Smartwatches / Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) vs Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)
Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) vs Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)
Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)
The most complete smartwatch you can buy — if you will never own anything but an iPhone.
Wins overall by 1.1 points
Quick Verdict
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) is the stronger all-round pick, ahead by 1.1 points. The most complete smartwatch you can buy — if you will never own anything but an iPhone.
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) and Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) are both current-generation smartwatch models, and the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) is $201 cheaper than the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) ($399 vs $599.95). On Ecosystem Freedom, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) leads (9.5 vs 1.0/10) — the category's trap dimension: how much of the watch still works on a phone other than the maker's own. 10 means full parity on iOS and Android; 1 means one phone brand or nothing. On App Ecosystem, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads (10.0 vs 2.0/10) — whether there is a real third-party app store on the wrist or a handful of proprietary mini-apps. On Display, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads (9.2 vs 3.0/10) — panel type, brightness, always-on behaviour and legibility in sunlight. Overall, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) scores 7.5/10 across our 8 scoring categories versus 6.4/10 for the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm). Below, we break down the full spec sheet, category-by-category scores, and exactly who should buy which one.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Spec | Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) | Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $599.95 | $399.00 |
| Release Year | 2025 | 2025 |
| Phone Compatibility | iOS and Android both fully supported — this is one of only three watches here that does not punish you for your phone choice. Nothing is gated to a Withings-branded handset because Withings does not make phones. | iPhone only. Requires iPhone 11 or later running iOS 26 or later. There is no Android support and never has been — an Apple Watch is permanently bricked as a smartwatch if you switch to Android. |
| Claimed Battery Life (hrs) | 720✓ | 24 |
| What the Battery Claim Assumes | Sources conflict: Withings' own US shop page states 'up to 35 days'; the Amazon listing title states '30-Day Battery Life'. Either figure assumes the tiny greyscale sub-dial rather than a colour touchscreen, connected GPS (borrowing the phone's radio rather than its own), and no continuous SpO2. The 720 hours recorded here is the conservative 30-day reading. | Apple's 24 h figure is measured with the always-on display active, 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 15 min of app use and one 60-minute workout with music played from the watch. It does NOT include LTE use or overnight sleep tracking; sleep tracking means you must find a second charging window in your day. |
| Case Size (mm) | 39 | 42 |
| Display | Analogue hands over a small greyscale OLED sub-dial — there is no colour touchscreen | LTPO3 wide-angle OLED, always-on, up to 2000 nits |
| Operating System | Withings proprietary firmware (no third-party OS) | watchOS 26 |
| Third-Party Apps | None. There is no app store and no third-party apps — the watch shows a small greyscale sub-dial and notifications only. This is a health instrument in a dress-watch case, not a smartwatch platform. | Full on-device App Store with native watchOS apps — by far the deepest third-party catalogue in this category |
| Health Features Enabled in the US | ECG with AFib detection, SpO2, 24/7 wrist temperature, respiratory scan, sleep staging with HRV, and cycle tracking — all available in the US. Withings' ECG holds regulatory clearance; the blood-pressure device Withings sells (BPM) is a separate cuff product, not part of this watch. | Live in the US: ECG, irregular rhythm notifications, high/low heart rate alerts, sleep apnea notifications and hypertension notifications (all FDA-cleared). Blood Oxygen works but, following the Masimo patent case, the redesigned US version collects data on the watch and calculates the reading on the paired iPhone; the ITC closed the import-ban case in Apple's favour on 17 April 2026. |
| Subscription Wall | Withings+ is optional and includes a one-month trial. All baseline health data — ECG, SpO2, temperature, sleep score — is available without paying. Withings+ adds programmes, deeper reports and coaching. | No subscription is required for any health or fitness metric. Apple Fitness+ ($9.99/mo) is optional and only adds guided workout classes. |
| LTE Option | No LTE variant exists; the watch has no cellular radio and no standalone GPS. | Separate SKU: GPS + Cellular starts at $499, a $100 upcharge, and needs its own carrier line (typically $10/mo). |
| Water & Dust Rating | 5 ATM (50 m), swimproof | 50 m water resistant (WR50), IP6X dust resistant |
| Battery Replacement | Withings sells the watch as a sealed unit; there is no published consumer battery-replacement service, but at 30+ days per charge the cell sees a fraction of the cycles of a daily-charge watch. | Apple out-of-warranty battery service is a flat $99. AppleCare+ only covers the battery once capacity has fallen below 80%. |
| Warranty | 24 months | 12 months |
| Colors | Two-tone gold and steel with cream dial, Silver steel with white dial | Jet Black, Rose Gold, Space Gray, Silver |
Category Scores
Battery Life
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) leads clearly here, 9.6 against 5.5 — a 4.1-point margin on real endurance between charges, judged against what the claim actually assumes rather than the headline number. If that is what you are buying for, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Health Tracking
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads clearly here, 9.6 against 8.0 — a 1.6-point margin on depth of heart, sleep and body metrics that are genuinely enabled and cleared for use in the US. If that is what you are buying for, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Fitness & GPS
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads clearly here, 8.4 against 4.5 — a 3.9-point margin on workout tracking, GPS accuracy, sport modes and training analysis. If that is what you are buying for, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Ecosystem Freedom
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) leads clearly here, 9.5 against 1.0 — a 8.5-point margin on the category's trap dimension: how much of the watch still works on a phone other than the maker's own. 10 means full parity on iOS and Android; 1 means one phone brand or nothing. If that is what you are buying for, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) does not close the gap elsewhere.
