Apple Watch SE 2 vs Apple Watch SE
Is it worth the upgrade?
Apple unveiled the 2nd generation Apple Watch SE at its traditional September keynote, taking the floor alongside the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. It is thus the successor to the cheaper Apple Watch, which aims to offer the best price/performance ratio.
The first series celebrated quite a decent success, which is why it’s interesting to see what the giant comes up with for its successor. So let’s take a look at the comparison between the Apple Watch SE 2 and the Apple Watch SE together.
Design and display
In terms of design, no changes await us. With the new Apple Watch SE 2, Apple has stuck to a familiar design that works and has its fans. Specifically, the new series is available in silver, dark ink and star white case versions and again in two versions, respectively, with a 40mm and 44mm case.
The first-generation Apple Watch SE was available in silver, gold, and space grey. During the presentation, Apple compared the new low-cost watch to the Apple Watch Series 3, highlighting that it offers a 30% larger display in that comparison. Of course, the display size is the same compared to the previous Apple Watch SE.
The display remains the same not only in terms of size but also in terms of its capabilities. The display continues to offer up to 1000 nits of brightness but, unfortunately, lacks the always-on feature found on the Apple Watch Series 8 and newer. This is one of the compromises allowing the cheaper “Watchek” lower price.
Likewise, we must not forget to mention the bottom cover of the case, which is made of nylon composite and thus matches the colour. Although it is not such a fundamental change, we can consider it a certain improvement.
Features and performance
In principle, we could say that the Apple Watch SE 2 is still the same, but we can still find some exciting innovations. In addition, like the always-on display, the new Apple Watch lacks some necessary health sensors that we would find on a regular Apple Watch. Specifically, we won’t see an ECG or blood oxygen saturation sensor.
Of course, no sensor for measuring body temperature is also exclusive to the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. Even so, the new watch does have one interesting new feature. That’s because an automatic car crash detection feature is coming to the 2nd generation Apple Watch SE. Apple also promises 20% more performance compared to the previous generation.
Although the new generation of the cheap Apple Watch does not bring much news, it is still a great model for undemanding users. Thanks to the watchOS 9 operating system, it offers various functions, including physical activity monitoring, heart rate, the ability to pay via Apple Pay and more.
Family sharing is also available. The low-power mode is also an exciting novelty. This will work similarly to how it works on our iPhones, where it explicitly turns off some unimportant power-saving features, which can noticeably extend the battery life itself.
In any case, the battery life itself remains unchanged. Apple promises 18 hours of battery life per charge on the Apple Watch SE 2, just like the previous generation.
Summary
As mentioned above, the new Apple Watch SE 2 lineup doesn’t bring much new. Practically, we can only find automatic car crash detection and a more powerful chipset. Well-known features were already missing in the first generation are simply missing here (ECG, blood oxygen saturation, always-on).
But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad model. In terms of price/performance ratio, this is a first-class model that will unlock many possibilities and make your everyday life noticeably more enjoyable.
So is the upgrade worth it?
I don’t think it’s worth upgrading in this case. Perhaps only when your first-generation Apple Watch SE is underperforming, as the extra 20% of performance should be noticeable to everyone. As for the added new functionality, from my point of view, it’s nothing worth putting money on if you already have the first-generation watch.
At first glance, the watch brings only two differences: price and design. With that said, the change in design is rather funny for me if I ignore the colours. Hence, the significant difference is only in the crown, where the crown of the new model has a red stripe, which would emphasize that it is a more powerful version of virtually the same watch.
Until there is an analysis, I would guess the watches will be the same except for the chipset. Ultimately, their real differences from the performance will be due only to software limitations.
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