When the next Apple Watch SE arrives, it will have a design change that significantly upsets the style of the lower-priced Watch: a plastic case.
This would be a very big change. Until now, the model Apple has followed with its most affordable smartwatch has been to take an earlier Watch design and leave it intact, save for inserting a newer processor and offering it at the lowest price in the range. In every other way, it would look the same.
For the next model, though, “One idea that the company has tested is swapping out the aluminum shell in favor of rigid plastic,” says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter.
Until now, the Apple Watch has come with cases in a series of materials: aluminum, stainless steel, ceramic, titanium and even, in the first Apple Watch Edition, gold. But never plastic.
The Apple Watch, after all, is a premium device. So, why would Apple consider this change?
“Perhaps it’s looking to get the cost down to something that could better rival Samsung’s cheapest watch, the $199 Galaxy Watch FE. The SE currently starts at $249,” Gurman goes on.
That would be a big change in approach for Apple when it updates the SE, which was last renewed in 2022.
There’s no indication in the report when the next Apple Watch SE might be revealed, but for reference, the first one was released in fall 2020, and was based on the design of the Apple Watch Series 3. In September 2022, Apple launched the second-generation Apple Watch SE, which looked like Series 5, though without the always-on display of Watches from Series 5 onwards.
Would Apple really trade down from aluminum to rigid plastic? I’m skeptical. After all, the components have always been high-end, from the toughened glass or sapphire crystal protecting the display to the ceramic back of the Watch.
Gurman doesn’t mention whether the rear case will switch from ceramic to another material.
Apple does like to be seen as good value, but it’s not directly competing with Samsung: let’s remember that the Apple Watch only works with the iPhone and Samsung’s smartwatches are only compatible with Android phones, or even Galaxy phones in some cases.
We’ll see.
