Want to buy an Apple Watch Series 3? Do not do that

It’s the oldest Apple Watch you can buy from Apple at the moment – and the cheapest too: the Apple Watch Series 3. The watch is from 2017 and the smallest model costs € 219. Much more affordable than the current entry-level model of 2020: Apple Watch SE costs € 299. So it seems like a good deal. But buying the Apple Watch Series 3 in 2021 isn’t a good idea after all …

Problems with watchOS 7

Apple has been known to support older devices for years, even long after they’ve disappeared from the lineup. For example, the iPhone 6s from 2015 is still suitable for iOS 14, the older iPad Air 2 from 2014 can easily work with iPadOS 14, and many Macs from 2013 still support macOS Big Sur. What about the Apple Watch Series 3? Here you can install the very latest watchOS 7 software – everything you would expect from a device that is still in the current lineup.

There is a big but.

Right off the bat, there were issues with the Apple Watch Series 3 and watchOS 7. The cheapest version of the Apple Watch only has to settle for 8GB of storage space. And 8 GB is too little: the operating system takes a big part of it. It doesn’t matter if you bought your 3 Series in 2017 or 2021.

WatchOS update is a problem

With each intermediate update, it’s a mess again and users are notified that their watch is full. And you have to remove a lot of apps, music and other content from your watch before there is enough space. Last week watchOS 7.4 was released and the dolls were dancing again.

Apple now has one too roadmap upload in case you don’t have enough space to update And that doesn’t make you happy. This is a problem, requiring you to disconnect your watch from your iPhone and then start the backups. While watchOS 7 is that complicated, we don’t really want to know what will happen when watchOS 8 releases this fall. Overall, that doesn’t bode well for future Series 3 support.

Buy Apple Watch Series 3: an alternative

We don’t recommend an Apple Watch Series 3 because of all of this hassle. Series 4 and 5 have enough space, but the problem does not arise. However, Series 4 and 5 are no longer on sale at Apple itself, and less and less often in other online stores.

The best alternative at the moment is the Apple Watch SE. It’s the entry-level model for 2020. It costs eighty euros more than the 3-Series. But do yourself a favor and save for a while. With this model, you can advance longer than with the 3 Series. In addition to the additional space (32 GB), you also benefit from the following innovations:

• A new design with a larger screen.
• New health features such as fall detection and sound notifications.
• A chip up to 2 times faster
• A compass and an altimeter always on

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