I walked 7,500 steps with the Apple Watch SE 3 vs Amazfit Active Max — and there's a clear winner

I tested the fitness tracking accuracy of the new Amazfit Active Max — announced earlier this month at the CES 2026 — against the Apple Watch SE 3, my favorite wallet-friendly smartwatch right now.

While the SE 3 is positioned as an entry-level, do-it-all device with a starting price of $249 (and one of the best budget smartwatches you can buy), the Active Max is Amazfit’s new entry-level model focused on runners. It starts at $169.

Apple Watch SE 3 vs. Amazfit Active Max: features compared

Both of these smartwatches are fairly lightweight and comfortable on the wrist. The Amazfit has a more premium touchscreen, though. With a max brightness of 3,000 nits versus 1,000 nits for the Apple Watch, the Active Max is easier to read in direct sunlight at a glance. That said, the screen refresh rate seems slower than Apple’s, leading to a somewhat choppy visual experience when navigating menus.

The Apple Watch SE 3, of course, supports far more smart features and third-party apps than the Active Max, but the latest Amazfit model boasts much better battery life: multiple weeks per charge vs. 18 hours for the SE 3.

When it comes to fitness tracking tech, both of these smartwatches are pretty evenly matched, with onboard GPS, though the Active Max has a more reliable multi-band antenna compared to single-band on the SE 3. They also feature altimeters to track elevation changes, state-of-the-art heart rate sensors, and accelerometers for motion detection.

The new Active Max is big on running metrics — like ground contact time, vertical oscillation, and stride length — which is something you won’t find in the Apple fitness app. However, when it comes to tracking a hearty urban walk on a blue-sky day, both devices offer similar post-effort metrics, including distance, pace, max and average heart rate, and of course, step count.

I walked 7,500 steps with the Apple Watch SE 3 vs. Amazfit Active Max

To determine which of these budget-minded smartwatches is the superior fitness tracker, I wore one on each wrist and embarked on a 7,500-step walk around a surprisingly sunny and floral-scented Seattle, Washington — we’re in the midst of ‘False Spring no.1' — and compared all the data once finished.

As a control for step count, I manually counted my paces, using my ol’ reliable manual tally counter to mark every hundred steps taken. For pace, distance, and elevation gain, I turned to Strava.

Find the results of my 7,500-step wall test comparison with the Apple Watch SE 3 vs. Amazfit Active Max below.

Apple Watch SE 3 vs. Amazfit Active Max: Walk test results

The Apple Watch SE 3 and Amazfit Active Max each generated step count totals within 200 steps of my actual count (an impressive result), but the SE 3 is closer. By the way, Strava also noted exactly 7,500 total steps taken.

In terms of distance, both the Apple Watch and Amazfit performed admirably, with the SE 3 just a bit closer to the control data. This trend continues when we move onto both elevation and pace data.

Reassuringly, my heart rate averages and maxes are pretty similar between the two watches; the Amazfit was worn on my left wrist and the Apple Watch on my right.

I don't put a ton of credibility into calorie data from any smartwatch, but since I brought it up, Amazfit noted a slightly higher burn rate than Apple.

During the course of my one-hour-and-change workout, the Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm model) churned through a lot more battery tracking my effort with GPS (6% drain) compared to the Active Max (1% drain). Still, either should have enough juice to get you through a full day of fitness tracking.

Apple Watch SE 3 vs. Amazfit Active Max: And the winner is...

The Apple Watch SE 3 wins this step-count accuracy challenge against the Amazfit Active Max, with slightly more accurate data across the board, compared to the control.

Stay tuned for more Amazfit Active Max impressions and test results as I work toward producing our full review. Until then, which smartwatches should I test head-to-head next? Let me know in the comments below.

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