Apple may surprise the connected watch market with a plastic Apple Watch SE, specially designed for children. More affordable, this connected watch promises to appeal to parents looking for an alternative to the smartphone, now banned from schools.
During the summer, Mark Gurman, a journalist at Bloomberg, came to prophesy the arrival of a plastic Apple Watch. Stamped SE, the connected watch will be above all intended for children. To lower the price of the accessory, Apple decided to swap aluminum for plastic. The future Apple Watch SE will therefore be even more affordable than previous generations.
A release is still planned for 2025
This Apple Watch SE 3 was one of the largely absent from the main tone from September 2024, alongside the Apple Watch Ultra 3. This year, the Cupertino giant chose to shine the spotlight on the Apple Watch Series 10, the connected watch that commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch.
According to the leaks, it will be necessary wait until next year to discover other versions of the Apple Watch, including the next iteration of the SE series. In his latest newsletter, Mark Gurman indicates this “the product is still moving forward” and that we should expect an exit “possibly for next year”.
An alternative to the iPhone?
The informant reminds that this Apple Watch covered with a plastic frame is not intended for all users who are looking for an affordable connected watch. The smartwatch will be “more suitable for children”. The Apple Watch SE 3 can also establish itself as a alternative to the smartphone for the youngest.
In the United States, France and many other countries, schools have gradually banned cell phones. In France, 200 colleges have banned smartphones on their campuses as part of the “digital break” set by National Education. The measure must be generalized from January 2025.
In this context, the brand can present the Apple Watch as the ideal solution to stay connected while respecting school regulations. Apple would be mainly aimed at parents, who are keen to keep in touch with their children despite the rules of educational institutions. It is “nice time” to ride the trend, believes Gurman.
Challenges for Apple
Unfortunately, Apple faced “Cost and Quality Challenges in Switching to Plastic”. The teams struggle to offer design quality worthy of the Apple Watch while significantly reducing production costs. However, the group’s engineers now have all the time in the world to work on the switch to plastic, now that the more high-end Apple Watches have switched to titanium.
The “transition from steel to titanium on high-end watches” obviously kept the Cupertino engineers busy before the keynote. The Series 10 is actually offered in the following materials: aluminum and titanium. Leave stainless steel present on the Apple Watch since its release.
Finally, Bloomberg’s snooper expects the Apple Watch SE 3 to ship a new processor. Apple should not recycle the Watch SE 2 chip, which is already used in the Apple Watch Series 8, namely the Apple S8. So we can expect to find an Apple S9 chip there, powering the Apple Watch Series 9. More powerful, cheaper, will the connected watch be a hit in the playgrounds at the start of the 2025 school year?