The latest Apple Watches are now available, and the while the Watch Series 6 comes with the new S6 chip dual-core processor, a blood oxygen sensor, ECG monitoring, ultra wideband technology, and Watch Series 5’s always on display, the Watch SE doesn’t have any of these features.
Starting at $279, the Watch SE is much cheaper than Series 6 which costs $399 in its base configuration.
Why doesn’t the Apple Watch SE have an Always On display?
In this mode, time is always visible, along with the most recent active app and watch face.
The Series 5, 6, and SE all have an LTPO display, which not only enables a variable refresh rate but also makes the always on mode possible. This makes one wonder if the Watch SE is theoretically capable of having the functionality, and if Apple will enable it one day via a software update.
Guess they didn’t want to add the cost for the variable refresh circuitry…
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) September 18, 2020
According to supply chain insider Ross Young, adding the mode to the Watch SE would have led to an increase in cost, something which would have defeated the purpose of an SE model.
