Apple Watch Series 5 vs 6: What is the Difference Between Both?

Both the Apple Watch Series 5 and the Apple Watch Series 6 look very similar design-wise, but many things have changed. Whether you’re looking forward to purchasing either of these devices or are an existing iWatch 5 user who wants to know if its worth upgrading to the Apple Watch 6, this comparison shall be helpful.

Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS, 44mm) - Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band

New Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS, 40mm) - Blue Aluminum Case with Deep Navy Sport Band

$421.05

$384.98

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Buy on Amazon

Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS, 44mm) - Space Gray Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band

$421.05

Buy on Amazon

New Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS, 40mm) - Blue Aluminum Case with Deep Navy Sport Band

$384.98

-

Buy on Amazon

The Apple Watch 6 comes with better set of features like the blood oxygen level sensor, built-in ECG, always-on Retina Display, all this appeal to tech enthusiasts and those who are seriously concerned about their health.

But, if you already have an Apple Watch Series 5, the story is a little different.

You may be wondering if it’s worth upgrading to the newer version. If you think about it, the Apple Watch 5 you own is not more than a year old. Despite being an older version, it also comes with features like the ECG sensor, 50m water resistance, a bigger Retina Display, and customizable straps.

However, there is more to an Apple Watch 5 vs. Apple Watch 6 than what you can see on a spec-sheet or number-to-number comparison.

To answer this question once and for all, we have prepared a fully-fledged comparison between Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch Series 6. Although we prioritize talking about the features that make a difference, we’d also share ample information about both devices from a smartwatch experience standpoint.

Before we begin, here are the quick differences between Apple Watch 5 and Apple Watch 6 that you should know:

What’s the main difference between the Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch Series 6?

The main difference between the Apple Watch Series 5 and the Series 6 is, that the Apple Watch 6 comes with new advanced features like the blood oxygen sensor, always-on altimeter, slightly better battery and an improved chipset.

As an Apple Watch Series 5 user, should you upgrade to the Apple Watch 6?

If you don’t mind the lack of the new blood oxygen sensor, always-on-altimeter, and the improved chipset (which makes the watch slightly faster), then you shouldn’t upgrade from Apple Watch 5 to Series 6. Despite being a year old, the Watch Series 5 delivers a similar experience to Series 6.

Comparison Chart — Apple Watch 5 Vs. Apple Watch 6

The following chart would give you a pretty detailed overview of both the models of the Apple Watch. If you have used an Apple Watch — or another smartwatch, for that matter — before, you would also have a clear idea of how these specifications translate to the real-life experience.

Here’s a comparison chart showcasing the difference between Apple Watch 5 and 6.

Now that we have seen how the Apple Watch 5 and Apple Watch 6 look on paper, shall we check out how they perform in individual sections? I’ve divided the comparison in different sections, where I’ll go deep into how each number impacts the overall User Experience on Apple Watch.

Design

Like the last year, Apple has not changed the design language or elements on the new Apple Watch 6. It has instead kept the Sapphire Crystal Glass and the changeable strap design for users’ convenience. You can get both models at 40mm and 44mm strap sizes, as per your needs.

In terms of durability, both the watches offer water-resistance of up to 50m, which is a solace for those who swim and scuba-dive a lot. You could also choose between the beautiful color options, an area where there is a slight change. The Apple Watch Series 6 now gives you a Product RED option, which looks stunning.

As it happens, the only way of telling these two smartwatches apart is by looking at the Product RED color. That’s all about design there is. Overall, you shouldn’t think about upgrading from Apple Watch 5 to Apple Watch 6 if you expect a noticeable change in the design. You can’t possibly tell them apart!

Display

Just like we saw in the design department, the display departments of Apple Watch 5 and Apple Watch 6 are virtually similar. Both devices use the specially-designed Retina LTPO OLED panel, which can get adequately bright, thanks to its peak brightness of 1000nits.

