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iphone joe

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Feb 10, 2011
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How many years will an Apple Watch last before it dies and you have to buy a new one? I have to assume a few years otherwise it really isn't worth it.
 
How many years will an Apple Watch last before it dies and you have to buy a new one? I have to assume a few years otherwise it really isn't worth it.
Don't really know but Apple says that the battery should last a 1000 charge cycles.
 
Better question is how many years will Apple Watch last I think...?

If you bought as steel one then think about what you paid for X watch way back and how long it lasted in the past.

I wore a Rolex GMT-II solidly for about 15 year, still have it, and it costs me £300 to get it serviced every year or two..

I also have a Tissot T-Touch expert I bought about 3 years ago that cost about £650 which seems a lot longer and doesn't get much wear.

The main thing that was on my wrist for the last 2 years was a Casio ProTrek PRW-2500T-7ER because it did so much more. I would put on the Rolex (actually I have a Rolex AirKing also and it's divine but it's in the box) and then 2 weeks later back to something with more information.

If you are a little 'into' watches and have a few years exposure to that then I think you will find the Apple Watch is A) Quite reasonable for the price points and B) Good quality.

For those who want couture and extravagance the Edition may not be quite up to snuff but there are plenty of bling factories for that (I'm sorry, you don't do bling..? but you have your phone studded with diamonds after being put into a platinum case..? - you do bling) but for the ones that care about the Watch then no.. I think you get a good deal and I hope they do well out of it enough to keep it up :)
 
Question to me is not about how long it lasts before it dies...it is how long it will be until the functionality is obsolete. I'd tend to think the iPhone cycle is a reasonable indicator...although I'd expect a first generation product like this to be obsolete much quicker than later generations.
 
Don't expect it to last more than 2 years.
Even if it does it'll be obsolete to the Apple watch v3 #
 
I think it will be obsolete quickly.
2 years.
So, to me, buying a SS version is kind of a waste.
But I can't resist the SS and the Sapphire screen lol
 
Question to me is not about how long it lasts before it dies...it is how long it will be until the functionality is obsolete. I'd tend to think the iPhone cycle is a reasonable indicator...although I'd expect a first generation product like this to be obsolete much quicker than later generations.

Now that we've gotten a little more detail about it, I sort of feel like that Watch will last as long as the communication protocol with the iPhone is maintained.

All the watch does is relay messages to and from the phone. So I don't see the wifi standard changing radically over the next 3-5 years, nor bluetooth, unless they come up with some new low power variant that the original Watch won't support with its current hardware, and then drop the older support completely by the iPhone.

Otherwise, everything the Watch does now is a basic function that I would expect every Watch in the future, as well as its companion iPhone to support. Theoretically the watch should be functional indefinitely as long as its parts are good. After seeing the fixit teardown, I have to imagine that at the point a battery actually needs to be replaced, the cost to do it will be comparable to just buying a new one. At 1000 recharges every night of the year, that's about 2.7 years. It will have diminished capacity after that, but seemingly that'll get someone 3-4 years of use without replacing the battery. In iPhone terms that's like buying the original 1st gen, and then upgrading to the iPhone 4, or 4S, 3-4 years later. I'd go so far as to say a person could squeeze 5 years out of it before it became a burden to recharge constantly, and 5 years is about the time Apple drops support for its products anyway. By that time the latest Watches will have so many new bells and whistles, plus extended battery life, why wouldn't you want to upgrade?
 
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My series 0 is still going strong with plenty of battery life. I purchased it in July of 2015. I keep half-hoping it will fail so I can get a new one. I tried to convince my wife that she wanted my old Apple Watch, but she's not having it! :D

Actually I will probably upgrade to the S3 pretty soon. Even though my S0 still works, it's not nearly as snappy as it used to be. Then again, it still works fine for most tasks so I might see if I can get a solid 3 years of it. So perhaps the answer you are looking for is that the Apple Watch will probably last longer than you want it to. ;)

Correction... my S0 seems to be having a bluetooth issue I discovered today. I guess I will try to un-pair and re-pair. If that doesn't work, hello S3!

Update: unpair repair did the trick. I guess it still works. :):(
 
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My original Apple Watch is still chugging along, however in the past month I’ve noticed some inconsistencies with the battery life. Every night I charge my watch and usual put it on at 7:00am. Some days I can get the charge to last all day and still have about 30% left by 10:00pm. Other days my watch hits 10% around 4:00pm and then goes into low power mode. I have yet to figure out a correlation between my daily activity and battery use.
 
You should be able to get 3 years use out of the watch.

That is what I'm hoping to get out of my AW3 GPS Only. At least 2 years with the goal and hope for 3.

