The Apple Watch Series 3 is expected to be discontinued in September, and the device will not be upgraded to run the latest version of watchOS 9 software, meaning potential customers should no longer buy the device, according to MacRumors.
Apple’s Apple Watch Series 3 was released in September 2017, almost five years ago. It is the oldest device to support watchOS 8, but its S3 chip lags significantly behind the Apple Watch SE’s S5 chip and the Apple Watch Series 7’s S7 chip in terms of performance. The Apple Watch Series 3 is also the only remaining Apple Watch with an older, thicker design, with large bezels and corners around the display.
Following last year’s iOS 14.6 and watchOS 7.5 updates, Apple Watch Series 3 users must unpair and re-pair their device from their linked iPhone when updating watchOS because the Apple Watch doesn’t have enough internal storage to do the update on its own.
In June, Apple previewed watchOS 9, the next-generation operating system for the Apple Watch, which is no longer supported on the Apple Watch Series 3, meaning the device will continue to run “watchOS 8. Nevertheless, the Apple Watch Series 3 is still available for sale. Apple is expected to discontinue the device when it announces a new Apple Watch model at its iPhone 14 / Pro launch event next month.
Instead, those looking for an entry-level Apple Watch model can look forward to the Apple Watch SE 2. The Apple Watch SE debuts in 2020 and is a low-cost option for customers. Nearly two years since its launch, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, among others, expect the Apple Watch SE 2 to be released next month alongside the Apple Watch Series 8.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicts that the Apple Watch SE 2 could come with an S8 chip. The S8 chip will reportedly have the same specs as the S6 and S7 chips, which may explain why Apple can upgrade the Apple Watch SE 2 to its latest processor. In fact, since all of the chips that are newer than the Apple Watch SE processor are virtually identical, there’s no essential difference between the S6, S7, or S8 — all of which offer a modest performance boost over the S5 chip.
The new Apple Watch SE 2 may bring a few other features and improvements, and will better support the latest version of watchOS 9.