So, carrying this smartwatch on your wrist even on a broad-lit day won’t be a problem. On top of these, the display panel has a size of 1.78 inches and comes with a 448 x 368 resolution. Just to be clear here, this panel is sharp enough to show you all the apps and details.

Both watches come with super-useful features like an always-on display and custom watch-faces. We should mention that watchOS does an incredible job of managing the always-on display, adjusting the brightness for a long-lasting battery. Similarly, you get to choose from an astonishing variety of watch faces.

Apple’s 3D Touch display has been flawless since the beginning, and both Watch 5 and Watch 6 continue the legacy very well. Regardless of the device you buy, we recommend getting a screen protector, coupled with a protective case if you are a rough user.

Again, you should not consider upgrading to Apple Watch 6 if you were looking for a performance bump in display quality. However, some reviews say that the Always-on-Display on the Apple Watch 6 is up to 2.5 times brighter than the one we see on the Series 5.

Built-in Sensors

While both the Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6 come with the basic set of health, fitness, and activity sensors, there are a few pointers that make a difference. The standard sensors you would find are Altimeter, Barometer, Accelerometer, Ambient-light sensor, compass, ECG, heart-rate sensor, and Gyroscope.

However, the brand-new Apple Watch Series 6 comes with Blood Oxygen Monitoring, a feature that we’ve not seen in many smartwatch models. This feature will continuously analyze the level of Oxygen in the user’s blood and use the metrics to designate the current health and fitness situation. You can use the extra sensor to collect data during active workouts as well as sleep.

Apart from this, the heart monitoring sensors on both devices stay the same. For instance, an electrical heart sensor will keep an eye on your heart rhythm and notify you about Atrial Fibrillation. Other options like Noise Monitoring, Incident fall detection, and Emergency Calling features add so much value.

While the blood oxygen monitoring is a fantastic feature, you should think twice before upgrading just for the sake of it. Technically speaking, data from other apps would be comprehensive enough to provide you a detailed image of your health and fitness. Therefore, unless you are looking for the power and accuracy of measuring the oxygen level in the blood, you have a tie here.

In case you didn’t know, all the other sensors on the device work towards providing an innovative wearable tech experience when combined with the latest watchOS version.

Activity and Fitness Tracking

Apple Watch devices are considered the best when it comes to activity and fitness tracking. When connected to an iPhone and a suitable set of apps, this smartwatch can literally ‘save’ your life. As it happens, both the Watch Series 5 and Series 6 perform equally well in this department.

Both the devices can easily capture metrics such as the number of calories you burn, the total distance you have covered, the amount of sleep you get, and the length you have swum so far. Besides, you get some handy features like menstrual cycle tracking and various sport modes.

We should keep in mind that you can expand the possibilities of fitness and activity tracking in an Apple Watch using third-party apps. For instance, if you get the Series 6 for the addition of the Blood Oxygen Sensor, you can get an app from the Watch App Store that can provide a more in-depth analysis of the data your Apple Watch collects.

You can also configure apps to show you on-time notifications by setting up scenarios. Given all these points, the Apple Watch 6 won’t make you feel any difference unless you want to get the best experience out of the Blood Oxygen sensor. We should also remember that both the devices will be running the latest version of watchOS: watchOS 7.1.

Considering that the software manages almost everything regarding activity tracking, it’s all fine.

OS and Interface

Here is another area where the Series 5 and Series 6 perform in almost the same way. As you can see, both devices run on watchOS 7.1, the latest, polished OS from Apple. So, every superb feature on the watchOS package will be available on both these devices. An improved collection of apps, better battery optimization, and bug fixes are the distinctive aspects here.

With the latest version of watchOS, Apple has added support for more watch-faces. This gives users an edge when it comes to customizing how their smartwatch looks. Because both these devices have an always-on display panel, you may want to check out watch faces more than you used to. Did we say that watch-faces let you one more step into customization?

