Apple Watch SE 3 — everything we know so far
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The Apple Watch SE is the more budget-friendly version of Apple's wrist-worn device. It's not as feature rich as the Apple Watch 10 (recently launched at Apple's September Glowtime event) or as rugged as the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
But it excels at the basics, allowing you to uncouple from your phone, receive notifications, and get access to most (but not all) of the health and fitness tracking features of the best Apple Watches for a lot less money.
But it's been two years since Apple announced the Apple Watch SE (2022), so it'd make sense that, on the tenth anniversary of the first Apple Watch, the company would launch an updated model of the budget-friendly wearable.
Although initial predications that it'd be available alongside the Apple Watch 10 didn't come to pass, the company may still choose to debut the upgraded SE later in the year, at Apple's October event, which expected to be MacBook and iPad heavy.
But the new model would face greater competition than before. Samsung just revealed its lower-cost Galaxy Watch FE watch in June for $199 featuring BioActive health monitoring and the latest Wear OS updates.
So will Apple stick to a two-year pattern and combat Samsung with a worthy Apple Watch SE successor this fall? Here's everything we know so far about the Apple Watch SE 3, including predictions for price, design, features and its overall outlook.
Apple Watch SE 3 Cheat Sheet: Biggest rumors
Release date prediction: October 2024 (we'd expected it at Apple's Glowtime event, but that didn't come to pass)
Price prediction: $199 to $249 and up
Design: Same basic design as the Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch SE (2022), though potentially slightly larger; Apple may switch from a metal case to a plastic one to keep costs and weight down
Display: More durable display, same screen as the 2022
Chip: S9 chip
Features: Possible, ECG tracking and AI-driven health/fitness tracking
Software: watchOS 11
Apple Watch SE 3: price and availability
An early report on the Apple Watch SE 3 indicated that the smartwatch would arrive in 2024. Although it didn't make an appearance at Apple's fall product event on September 9, it may pop up at the company's computing-focused October event, although it'd be a bit of a wild card.
As for price, the current SE model starts $249 for the 40mm size and $279 for the 44mm variant. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that Apple may release the SE at even lower price, which would be a nice surprise. The lower price may come from some design decisions Apple is reportedly making with the new watch — more on that below.
Apple Watch SE 3: design and display
One big change that Apple might make with the SE 3 is moving from a partially metal body to an all-plastic version. Allegedly, Apple is toying with the idea in an attempt to reduce costs and speed up production.
The 2022 models already changed the case to a nylon composite plastic, but the shell remained aluminum. The change would make the device less environmentally friendly, though, and Apple has been pushing to increase the sustainability of its products.
The only other Apple Watch SE 3 report we've seen comes from analyst David Hsieh of Omdia who claims that Apple might make the SE 3 watches bigger. According to Hsieh, the SE 3 might have similar size options as the Apple Watch 8, meaning it's moving up from 40mm and 44mm to 41mm and 45mm.
That would match the size of smartwatches from other manufacturers including the recently released Google Pixel Watch 3. Hsieh's report dates back to January 2023, though, so it may no longer be in line with Apple's plans.
A bigger iPhone SE would mean about 20% more screen real estate on the display. We've seen no display reports for the SE 3, but the 2022 model features an OLED screen with a Retina display, something we don't see changing.
Apple Watch SE 3: Specs and features
Again, there has been a dearth of information about the Apple Watch SE, but we expect it will launch with at least the S9 chip. If Apple is being generous, perhaps the S10, which will launch with the Apple Watch 10 when that ships on September 20.
Briefly, we have no word on the SE 3's potential battery but the 2022 version had a 245 mAh battery that lasted about 18 hours. We expect at a minimum a bigger battery with some software optimization to maybe crack the 24-hour mark.
The Apple Watch 7 introduced fast charging to Apple's watch lineup, but the SE 2 did not get that feature. We imagine the third-generation SE watch will probably get fast charging.
The Apple Watch SE 3 will more than likely bring features from the Watch 8 and Watch 9 but it's unclear what ones. The SE watches have focused on essential health tracking, with more advanced tracking slated for the flagship watches.
We're not sure what Apple will consider essential between 2022 and now, though we could see ECG tracking finally make its way into the SE, something that has been available in the main series since 2018.
As for software, it's most likely the SE 3 will launch with watchOS 11, the software update currently in beta.
Apple Watch SE 3: Outlook
The Apple Watch SE 3 will be a much-upgraded version from the 2022 model — it's just unclear to what extent Apple will make changes, particularly if it hopes to sell the new version at a lower cost than before.
The Apple Watch 10 was be a big part of the company's September 9 launch event, and there are enough Apple Watch Ultra 3 rumors out there to make us think that's gearing up for a release in short order. Apple Watch SE 3 information is a little harder to come by, so only time will tell what Apple has planned for its budget-friendly watch.