Only 1000? Thats nothing

My AW3 ends the day, with an exercise at 80%-87% depending on how much I use it (if I don't exercise, 90-95%). So, with that math, 20% a day... it would take 5 days to use a "cycle" - so 1000 cycles * 5 days = 5000 days. That's 13 years. OK let's say we program some "error" and say most people will use 40% a day - 2 days for a cycle = 2000 days = 5.47 years till the battery hits 80% of design capacity. That's pretty good.
 
I Look at this it two ways:

1.) Battery life depends on the Apple Watch life expectancy based on how often someone charges it and how healthy the battery is throughout the span of using the Apple Watch. If somebody charges the watch regularly, they can easily achieve three years out of the Apple Watch. (Assuming no hardware issue occurs).

2.) watchOS updates, as of right now, the first generation Apple Watch is supporting Up to watchOS 4, which we don't know if it will be supported up to watchOS 5. You can expect at least three years of watchOS updates, which would be equivalent to three years, maybe more.
 
That is what I'm hoping to get out of my AW3 GPS Only. At least 2 years with the goal and hope for 3.



My AW3 ends the day, with an exercise at 80%-87% depending on how much I use it (if I don't exercise, 90-95%). So, with that math, 20% a day... it would take 5 days to use a "cycle" - so 1000 cycles * 5 days = 5000 days. That's 13 years. OK let's say we program some "error" and say most people will use 40% a day - 2 days for a cycle = 2000 days = 5.47 years till the battery hits 80% of design capacity. That's pretty good.

I think 2 years min/3 years max is probably on the money. Then there's the question whether Apple introduces some killer functionality. For example, if you just bought a Series 3 and in September Apple introduces the Series 4 with blood glucose monitoring and you're a diabetic, do you think you'll say "I'll replace it...in 2020"? Probably no chance...(but probably no chance of blood glucose monitoring in the next year or two, either).
 
Wow, you dug this one up?

OK, there's a 3rd now which I'm factoring in.

Previously..

1. Battery Life.
2.1 Performance based on updates.
2.2 (it's all really 2 really) AVAILABILITY of updates if this bothers you.
3. Enclosure integrity against water.

3 is the new one for me as I'm swimming like mad with this watch and there are various notes about water exposure gradually degrading the water resistance. I have AppleCare+ but sadly my first AppleWatch S3 took a smack on my bathroom tiled floor so strike 1 and I have 1 more accidental incident.. by all accounts this includes water damage - hmm.

Basically I think you are into 2 years if you use all the features is a likely replacement point.

For me with a SS AW3 I think 2 years is a good ROI on full price and if it's still got enough sparkle to be worth something minus the bands at the local electronic exchange who aren't going to argue if it goes trotters up in 6 months after they have signed off on their inspection.
 
Gave my 2015 Series 0 to a family member when I bought a new GPS only Series 3. The 0 is doing fine, apparently.
The battery life and speed improvements between the 0 and 3 are significant. I don’t expect to want or need a new AW for awhile. So to answer the OP’’s question, three years anyway, maybe more.
 
I'd say an Apple Watch will easily last 3 years, but you should plan on upgrading after 2 years.

(if the following sounds familiar, I just posted it in another thread)

I used to skip every other generation when it came to the iPhone (held onto my iPhone 6 much longer... until the X came out). I skipped the iPhone S-models and upgraded every couple of years. I should have done the same for the Apple Watch and upgraded to the S3 as soon as it came out. A particular model of AW will slow down at the same time (at a certain OS version) regardless of when you buy it. The advantage of sticking to a 2 year, or even one year, cycle is that the old version is still worth something on trade-in or if you want to sell it. Apple says they will still give you $50 for an original AW Sport, but Best Buy recently dropped the trade-in value from $50 down to $11. I'd expect Apple to drop trade-in value soon as well. So I look at it this way: The easiest way to stay reasonably current is to trade in the old model while it still has enough value to give you a decent discount. You will be happier having a watch that can keep up with the latest OS, apps, and features.

Yes it is a little hard to swallow dropping another $329 to $359 for a new aluminum Apple Watch when your current one still functions and makes it through the day, but the cost of one of these spread over a couple of years comes down to 50 cents a day. Maybe the S3 will function well for even longer than the S0, but I expect we will see some impressive advances in wearable technology over the next 5 years.
 
My SS Series 0 had a hairline crack which let water in to the screen. Still works, but there’s a big blotch of dead pixels. Didn’t plan on updating until next year, but so far I’m loving my SS Series 3. I foresee it lasting many more years than my S0 barring any accidents.
 
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The Apple Watch will last as long as you want it to. This would require not updating the OS every time a new version is pushed (the features might be good, but the performance will be bad), also don't update your phone OS for it is inevitable that the version on your watch and the version on your phone will become incompatible. Finally you'd need to get the battery replaced when needed.

I'm planning on staying on iOS 10 with watchOS 3 for as long as possible for they work for me.
 
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