I Walked 3,500 Steps with Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 vs. Apple Watch SE – Here’s the Winner

Have you ever wondered which smartwatch brand tracks your daily steps better, Apple or Samsung? I definitely do.

To find out, I wore the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 on one wrist and the latest Apple Watch SE on the other and went for an afternoon walk, manually counting each step as a check.

Which device came closest to my 3,500 steps? You’ll have to read on.

Galaxy Watch 7 vs. Apple Watch SE: Features and Price

The latest Apple Watch SE was released in 2022 and is priced from $249; the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 was released in July 2024 and is priced from $299 onwards. The former is an entry-level device, while the latter is Samsung’s mid-range smartwatch.

While Apple Watch SE vs Samsung Galaxy Watch FE or Apple Watch Series 9 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 would be a closer contender, I was working with the devices I currently have at my disposal.

Price and positioning aside, the Apple Watch SE 2022 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 share the same basic fitness tracking features. Sure, one is square and runs watchOS, and the other is round and runs Wear OS, but both track heart rate, distance, altitude gain, calories burned, and of course, steps taken.

That said, the new Galaxy Watch is much more packed with general wellness tech than the Apple Watch SE, including a body temperature, ECG, and blood oxygen sensor (all absent from the SE). You also get a little under 24 hours of default battery life on the Samsung compared to around 18 hours on the Apple.

That said, both have built-in GPS, accelerometers, and altimeters for tracking activities like outdoor walks. So for our purposes, neither has any particular advantage when it comes to this test.

Galaxy Watch 7 vs. Apple Watch SE: Step Accuracy Test

To assess which device was the better step counter, I took a nice afternoon walk around the neighborhood and manually counted my steps… quietly, mind you. Each time I hit 100, I clicked the old-fashioned step counter and started over from one.

I wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 on my left wrist and the Apple Watch SE 2022 on my right. I used the default apps on each for tracking: Samsung Health and Apple’s Workout app.

In my experience, Apple makes it very difficult to display step totals for individual walks. Instead, you get a daily total. (I’ve complained about this before , and it’s worth noting that Apple isn’t the only brand to take this approach.)

So, at the suggestion of my colleague Jane McGuire, I downloaded and recorded my walk on my Apple Watch SE using the StepsApp, available for free on the App Store and Google Play Store.

Here’s a comparison of the results.

Galaxy Watch 7 vs. Apple Watch SE: Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Header Cell – Column 0	Galaxy Watch 7	Apple Watch SE 2022	Control
Steps	3526 steps	3510 steps	3500 steps (manual counting)
Distance	1.87 miles	1.8 miles	1.8 miles (Google Maps)
Rise	141 feet	148 feet	lack
Average pace	18 minutes, 33 seconds per mile	19 minutes, 19 seconds per mile	lack
Calories burned	236 calories	198 calories	lack
Average heart rate	128 beats per minute	129 beats per minute	lack
Maximum heart rate	153 beats per minute	155 beats per minute	lack

Nothing pleases me more than seeing data that is mostly consistent across the board. Allowing for a small margin of error, the Apple Watch SE logged 3,510 steps, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch clocked 3,526, results I would classify as incredibly accurate.

Distance, elevation, and heart rate data also look very similar between the two smartwatches. The most noticeable differences are that the Galaxy Watch calculated 38 more calories burned and 46 seconds faster pace than the Apple Watch.

Verdict: Apple Watch SE wins

Close-up of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Apple Watch SE 2022 side by side on a wooden table, with the results of a walking test on each

(Photo credit: Dan Bracaglia/Tom’s Guide)

Ultimately, both devices performed admirably, but the Apple Watch SE (2022) trailed my manually calculated score by only ten points, while the Galaxy Watch 7 beat it by 26 points, leaving the Apple Watch as the winner.

Of course, while it’s great to test these devices head-on — even if you sometimes end up nitpicking — all of the best fitness trackers and smartwatches available today are capable of accurately recording your workouts. So pick one and stick with it! That’s what matters most.