App Ecosystem
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads clearly here, 10.0 against 2.0 — a 8.0-point margin on whether there is a real third-party app store on the wrist or a handful of proprietary mini-apps. If that is what you are buying for, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Display
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads clearly here, 9.2 against 3.0 — a 6.2-point margin on panel type, brightness, always-on behaviour and legibility in sunlight. If that is what you are buying for, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Build & Durability
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) leads clearly here, 9.4 against 8.6 — a 0.8-point margin on case and glass materials, water and dust ratings, and how well it survives daily wear. If that is what you are buying for, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Value
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) leads clearly here, 7.6 against 5.5 — a 2.1-point margin on what you get for the money once LTE upcharges and subscriptions are counted in. If that is what you are buying for, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) does not close the gap elsewhere.
Best For
Choose the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) if…
- • Ecosystem Freedom matters most to you — the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) scores 9.5/10 here (the category's trap dimension: how much of the watch still works on a phone other than the maker's own. 10 means full parity on iOS and Android; 1 means one phone brand or nothing).
- • Battery Life matters most to you — the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) scores 9.6/10 here (real endurance between charges, judged against what the claim actually assumes rather than the headline number).
- • Your main use case is android or long-battery.
Choose the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) if…
- • App Ecosystem matters most to you — the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) scores 10.0/10 here (whether there is a real third-party app store on the wrist or a handful of proprietary mini-apps).
- • Display matters most to you — the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) scores 9.2/10 here (panel type, brightness, always-on behaviour and legibility in sunlight).
- • Fitness & GPS matters most to you — the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) scores 8.4/10 here (workout tracking, GPS accuracy, sport modes and training analysis).
- • You want to spend less — it's $201 cheaper.
Pros & Cons
Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm)
Pros
- +Works identically on iPhone and Android — no ecosystem trap at all
- +A month per charge versus a day for Apple and Samsung
- +Sapphire crystal, steel bracelet and Super-LumiNova on a watch that also runs an ECG
- +No subscription is needed to see any health metric
- +Two-year warranty
Cons
- −No app ecosystem whatsoever — notifications and a greyscale sub-dial are the entire smart layer
- −No on-board GPS: workouts borrow your phone's location, so you must carry the phone
- −$599.95 is Apple Watch Ultra money for a watch that cannot run a single third-party app
- −Withings' own page says 35 days and the Amazon listing says 30 — the maker's own claim is inconsistent
- −The Amazon ASIN here is the gold two-tone variant; confirm the finish before buying
Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)
Pros
- +Hypertension notifications and sleep apnea notifications are both FDA-cleared and switched on in the US, which is rarer than the marketing implies
- +Native watchOS App Store dwarfs every Wear OS and proprietary rival here
- +Every health metric is free — no Fitbit Premium / Zepp Aura / Connect+ equivalent
- +Flat $99 battery service from Apple, versus makers who will not replace a battery at all
Cons
- −iPhone-only, permanently: switch to Android and the watch becomes unusable and unsellable to Android buyers
- −24 hours is still last place among everything here except the SE — overnight sleep tracking forces a second daily charge
- −Blood Oxygen is still the post-litigation workaround: the watch collects, the iPhone computes
- −Cellular is a $100 pricier SKU plus a monthly carrier line, and the ASIN is different
Shop by Need
FAQs
Is the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) or Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) better overall?+
Based on our 8-category scoring, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) comes out ahead overall. See the full breakdown in the scores section above — the right pick still depends on which categories matter most for your use case.
Which is better for Ecosystem Freedom, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) or the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)?+
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) scores higher on Ecosystem Freedom (9.5/10 vs 1.0/10) — the category's trap dimension: how much of the watch still works on a phone other than the maker's own. 10 means full parity on iOS and Android; 1 means one phone brand or nothing.
Which is better for App Ecosystem, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) or the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)?+
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) scores higher on App Ecosystem (10.0/10 vs 2.0/10) — whether there is a real third-party app store on the wrist or a handful of proprietary mini-apps.
Which is better for Display, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) or the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)?+
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) scores higher on Display (9.2/10 vs 3.0/10) — panel type, brightness, always-on behaviour and legibility in sunlight.
Which is better for Battery Life, the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) or the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)?+
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) scores higher on Battery Life (9.6/10 vs 5.5/10) — real endurance between charges, judged against what the claim actually assumes rather than the headline number.
Is the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) worth the price difference over the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)?+
The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) is the cheaper option at $399 versus $599.95. Whether the pricier model is "worth it" depends on how much you value its lead in Ecosystem Freedom.
Which is better suited to my use case?+
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) is the better fit if you mainly care about android or long-battery. The Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) is the better fit for iphone or heart-health.
What's the warranty on the Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) vs the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum)?+
The Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant (39mm) ships with a 24-month warranty; the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS, Aluminum) ships with a 12-month warranty. Always confirm current terms on the manufacturer's site before buying.
Should I wait for the next model instead of buying either of these?+
If either model is more than two years old, a successor may be close — check the "Latest Model" link on each product page. Otherwise, both are current, well-supported options and there's no strong reason to wait.
Cheaper Option
Garmin Venu 4 (41mm) — $549.99
Premium Option
Google Pixel Watch 5 (41mm, Wi-Fi) — $399.99
Specifications and prices for both products last verified . Scores are calculated from published specifications — see how we compare products.