Apple introduced the Watch SE — its first affordable smartwatches. Their price starts at $279.

Besides Apple Watch Series 6 flagship watches The Cupertino company also introduced the Apple Watch SE — the successor to the Watch Series 3, released three years ago. The watch costs start at $279. You can place a pre-order for them starting today (at least in the USA), but they will hit the market on Friday.

The model retains many signature features of Series 3, including fall detection, compass, always-on altimeter, and a water-resistant case. Family settings (on the cellular model), watch face sharing, sleep tracking, and other characteristic features of WatchOS 7 the device will receive along with the Apple Watch Series 6. There is a version with only GPS and Bluetooth 5.0, as well as a variant with cellular support (which starts at $329). It seems that SE does not have an always-on display, which was a highlight of Series 5.

In general, for owners of Series 3, considering the purchase of such a device is hardly worthwhile. However, the watch uses the S5 chip, which, according to Apple, provides twice the performance compared to Series 3. The Watch SE is the first affordable Apple Watch. They are designed to compete with Fitbit and other budget smartwatch models. Previously, older Apple Watch models sold at a discount served as alternatives to Apple’s products.

The Watch SE looks very similar to the Series 4 watch, which Apple discontinued with the launch of Series 5 last year. Series 4 came with 40 mm and 44 mm displays, while Series 3 offered 42 mm and 38 mm screens in the same case. As noted, SE will run on the watchOS 7 platform, which Apple introduced at WWDC this year.

The update also includes a new fitness app, Fitness+, which offers workout tracking and virtual classes. This is the first fitness service created for the Apple Watch: users will get three free months with the purchase of an Apple Watch (after that, the cost for interested users will be $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year).

The price of the Apple Watch SE in Russia starts at 24,990 ₽ for the 40 mm version in an aluminum case. The 44 mm variant will cost 27,490 rubles. The LTE versions do not appear to be sold.

Sources:

• apple
• The Verge

Source: 3dnews.ru