Apple has also improved the Sleep app, compilations, and fitness options in these watches. To adapt to these pandemic times, Apple has included a hand wash reminder you can enable. It should also be noted that Siri, Siri Shortcuts, and Music work way better than they used to in the previous watchOS versions.

As we mentioned while discussing the display, Apple uses one of the best touchscreen interfaces you can see in the market. Due to this and the powerful software inside, navigating within the Apple Watch 5 and Watch 6 are easier than ever. In addition to the high-resolution display, Apple has included a digital crown, making way for effective navigation.

It is also worth noting that the Apple Watch works so well in sync with your iPhone. So, if you have used the iOS interface for at least some time, you won’t have trouble getting around the watchOS interface.

Conclusively, if we keep the data from the Oxygen sensor aside, you again have a tie between the Series 5 and Series 6 devices.

Hardware

As you can see from the table shown above, the Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6 differ from each other in terms of only one thing: the chipset.

While the one-year-old Apple Watch Series 5 uses the Apple S5 System-in-Package, the Series 6 has opted for the Apple S6 System-in-Package. While both these chips are 64-bit and dual-core, the new chips happen to be based on the A13 Bionic chip that we have seen in iPhone 11. As per Apple, this means the Apple Watch 6 will be able to launch apps 20% faster.

Even more importantly, this boost in performance does not impact the all-day battery life. The company adds that the Series 6 would run for up to 18 hours on a single charge. So that you know, you can find the same chip in the budget-friendly Apple Watch SE that Apple had launched alongside.

Apart from this boost in performance, the hardware aspects of Series 6 and Series 5 are the same. Both devices come with 32GB of internal storage, which you can use as app and music storage. Similarly, you get 1GB of RAM, which is surprisingly enough to handle the many apps you may run in the background.

As is the case with every other Apple product, you can’t even think about expandable data storage here.

Battery Life in Different Modes

It is practically insensible to say how much your Apple Watch would run for on a single charge since everyone has a different usage pattern. According to Apple, both these devices will run for up to 18 hours, which means you can spend a day without recharging the watch.

Of course, you should expect an inferior battery life if you plan to make hours of phone calls or turn 4G LTE enabled at all times. We should also consider that the Series 6 uses a newer, non-removable Lithium-Ion battery instead of a Lithium-Polymer battery on the Series 5. Series 6 also has an increased battery capacity of 303.8mAh.

While this should have given you a slight improvement in battery life, the Series 6 is powered by a more powerful chipset. So, these factors cancel each other, providing you the 18-hour, all-day battery life that Apple promises. If you want a better set of statistics from the testings conducted by Apple, you can check out the official page.

As you may know, both models of Apple Watch use an inductive charging magnet, which is still included in the package! Depending on the adaptor you are using, it may take up to 2 hours to fully charge your Apple Watch. Do keep in mind that these numbers are just for the sake of representation, as the real numbers vary a lot.

On the bright side, Watch Series 6 gives you better performance while offering the same battery life.

Connectivity Options

While most of the connectivity options stay the same in Series 5 and Series 6 variants, we got to mention a few for sure. First things first, you have all the necessary options like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Calling, GPS, and NFC. You can use the GPS for standalone navigation and workouts, while the NFC enables easy pairing and Apple Pay payments.

If you opt for the GPS + LTE variant of these devices, you get eSIM support. Almost all major cellular carriers in different markets have added support for Apple Watch by now. So, you won’t have difficulty sharing your data and calling plan with the Watch and making calls even when your iPhone isn’t nearby. These things would stay the same.

The differences come in the Wi-Fi and wireless connectivity department. While the Series 5 has used Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, the Series 6 has opted for Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with dual-band support. You can now connect to both 2.5GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. Even more importantly, Apple has included its U1 Ultra-Wideband chip in the Series 6 device.

