Apple will host its special event in September, where it will see fit to announce the new iPhone 15 lineup and the Apple Watch Series 9. However, the company will not announce its budget Apple Watch SE3 this year as the wearable is part of Apple's two-year upgrade cycle. Since Apple released the Apple Watch SE 2 last year, it will not be released this year. If you are planning to buy an Apple Watch SE, the SE 2 is the cheapest available option at this point.
Apple will not release an Apple Watch SE 3 this year as the device is part of the company's two-year upgrade cycle
Mark Gurman notes in his latest Power On newsletter that Apple will launch the Apple Watch SE 3 next year, potentially alongside the iPhone 16 lineup. The wearable is expected to come with upgraded internals and potentially minor changes in design. This year, the company will announce the Apple Watch Series 9 alongside the upgraded Apple Watch Ultra.
The Apple Watch Series 9 will feature more or less the same design but significant changes are coming with the internals. It was previously reported that Apple will introduce the S9 chip based on the A15 Bionic chip this year. What this means is that you will get significantly better computational and graphical performance out of the processor, and the chip alone is a major upgrade compared to the current models.
The Apple Watch Series 8 features an S8 chip inside, which is plenty powerful, but it only features incremental changes since the S6 chip in the Series 6. This year, the performance leaps will be gigantic, and the Apple Watch will be capable of accomplishing a lot more conjoined with Apple's recently announced watchOS 10 operating system. We expect the Apple Watch SE 3 to house the S9 chip next year instead of S10 as it is a comparatively cheaper model. The company could treat the wearable the same way it treats the standard iPhone models compared to the 'Pro' models.
If you are in a hurry to buy an Apple Watch, you can get the base model SE 2 for $249. However, compared to the Series 8, the Apple Watch SE 2 lacks some features such as the ECG app, Always-On display, and more. Apple is also looking to upgrade the Apple Watch Ultra with a dark titanium finish which could increase the price of the wearable. Since Apple is looking to increase the price of its entire iPhone 15 lineup, we suspect that the price for the titanium Apple Watch Ultra will be higher than the standard model.
