The next Apple Watch SE might switch to plastic for a lower price and brighter colorways
Apple’s September 9 event introduced the new Series 10 watches and added a new color option for the Watch Ultra 2. However, there was no Ultra 3 and no new Watch SE model. A third edition of the Apple Watch SE is definitely in the works, writes Mark Gurman of Bloomberg.
The third Apple Watch SE will likely arrive in 2025. According to Gurman, Apple’s team has been busy converting the design from the original aluminum to plastic. Using plastic will allow Apple to reduce the price and to introduce new, bolder colors.
The Watch SE (2022) is already pretty cheap at $250 for a 40mm model and $280 for a 44mm one, even the cellular upgrade is pretty cheap at just $50 more than the GPS model. However, one rival, the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE, is $200, so a price drop might be necessary.
The current Apple Watch SE (2022) doesn’t have much variety when it comes to colors
As for the new colors, remember the iPhone 5c? That was plastic and Apple went pretty wild with the colors. Kids might like the new colors and parents might like the new prices. As Gurman points out, more and more countries are considering or already banning smartphones in schools, so the Watch SE could be a way to stay connected without a phone. Apple even offers a way to set up a watch for your kid even if they don’t have their own iPhone (you use yours instead).
Anyway, Gurman also reports that the new SE could get a chipset upgrade. The Watch SE (2022) uses the Apple S8 chipset, same as the Series 8 watches that came out in 2022. However, the underlying hardware isn’t all that different from the S6 from 2020. Apple was pretty vague about the upgrades to the new Apple S10 chipset, focusing on the AI side of things. Whether the new SE has an S9 or an S10 chip might depend on supply and prices.
A quick word on the Ultra series – the Apple Watch Ultra 2 from 2023 was a fairly minor upgrade and Apple is skipping a year before Ultra 3 arrives. Gurman suggests that the Ultra series will move to a 2-year upgrade schedule, just like the SE. Even then, the Watch Ultra 3 might not be particularly impressive.