This U1 chip is Apple’s trump card in establishing better connectivity options between other products and services. Although in the beginning stages, this tech is said to be faster and more stable than Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, keep in mind that you don’t get to see any massive difference in average Wi-Fi speeds or Bluetooth pairing in the Series 6 Watch.

If you own and use a variety of Apple products and continue to do so in the future, the U1 chip will be a great addition, thereby making the Series 6 a more appealing option.

Extra Features

Here is another confusing thing to talk about Apple Watch devices.

Most of the extra features on smartwatches are determined by the OS that the devices run on. As we said earlier, both the Series 5 and Series 6 Apple Watch devices run watchOS 7.1. In light of that fact, you get to enjoy all the excellent features on both devices.

We are talking about SMS alerts, call alerts, email alerts, event reminders, and third-party app alerts. As discussed in the OS section earlier, watchOS 7.1 comes with a useful collection of extra features like Siri Shortcuts.

For instance, you can create shortcuts for actions you commonly perform and place them on the watch home screen. Once again, we can’t be so definite here since Apple offers regular software updates. Both these devices should be getting software updates for an extended period, provided that the watchOS 7.1 is available for even the Series 3 of Apple Watch.

By the way, the extra features you can enjoy on an Apple Watch also depends on the model of iPhone you are using and the iOS version. Rest assured, you can get the best experience if you have an iPhone 11 or 12 running iOS 13 or later. Long story short, you shouldn’t upgrade to Series 6 for the sake of extra features.

Warranty

As long as you buy the product from an authorized reseller or an Apple Store, you get a one-year warranty on both Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6.

You have to keep in mind that it offers a limited warranty, and Apple has a history of refusing warranty for even some silly reasons. But, if you have been using Apple products for a while, you probably knew this, didn’t you?

Apple Watch Series 5: The Pros & Cons

Apple Watch Series 6: The Pros & Cons

Value and Price

Though launched at $429, the Apple Watch Series 5 (44mm) GPS variant is now available from Amazon at just $329 and free shipping. Given that you can compromise the advanced set of features like the Blood Oxygen sensor and the U1 chip, this is an excellent value for a good-looking, premium smartwatch. Thanks to the similar design, you won’t have trouble getting protective accessories and straps, either.

But, here’s the thing. Apple has priced the Series 6 at a lower MSRP of just $399. On Amazon, you can get the GPS version (40mm) of the device for only $369, which is just a $40 difference from the Apple Watch Series 5. If you are upgrading from Series 2 or 3 and don’t mind going for the 40mm version, the Series 6 definitely offers better value. It’s like you can’t go wrong with this.

By the way, if you insist on having the 44mm variant of the Watch Series 6, you can get it for just $399, which, we believe, is a fantastic deal today. Of course, you should not expect these rates if you get the product from an Apple Store. However, you may be able to get some other discounts or promotions.

Who Should Buy This Watch?

If you are desperate to save a few dollars by giving up some advanced features like the Blood Oxygen sensor and U1 Ultrawide Chip, you should get the Apple Watch Series 5. Ultimately, it is a powerful smartwatch that provides almost every other feature you can find in the newer version. Because it runs on watchOS 7.1, you don’t have to worry about extra options, either. Therefore, this device is for people with budget constraints.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Verdict

Considering the various factors such as display, design, connectivity, and hardware, we think the Apple Watch Series 6 is the better option in the market right now.

While the Blood Oxygen sensor and the U1 chip are technically the only difference between the Apple Watch 6 and Apple Watch 5, the selling price differs by only a few dollars. So, even if you don’t necessarily like these features, it makes sense to get a newer-generation Watch by paying a few more dollars extra.

The Watch Series 6 seems to be the superior option from the investment standpoint as well. As we mentioned earlier, the device comes with the U1 chip, which Apple will be basing many of its technologies on.

Therefore, having a device that can quickly adapt to those features is a smart option on any day. After all, you are getting a product from Apple, and you can also expect one of the best ecosystem experiences.