How much (or how little) does a smartwatch need to cost to be considered “affordable”? Different companies will give you different answers to that question at different times, with Apple, for instance, originally charging $279 and up for the first-gen Watch SE back in the fall of 2020 but something like the OnePlus Watch debuting at a measly $159 last year.
Interestingly, this year’s long overdue Apple Watch SE 2 normally starts at a slightly lower $249 price than its predecessor despite bringing a number of important upgrades to the table. As it was easy to guess right off the bat, that’s opened the door to some amazing Apple Watch SE 1 discounts, culminating with today’s killer new Walmart Black Friday deal.
The retailer that’s already slashed the $309 list price of a cellular-enabled variant to a very palatable $199 a couple of weeks ago (for a limited time only) is now selling the cheapest OG Apple Watch SE models at 130 bucks less than usual.
That means that, if you hurry, you’re looking at coughing up just $149 on a GPS-only unit with a 40mm case or $179 if you prefer (or need) a jumbo-sized 44mm version (also lacking standalone cellular connectivity).
But although that thing is undeniably prettier than the Apple Watch SE, Wear OS continues to lack proper iOS support, leaving iPhone users with no good budget-friendly alternatives to this deeply discounted market veteran.
If you think you can make do without potentially life-changing ECG and blood oxygen sensors, as well as with an outdated Apple S5 processor (that’s still more than capable of running all the apps you could possibly need in your day-to-day use), there’s obviously no point searching for such an alternative. Your 150 bucks (and up) will get you GPS connectivity, continuous heart rate tracking, fall detection, a completely swimproof design, and sleep monitoring, not to mention a top-notch Retina OLED screen to display all your notifications.
