Black Friday sales have started early, but even in the biggest selling season of the year, it's hard to find good Apple products. However, the Apple Watch is one of the few Apple products we regularly see on Black Friday. Typically, Apple's flagship smartwatch released in September (Series 7 this year) offers smaller discounts on Black Friday, while the cheaper Apple Watch sells better. Sales of the 7 Series have yet to materialize — confusingly, there are two cheaper Apple Watches available this year, the Apple Watch SE and the cheaper Apple Watch Series 3. But despite the series 3's low price, only the SE is worth your time.
Why You shouldn't buy the Apple Watch Series 3
Despite deep discounts (on Walmart's Black Friday, Nov. 22, the 38 million collections sold for just $109;$42 million, $139), the Apple Watch Series 3 is no longer an easy buy. Our guide writers noted that the small screen and square casing looked outdated, and worse, in our tests, the Series 3 was slow to run applications. The final straw is the Series 3's limited storage capacity, which may require some users to wipe and restore their Apple Watch every time they issue a major software update.
What about Black Friday for the Apple Watch Series 7?
This holiday season, we're likely to see small discounts on the 7 series. With costs rising due to global supply chain issues, you shouldn't expect prices to drop significantly, even with the discounted quality of the Series 6 we saw last year. The 7 Series, our preferred Apple Watch, offers features that the SE doesn't, such as a never-closing display, blood oxygen measurements, electrocardiograms, more crack-resistant glass, and faster charging. If you're upgrading from an older model and want some special features, or have the cash, the Series 7 is still your first choice, though you probably won't see the deep Black Friday discounts.
