Bad news, Apple Watch Series 3 owners: Your smartwatch will not be receiving the next major watchOS release.
Announced Monday, Apple watchOS 9 will bring a number of new health and fitness features, plus four fresh watch faces, to Apple Watches this fall. The updates include expanded atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection capabilities, a new Medications app to help you manage your prescriptions, running-specific metrics, a Multisport workout type for triathletes, and more.
Unfortunately, the update will not be available on the nearly five-year-old Apple Watch Series 3, which first hit the market in September 2017. Scroll all the way down to the Availability section of Apple's watchOS 9 press release, and the news is right there: "watchOS 9 will be available this fall as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 4 or later paired with iPhone 8 or later and iPhone SE (second generation) or later, running iOS 16," Apple writes.
In other words, watchOS 9 will work on the Apple Watch Series 4, the Series 5, and the Series 6, models Apple has stopped selling but continues to support through software updates, as well as the Watch SE and the Series 7. The Series 3 is left out of the party.
If you still rock a Series 3, this is probably less of a shocker than a bummer. While watchOS 8, the current version of Apple's smartwatch operating system, is available on the Series 3, some newer features are unsupported, including the Portraits watch face. In addition, automatic cycling detection, which requires Apple's latest-generation motion sensors, only works on Watch SE, Series 6, and Series 7.
At the time of this writing, Apple is still selling the Series 3 for $199 as a more affordable alternative to its latest flagship smartwatch, the Series 7 and the two-year-old Watch SE, which start at $399 and $279, respectively. Given that it's ending software support for the Series 3, we don't expect Apple to keep making and selling it for much longer. If history is any indication, this fall will likely see a major shakeup to Apple's smartwatch lineup, with the company finally discontinuing the Series 3, replacing the Series 7 with a new flagship, and possibly lowering the price of the Watch SE.
If you're in the market for an affordable Apple Watch right now, we don't advise purchasing the Series 3. The Watch SE, on the other hand, is a solid budget-friendly option, offering many of the same key features as the Series 7, with the exception of an always-on display, a blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) sensor, and electrocardiogram (ECG) support.
We can't make any promises, but if you can delay your Apple Watch purchase until this fall, you might be able to snag the SE for $199.
For more from WWDC check out our hands on with Apple's M2 MacBook Air and the video below.