We already know the price and specifications for SE going forward. SE was included in
Apple's fall 2021 Apple Watch announcement as part of the forward-looking "Apple Watch Lineup" section. Further, a footnote in that announcement states:
- Apple Watch SE with USB-C charging cable, new Apple Watch bands, and Apple Watch Nike bands will be available to order today from apple.com/store and the Apple Store app, with availability in stores beginning Thursday, September 16.
So, unlike Watch Series 7, the "2021" SE (and the unchanged Watch Series 3) is available and on sale. The price is unchanged - $279 USD. The only known difference between 2020 and 2021 is that the 2021 comes with a USB-C charging cable, while the 2020 still came with a USB-A charging cable (neither 2020 or 2021 included a charging brick).
So, yes, the SE will be around for now. The first-generation iPhone SE was around for 2 years (although they bumped up the storage from the first year to the second without changing the price). The second-generation iPhone SE has been around for 18 months, unchanged (except for the elimination of the charging brick), with no hint yet that it's going away (maybe in April 2022, it's second birthday?). Watch SE is just one year old... so chances are it'll be around for another year.
As to your decision to get an SE... yes, for your purposes it's a good choice. I purchased my Series 4 (early 2019) with cellular to replace my first-generation ("Series 0") Watch, which was not available with cellular at all. I knew I wouldn't need cellular based on my historical usage patterns, but figured that it would be better to have cellular just in case my life circumstances changed, or I gave it to an aging relative for fall detection/reporting. But my life circumstances haven't changed, and now there's someone with that relative 24/7, so falls are covered the old-fashioned way. So I've never gotten a cellular plan. The only times I've wished I had activated cellular service have been a handful of occasions when I accidentally left home without my phone. At $10/month for 32 months... each of those occasions would have cost me $80 - $100 - and for the 10 minutes or so I was away from home (quick walks to the local shopping district)... hardly worth it. Voicemail still works. I won't be paying extra for cellular on my next Watch, just basic GPS.
