We consider the Apple Watch to be the best smartwatch for most people (as long as you have an iPhone), but if you’ve never owned a wearable before or have a tight budget, you may not want to spend $400 or more on the new Series 10. The Apple Watch SE is a solid budget option, and October Prime Day deals have brought it down to an all-time-low price. You can pick one up for $170, which is about $80 off its normal going rate.
While there were rumors Apple was going to release a new Watch SE in September alongside the latest iPhones, that didn’t materialize. The second-gen SE remains the most up-to-date version of the wearable, and it has very specific omissions to get its price down, namely the lack of an always-on display, no blood oxygen or temperature monitoring and no support for the Double Tap feature introduced with the Series 9.
Apple
Apple’s most affordable smartwatch is even cheaper right now thanks to Prime Day deals.
But otherwise, the Apple Watch SE has all of the core features that the main Apple Watch Series 10 does including all-day activity and sleep monitoring, heart rate tracking, emergency calling, up to 50 meters of water resistance, crash detection and excellent workout tracking. It has a built-in GPS for making the latter even better, mapping outdoor activities like runs, and bike rides. And since it syncs seamlessly with iPhone, you can consider it an extension of your handset. That means you’ll receive call, text and app notifications to your wrist and you can decide which are important enough to whip out your phone for, or which can be left for later.
That said, arguably the biggest downside of the Apple Watch SE is one that all Apple Watches share — they only work with iPhones. But chances are, if you’re even considering an Apple Watch at all, you likely have the phone you’d need to use it (Android users should consider Samsung or Google wearables instead). And at this sale price, it’ll be hard to beat for iPhone users who are new to smartwatches or if you’re looking for a gift for an iPhone user in your life who you know is keen on tracking their activity more consistently or looking at the phone less throughout the day.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Tech Reader.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.
