I don't understand why people would invest in the casing or bands on these watches. The value of the watch is in the technology which is obsolete one to two years later.
I personally view it a bit differently tbh. My first Apple Watch was a series 2, one I bought at launch and I’ve only upgraded to a Series 4 months after its launch as part of my 4G service plan (free of charge and no prepaid, and before you ask I live outside of US). Have stuck with my series 4 ever since and have no plans to switch it unless it dies on me 😂
With the heart rate sensor, fall detection, ability to peek at my messages during meetings, good battery and telling the time, I don’t really see the need to upgrade every 1-2 years like some would think towards an iPhone. The watch is more simple and functional if you get what I mean.
But I do understand where you come from and it’s quite a valid point if one is chasing after it every generation like an iPhone
The fact that they're disposable tech is not just my opinion, it's a fact....otherwise the Series 3 and its predecessors could all get WatchOS 9. But hey, if you feel good paying for a device that does exactly the same things and will become obsolete at the same time as one that costs half the price and still doesn't match the looks of a real watch, go for it.
I've gone from Series 2 > current Series 5, and likely going to get the S8 (or a well discounted S7 after S8 comes out).
I agree the Apple Watch is more like “disposable tech” than it is a “collectible-type watch that lasts for years and years”. While a normal watch, you could keep for your 5+ years easily (and for the nicer mechanical watches, for generations), a smartwatch (especially the Apple Watch) seems more of a 2-3 years type time horizon.
Additionally, as it’s a bit earlier in the product lifecycle than the iPhone, generational improvements have been greater, which just made the gap in versions greater, and the desire to upgrade earlier.
Within that framework, are some ppl ok with keeping their AWs longer than 2-3 years? Sure. And there’s also some who upgrade every year.
But overall, I think the Apple Watch is *that* type of device. And so in general, I tend to agree with
@JCCL that I would be less inclined to drop multiples of the Aluminum-price watch (eg. $899 - $1k+ vs $299-399) for a nicer version with nicer materials, given how quickly they’ll depreciate. Whether that’s in practical use terms given the tech changes, or in actual $ figures (in the secondary market, Apple Watches tend to depreciate very fast in $ value between generations, significantly more than iPhones), it still is the case.
Whether that’s enough to make you change your spending habits depends on how much money you have. I could see someone who has a lot of disposable income deciding they’re fine with spending $700+ more to get the Apple Watch Edition (or to lesser extent the Stainless Steel versions), over the Aluminum version. If that someone thinks of their Apple Watch more like a piece of fashion / jewelry, vs just as a “piece of tech”, even more so. Others who view it more as a “functional piece of tech” than jewelry will be less inclined to.
