I doubt we will ever see an SE sold below $249 so its likely a choice to move to plastic is either to improve margins, maintain the price point in the face of inflation, or to allow other components to become more expensive.
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Apple Reportedly Developing Apple Watch SE With Plastic Casing
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actcyclist
macrumors 6502
I‘m bored of the tinted aluminium that Apple keeps using. Coloured plastic would be a really nice change. Hopefully it’ll come with an always on display.
its laughable that the little bits of aluminium in these watches would cost much after 10 years of production. Plastic won’t save them anything, but people believe the marketing and it shows if you bought the cheap watch…
its laughable that the little bits of aluminium in these watches would cost much after 10 years of production. Plastic won’t save them anything, but people believe the marketing and it shows if you bought the cheap watch…
A high schooler is not a kid
They should make a plastic version of the basic Mac. My first Mac was £399, and it was great.
The MacBook Air that I've had for 4 years is still great, but a cheaper one would have been better!!
The MacBook Air that I've had for 4 years is still great, but a cheaper one would have been better!!
Wando64
macrumors 68030
I am genuinely curious as to what type of pictures you are planning to take with such a camera, that would make it a more suitable tool than the phone you also have in you pocket.
Reason077
macrumors 601
Agree. My girlfriend at the time had the iPhone
Unfortunately, the glass screen wasn’t as strong as the plastic back: I remember it cracked one time just from being dropped from coffee-table height.
Edit: 5c, not SE
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JOLoughlin
macrumors regular
Aluminum dissipates the heat of internals. I’m not against plastic necessarily but curious how they’ll handle the thermal for an Apple Watch.
The idea of yearly upgrades does not sound very recyclable too.
Seriously, people who developed alergy to garbage metals including aluminium and do not want to spend fortune on titanium or stainless steel will going to use them.
My thumbs up for the plastic is based on this. Of course cost cutting plastic apple watch, but still apple watch.
Reason077
macrumors 601
Easily solved. Just give it an external battery pack, like the Vision Pro. 😎
I don’t think he meant “dependent” in that way, rather you should be able to optionally set it up with a Mac or other device instead of an iPhone, and not have it require the iPhone.
Reason077
macrumors 601
By design, and necessity, Apple Watch is a very low power device and doesn’t have thermal issues. If it gets warm then something is wrong (and the battery will be dead in an hour).
Reason077
macrumors 601
I don’t remember the WiFi being bad. Even just having built-in WiFi on a laptop was a small miracle in those days, most required an add-on PCMCIA card (or “Airport card” for Macs).
Biggest flaws were: the case would develop hairline cracks near the hinges. The batteries kind of sucked. And the old power adapters really sucked: hardwired cord so you had to replace the whole thing every year or two when it inevitably frayed/failed at the Mac end.
Apple$
macrumors 6502a
Basically Shrinkflation.
Not sure about a plastic case, but then again, anything would be better than buying that stupid idea of the gold edition. Whoever thought of that should be fired! Oh wait, she was.. Angela Ahrendts. I appreciate the wealthy could afford it, but even that makes you question their choice. Spending $20k (AUD, cant remember what it was in USD) on a digital watch? That would be obsolete in 5 years? That wouldn't eventually have updates? That was initially plagued with poor battery life? That had the screen lift off? Come on.. spend $20k on a proper time piece.. Patek Philip, Longines, Hublot, Rolex, Breitling Bentley Series.. something that will last 20, 30, 50 years with care, not a digital watch. I was working for Apple, when under her 'leadership', the most expensive iPhone (which started this 'luxury' Apple trend) was released, in the iPhone X. iPhone X was released with no cases available to buy and you had to order them. Angela had the major of third party cases removed of the shelves. In Australia, we didnt have overnight shipping. People were rightfully, not happy. Soon after, after 9 years, I left Apple. I saw where this was heading. Since then, I have only ever bought 2x iPhones. I'm sorry Ron Johnson!
Reason077
macrumors 601
Jony Ive, surely.
Ahrendts was head of retail at Apple, she had nothing to do with product design. Besides, she joined shortly before the Watch was released: the Gold Edition would have been in development for years before she arrived.
SkippyThorson
macrumors 68000
Ive was credited with seeing the watch like tech-jewelry and more like a fashion accessory.
He was largely responsible for making the device in 24K gold to make a huge first-get splash among celebrities for that "wow-factor".
Smart of Apple to move the Edition watches to Ceramic and Titanium (before the Ultra) to appeal to the masses. I'll always be a Steel fan because, to a degree, I appreciate Ive's eye for technology in respect to the wardrobe.
The Apple Watch in certain finishes with certain bands is able to blend the line between dressy watch and fitness accessory.
godorowski
macrumors member
It’s a good idea. I had two plastic watches which worked as intended, and I didn’t mind wearing. Most recently, the Amazon Halo. Years ago, a Timex Ironman.
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WarmWinterHat
Suspended
I don't know where the idea set hold that anything but black, silver and white is for preschoolers.
I like bright colors and I'm a straight married 44 year old man. Sorry for not being boring.
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If Apple really wants a more affordable, more competitive Apple Watch then they'd also stop requiring an iPhone for setup/maintenance and release an Android setup/maintenance app (also compatible with Chromebooks) as an initial alternative. Followed by setup/maintenance options involving Macs and iPads (duh), and finally Windows PCs. Presumably there'd still be some functions that are exclusive to Apple's paired devices since Apple probably can't technically do everything on Android or Windows. Samsung and Google would then face a choice: make their watches at least setup/maintenance-compatible with iPhones (and Macs and iPads) or lose market share. Garmin already supports both iPhone and Android.
Does Apple really want a more affordable, more competitive Apple Watch?🤔
Does Apple really want a more affordable, more competitive Apple Watch?🤔
She was indeed in charge of retail, but it wasn't only retail. She was brought on board for a 'fashion division' - from what I can recall. Whilst I have no doubt Ive had control with regards to the design, I am quite sure Ahrendts was recruited because she was the former CEO of Burberry and to bring that feel to Apple. It was her 'expertise' that was wanted in this area. I personally think that was the wrong move for Apple. That isn't what they were known for. I agree there is something to be said with regards to out fitting your wardrobe to a wearable, but back then, due to rather large increase in pricing (watch, iPhone etc) and the then lack of accessories, it did leave people with a sour taste in their mouths. Many of the 'mums and dads' that made Apple a house-hold name, felt neglected, that they were being price pushed out the door. And I can understand that. That is not what made Apple what it was back then. A coincidence? Perhaps.. but I also recall this during my time as well:
Apple Watch: did the fashion team get it right?
The former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts was recruited by Apple to help their fashion team create wearable tech people would actually want to wear. So have they succeeded?
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SFjohn
macrumors 68030
The world doesn’t need more plastic, it’s in your food, your body/bloodstream & brain. You want more? That’s crazy.
Funny. Like the Aluminum casing is what makes it expensive with it containing about as much metal as a six pack