Late last night, Apple concluded its Time Flies event, and announced a new 8th-gen iPad, and a 4th-gen iPad Air. However, the company also launched the new Apple Watch Series 6 — its flagship smartwatch for the coming year along with the Apple Watch SE which is supposed to be an affordable offering for customers. So, what is different between the Apple Watch Series 6, and the Apple Watch SE? And why the hell is the Series 3 still available? Let’s check it out.
Apple Watch Series 6 vs Apple Watch SE: Design
As far as the design of both offerings are concerned, you won’t find many differences. That’s because the Watch SE has a big retina display, with thinner bezels and curved corners like the Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch Series 6. So basically, the watch looks and feels modern, and not as old as the Series 3 looks these days.
Apple Watch Series 6 vs Apple Watch SE: Sensors and Hardware
The biggest difference between the Series 6 and the SE is the hardware they pack. The flagship Series 6 comes with the latest Apple S6 SiP. On the other hand, the Apple Watch SE comes with the S5 SiP from the Series 5. According to Apple, the S6 is 20% faster than the S5, so right out the gate, there will be a slight performance discrepancy between the two Apple Watches.
Other than that, both watches have an altimeter, next-gen speaker and mic, compass, and the option for GPS-only, or GPS+LTE connectivity.
So the display on both these watches is pretty much the same, but there is one big difference.
Other than the differences I mentioned above, there’s not a lot that differs between the Series 6 and the Watch SE. Both watches come in GPS or GPS+LTE variants. You get features like Apple Pay, GymKit, and Emergency SOS in both watches as well. Both watches also support WiFi 802.11 b/g/n. However, the Series 6 supports 5GHz networks as well, while the Watch SE only supports 2.4GHz networks.
Apple Watch Series 6 vs Apple Watch SE: Battery
Apple claims that the battery life on both the Series 6 and the Watch SE is the same, at 18 hours of use on a single charge. Both the watches charge via Apple’s proprietary magnetic wireless charger, and neither of the watch will ship with a USB wall charger, so make sure you have your own to spare. And if you are having some battery problems, you can read our article on improving battery life on Apple Watch series 6 to get the most usage out of the watch on a single charge.
Lastly, let’s discuss the price differences between both these watches. The flagship Apple Watch Series 6 starts at $399 (₹40,900 in India), while the Apple Watch SE starts at $279 (₹29,900 in India). That’s a fairly big price difference. However, you also miss out on features such as ECG, Blood Oxygen measurement, and an always on display.
