If you’re thinking of buying an Apple Watch on a budget, the Apple Watch Series 3 is still the entry-level option available and it’s priced under RM1,000. The 3rd gen smartwatch is turning 5 years old this year and Apple has just announced something that puts a final nail in the coffin.
During the unveiling of watchOS 9, it was mentioned that the new operating system will only support Apple Watch Series 4 and above. This means if you’re still on the Apple Watch Series 3, the current watchOS 8 will be its final major update.
Without getting a new major watchOS update, the Series 3 should be discontinued for good but Apple is still selling it for RM849 for the 38mm size and RM999 for the 42mm size. Apple has maintained the same price tag for years after its last price cut in 2019 when the Apple Watch Series 5 was introduced.
In terms of hardware, it is still the only Apple Watch on the market that comes with a smaller display without rounded corners. It runs on an older 32-bit dual-core CPU mated to a measly 768MB of RAM. However, it is still usable as it still has an optical heart rate sensor, a barometric altimeter and it is also water-resistant up to 50 metres. A full charge is rated to push up to 18 hours of battery life.
The dated hardware and lack of future watchOS updates make the Apple Watch Series 3 absolutely irrelevant in 2022. If you’re thinking of getting the cheapest Apple Watch, the bare minimum that you should consider is the Apple Watch SE which is priced from RM1,199 for the 40mm size and RM1,349 for the 44mm size. The Apple Watch SE offers a 30% larger screen than the Series 3 and it supports newer features such as fall detection, noise monitoring and it is equipped with newer second-generation optical heart rate sensor.
The Apple Watch SE runs on a dual-core S5 SiP, which is the same chip that’s powering the Apple Watch Series 5. This should provide more years of watchOS updates and it’s definitely worth the RM350 premium over the Apple Watch Series 3.
It is worth highlighting that the Apple Watch Series 3 would still work just fine without future major updates. We even have a working Apple Watch 2 in the office that’s stuck on watchOS 6 and we recently used it for our Setel watch app video. If you’re really thinking of buying a new watch, the Apple Watch Series 3 is simply not worth it.
In case you missed it, the latest iOS 16 will not support 5 iPhone models. This includes the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, which were launched in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
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