Skip to main content

The Apple Watch SE 3 Series: Release date predictions, rumors, and more

What do you expect from the Apple Watch SE 3 Series?

By Nathan S.R Published September 20, 2024

An Apple Watch SE being worn on someone's wrist with the apps displayed on its screen. — Apple

In July 2024, a press report by Mark Gurman indicated that Apple was planning to launch a new Apple Watch SE series, with a plastic casing, which will be more affordable than the Apple Watch SE 2 models. By introducing a plastic chassis on the new watch, Apple aimed to spend less money on materials and production to keep the retail prices within an affordable range.

Since the current generation of the Apple Watch SE was launched two years ago (in 2022), enthusiasts have been looking forward to a new model release in the last quarter of 2024.

Recommended Videos

Despite the hype, Apple did not launch the Apple Watch SE 3 in the 2024 September event, neither did it give any updates regarding the new Apple Watch SE.

After the September product launch, Mark Gurman reached out to Apple to follow up on the progress. According to the follow-up report, the new Apple Watch SE is still in development, but the team behind it is still facing quality and cost challenges slowing down the development.

If Apple gets past those hurdles in the coming weeks, there’s a chance that the Apple Watch SE 3 will be released in the 2024 October event. However, the company may also roll out the watch into the market in 2025 due to the cost and quality challenges.

In terms of design, multiple predictions indicate that the Apple Watch SE 3 series will have the same shape as the current SE model (Apple Watch SE 2), but it might be slightly larger by a few millimeters. Instead of measuring 40 mm and 44 mm like the current series, the 3rd generation will be available in two sizes—41 mm and 45 mm.

Since Apple introduced new Apple Intelligence functionalities during the 2024 September product launch, the next Apple Watch SE will feature an AI-driven health-tracking functionality. Apart from that, it’s more likely to have an S9 chip and run on WatchOS 11. While the Apple Watch SE 2 power lasts for 18 hours due to the 245 mAh battery, the Apple Watch SE 3 is expected to pack more battery power, with 300 mAh of energy and a 20-hour battery life.

As a watch that is centred around affordability, Apple Watch SE 3 prices will likely range from $180 – $249, depending on the features offered by each model.

All in all, the upcoming Apple Watch SE 3 will be cost-friendly and highly functional, as it aims to create a smooth balance between performance and affordability, as compared to other Apple watch models.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Nathan has devoted his life to collecting watches, studying horology, reviewing watches, and writing about timepieces. As a…

Topics

Watches

Fashion & Style

Breitling’s new Top Time is a wearable tribute to the Aston Martin DB5

The new watches rep the iconic Bond car right down to subdials shaped like its dashboard gauges.

Car, Watch, Man

Breitling just released a trio of heaters: the Top Time B01 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Aston Martin DB5, a three-edition collaboration with the British carmaker. The connection between the Swiss watchmaker and the British car company runs back to 1965, when a Top Time ref. 2002 appeared on Sean Connery's wrist in Thunderball, worn alongside the DB5 — the first Q-modified watch in the Bond series. It's a nice bit of trivia that the DB5 and that Top Time shared the screen in the same film, and both went on to outlive the movie by decades.

The car cues go deeper than the "squircle" gauge-shaped subdials: a wooden inner ring nods to the DB5's steering wheel, and each edition rides on a hand-colored gradient calfskin strap meant to read like automotive upholstery. All three run on Breitling's in-house Manufacture Caliber 01, a COSC-certified automatic chronograph with a 70-hour power reserve, visible through a sapphire caseback and finished with an Aston Martin-engraved rotor. The case measures 41mm. The editions are divvied up by material and rarity. Stainless steel with a silver dial is limited to 1,022 pieces and sticks closest to the original ref. 2002, while steel with a platinum bezel and black lacquered dial drops to 315 pieces.

Fashion & Style

Look to the sky for these space themed watches

These 5 space themed watches will have you seeing stars

Accessories, Strap, Wristwatch

It was the 1960s. We were in the middle of a Cold War with Russia, and instead of escalating to an actual war with bullets and bombs, we took the conflict to the sky. We created a war of economics, science, and morale in a race to the sky to be the first nation to reach the moon. While the race picked up throughout the decade, it came down to the wire before the USA won the race by landing on the moon (if you believe that sort of thing and don't believe Stanley Kubrick directed the greatest ruse of all time). In any case, no race can be run without a good timekeeper. And watches were a must-have for all involved. Ever since, chronophiles like me have been obsessed with space-themed watches and, in particular, moon mission watches.

That is why I happened to have this list in my head. Five watches that bring the space race and the great beyond to the forefront of thinking to build a collection that is out of this world.

Fashion & Style

Legendary designer has a project coming up you may not know about

Legendary designer, Tom Ford, is writing and directing a film adapting the Anne Rice novel, Cry to Heaven

Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie

Tom Ford is a name that every fashionisto knows well. He is the top of the top when you talk about famous suit makers. He began his career changing the landscape of multiple brands, including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, before launching his own self-named brand of his own in 2005. The brand has remained a mainstay in the industry for the last 20 years, including the acquisition of Estée Lauder in 2022 for an estimated $2.8 billion. For the movie buffs in the room, you also likely know about Tom Ford because he became the exclusive tailor and suitmaker for Daniel Craig's James Bond for Quantum of Solace in 2008. He carried that gig all the way through the series and defined men's style for two decades.

Now, for the real cinephiles in the room, you may also know that Tom Ford himself is a movie buff and entered the industry as a writer and a director in 2009 by directing A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Then again in 2016 with Nocturnal Animals with Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon. Of course, the wardrobe was stellar in both, and we will get a chance to see his talents onscreen again this fall with a new Anne Rice adaptation, Cry to Heaven.