000 nits brightness
Bluetooth: 5.0
WiFi: 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz
The Apple Watch can now give you the time all the time, which may seem stupid, but it’s improvements like this that have sealed the Apple Watch’s top spot in our current smartwatch rankings.
Of course, that honor now belongs to the new Apple Watch Series 6, with the Apple Watch SE not far behind in terms of functionality (check out our Apple Watch 6 vs. Apple Watch 5 comparison for more on that.) With a brighter always-on display and blood oxygen monitoring, the Series 6 builds on the success of the Series 5.
Other notable enhancements are the heart health diagnostic tools — including the ECG app — that we considered vital in our Apple Watch Series 4 review. It also gets the current watchOS 7 software upgrade, which adds sleep monitoring and new watch faces to the mix.
Continue reading for our complete Apple Watch Series 5 review. If you do decide to acquire one for yourself, be sure to read through our comprehensive Apple Watch Guide for tips on how to get the most out of your smartwatch.
If you’ve been eyeing an Apple Watch, you might want to hold off until the Series 7 is released, as Apple has stated. Apple has stated that the new watch will have a brighter screen, thinner display borders, and faster charging than previous models.
Apple Watch Series 5: Price and availability
The Series 5 is no longer available for purchase as a new model. Instead, the Series 6’s thinner aluminum 40-millimeter variant with GPS starts at $399 (£399). You can spend an extra $100 on a cellular-enabled watch (which also requires a monthly data plan from your wireless carrier for an additional cost). The bigger 44-mm watch costs $429 (£429), while the LTE version costs $520 (£520).
Check out our Apple Watch offers page for the most up-to-date savings on Apple’s smartwatches, as well as the best Apple Watch bands to discover the perfect fit.
Apple Watch Series 5 review: Display
I’ve tried nearly every other smartwatch on the market, and the vast majority of them have always-on displays. But that only means you can see the time at all times. Apple’s take on the always-on display is a bit more.
The Series 5 does more than just tell you the time. When you are not wearing your watch, the display dims all of the information on your watch face. I normally use the Infograph Modular watch face, which offers six complications in addition to the time, so I can see my most-used applications (Workout and Messages), as well as weather and battery percentage information. When the display dims, I can still see everything.
Brighter watch faces, such as Meridian, have an almost completely white background that fades to black as you lower your wrist.
The display’s ambient light sensor can detect how bright your surroundings are and alter the brightness of the display accordingly, ensuring that it is never too bright or dark.
The always-on display dims and blurs the background when you’re using an app to show you the time when it’s not in use. Except for the Workout app, which continues to display all of your metrics even when you’re not looking at the watch.
Apple Watch Series 5 review: Battery life
I normally wear my Apple Watch from the moment I wake up in the morning to work out until I take it off to go to bed — about 16 hours every day. Older watches, especially the Series 3 and 4, could last much longer, but I never used them to track my sleep, so I had to charge them every night.
The Apple Watch Series 5’s always-on display doesn’t appear to deplete the battery as much as the Series 3’s cellular connectivity did when it first came out. I was down to 10% after a full 14-hour day of intense testing of the new watch, which included installing apps, testing Maps and Compass, documenting my cycle, asking Siri numerous inquiries, and tracking a 3.75-mile run and a 2-mile walk as separate exercises. And I almost never wear my watch that much.
Apple Watch Series 5 review: Design
The Apple Watch hasn’t been redesigned in a long time. In every regard, the Series 5 is similar to the Series 4.
Apple debuted a new titanium finish that is easy to put on and looks attractive in person, as well as bringing back the white ceramic model, which is a high-end watch with a high price tag ($1,299).
Most people will still go for the basic aluminum variant. And, instead of having to take whatever comes in the box and then pick out the strap you want, Apple now allows you to customize the watch finish and band before you buy.
Apple Watch Series 5 review: Verdict
The Series 5 is an incremental upgrade over previous Apple Watches, which introduced then-groundbreaking capabilities including GPS and water resistance (Series 2), cellular networking (Series 3) and medical-grade health functions (Series 4). Apple, on the other hand, established an almost impossible bar for smartwatches – even for itself. Rival smartwatches may have had always-on displays first, but in practically every other regard, they fall well behind the Apple Watch.