Apple Watch SE With Plastic Design Now in 'Jeopardy' for Two Reasons

[MacRumors]

There might not be a plastic Apple Watch SE this year after all, according to the latest word from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the plastic Apple Watch SE is now in "jeopardy" for two reasons: design and cost issues.

"The design team doesn't like the look, and the operations team is finding it difficult to make the casing materially cheaper than the current aluminum chassis," he said.

Gurman first mentioned the possibility of a plastic Apple Watch SE last year.

An even more affordable Apple Watch SE with a colorful plastic design could have been appealing to parents who are looking to purchase an Apple Watch for their children.

The current Apple Watch SE was released in 2022. In the U.S., it starts at $249.

Article Link: Apple Watch SE With Plastic Design Now in 'Jeopardy' for Two Reasons

 

[thefrost]

It sounded sketchy anyway.

 

[Plutonius]

If you are already spending that much money, who wants plastic to save a little money ?

Just give me a better battery life and I'll be happy.

 

[AlexStudios]

Mark my words.

If they still manage to release it anyways but jack up the price by just a little bit more, you know there’s something not right at Apple.

 

[Velin]

Aluminum is one of the most abundant elements. Forget the plastic. Aluminum is superior. Instead, find a way to lower the costs to produce the Watch case. Pass those savings on to everyone.

 

[mac-imperator]

"The design team doesn't like the look, and the operations team is finding it difficult to make the casing materially cheaper than the current aluminum chassis," he said.

I'm guessing by "not liking the way that it looks" is referring to how the casing colors differ than the aluminum offerings and material price and material quality are generally closely related. Low aluminum prices typically indicate lower quality, and higher steel prices indicate higher quality. If you can't do it cheaper than what you're already offering, just don't do it. Don't be afraid to drop the ball like you already have been @Apple You've been dropping it so smashingly well in the recent past, make this yet another fail... take the "L".

 

[HowEver]

Ancient analog quartz watches from 70s/80s have a battery life up to 10 years. Apple Watch, released almost 10 years ago, can't even last 1 week without recharging. The main issue is the screen: A watch only really needs MOVEMENT. Apple should hire a skilled horologist. And maybe they could release a Special 10th Anniversary Edition in April?

Your definition of a watch is out of date, if not time, for many people.

And there are still lots of watches like you describe, old ones, new ones.

btw do you use a Mac Plus still?

 

[Oscar_440]

In my opinion, good quality plastic is what Apple should use in most of their products. There's a general wrong perception about what a premium materials are. Titanium are great for specific industrial and quirurgical uses. But for a phone It's a nonsense...
For sure I enjoy the look in my 16 pro max, but It's definitely not practical nor the ideal (neither stainless steel or even aluminum).

 

[Howard2k]

Ancient analog quartz watches from 70s/80s have a battery life up to 10 years. Apple Watch, released almost 10 years ago, can't even last 1 week without recharging. The main issue is the screen: A watch only really needs MOVEMENT. Apple should hire a skilled horologist. And maybe they could release a Special 10th Anniversary Edition in April?

Biggest selling watch on the planet but yeah, total failure of a product.

In all seriousness I’d love longer battery life too but it’s not a significant burden to charge it for a few minutes each day.

 

[surfzen21]

And the battle of giants continues.

 

[titanium69]

The quality might be cheaper… but the price won’t be

 

[JapanApple]

They make some kind of cheaper Apple watch. These speculations BS are about gauging the buyers at this time.

 

[vegetassj4]

From the company that brought you a gold Apple Watch

 

[Mr. Nice]

Why get children addicted to smartwatches after their smartphone addiction?

Fortunately, smartphone bans & minimum ages for social media are being introduced at schools in more and more countries.

A smartwatch with permanent notifications -> distractions does not help children to concentrate.

Steve Jobs already knew why he didn't allow his children to use Apple devices.

And who wants to do something good for children, because of health:
Teach them to cook & eat healthy food.
And to drink water and unsweetened teas instead of cola & co.
And watch out for added sugar in products.

That will do more than any smartwatch.

 

[platinumaqua]

Marketing team painted themselves into a corner. Good quality plastic isn’t less premium than glass or metals; sometimes it’s actually better because it’s lighter and radio transparent.

 

[maerz001]

If you are already spending that much money, who wants plastic to save a little money ?

Parents

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I can’t wrap my head around this. If they have (or are) willing to use plastic for a watch, then how are they doing to justify their eco-credentials? Would people really be willing to spend a little less or would they just get the previous generation but cheaper? And who not make a plastic iPhone again if they’re chasing the bottom of markets?

 

[baryon]

Apple always has issues with their "cheap" products. It's like they want to make a cheap product but then end up making it expensive anyway and then there's no point to it anymore. iPhone 5C, iPhone SE, white unibody MacBook.

 

[Ramchi]

There are many knock-off smart watches which are from $50-$60 made of aluminium or SS or better materials. What are they trying to save with this tiny amount of material for a smart watch! More marketing efforts than engineering or design efforts? Already Apple Watches are good and nothing big needs to be done on that.

 

[Diopter]

Gurman doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to watch rumors. Remember the flat sided watch he was going on about for months and we had to see those ugly renders everywhere?

Take all of his watch prognostications with a grain of salt.

 

[bluecoast]

To be imagined with a tone of toxic positivity:

‘Hey do you remember how customers loved the iPhone 5c and how popular it was? Let’s do a watch 11c - in plastic too!’

‘sounds great! I’m sure that everyone will appreciate how building products from more plastic contributes to our net zero initiative!’

‘and customers will love that we’ve increased our margins on this too, as a plastic chassis will be cheap. Ummm right?’

 

[bluecoast]

Apple always has issues with their "cheap" products. It's like they want to make a cheap product but then end up making it expensive anyway and then there's no point to it anymore. iPhone 5C, iPhone SE, white unibody MacBook.

Apple: just use the watch 9 body without an always on display.

Then miss out some random sensor or other to differentiate the regular watch.

Maybe temperature, so 50% of your potential customers can’t access an important health metric. Maybe not. Hmm tough call. Blood oxygen? Oh wait no new models have this anyway (in the USA).

I think the problem that apple has is an updated SE with an alumninuim body and a recent processor is good enough for nearly all regular people out there - unless they can add a new meaningful sensor to it.

No wonder they wanted to use plastic.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

Sure, who wants plastic, but can we talk about the fact Apple didn't have stainless steel version for AW 10?
Last time I've upgraded it was only available with Hermes in AW7.

 

[Rogifan]

In my opinion, good quality plastic is what Apple should use in most of their products. There's a general wrong perception about what a premium materials are. Titanium are great for specific industrial and quirurgical uses. But for a phone It's a nonsense...
For sure I enjoy the look in my 16 pro max, but It's definitely not practical nor the ideal (neither stainless steel or even aluminum).

Yeah we saw how well the 5c worked out…

 

[Rogifan]

Gurman doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to watch rumors. Remember the flat sided watch he was going on about for months and we had to see those ugly renders everywhere?

Take all of his watch prognostications with a grain of salt.

Sure but this rumor doesn’t seem that far fetched. Though not sure how much pull the design team has. The Vision Pro rumors claimed the design team wanted to wait until they could do something like AR glasses. They obviously didn’t win the argument.