Is Apple Preparing to Introduce New Watch Bands?
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Although the consensus is that Apple will release a new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 during tomorrow’s “Surprise and Shine” event, one update we’re not expecting is a new Apple Watch SE.
Apple’s entry-level wearable has run on a pretty infrequent refresh cycle. The new “SE” class of Apple Watch debuted in 2020 alongside the Apple Watch Series 6, with an Apple Watch SE 2 coming in 2022 and the current Apple Watch SE 3 arriving last year.
That makes it unlikely that Apple will be releasing a new Apple Watch SE 4 tomorrow. However, a new development on Apple’s website spotted by MacRumors seems to hint that Apple might surprise us. As of this afternoon, the Apple Watch SE 3 appears to be unavailable for ordering from the Apple Store online.
The same holds true for the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3, but that should be less surprising. It’s highly unusual for Apple to stop selling current stock even this close to an event — the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max remain on sale, for example — so this doesn’t necessarily serve as a sign of things to come.
While we’ve confirmed this phenomenon on both the US and Canadian Apple Stores, a bit of deeper digging reveals it’s not necessarily about the Apple Watch models themselves — rather, it’s the Apple Watch bands that appear to be widely unavailable.
If you’ve ever purchased an Apple Watch online, you’ll know there’s quite a laundry list of things to select before you get to the availability status. You need to choose your preferred finish, size, model (GPS or GPS + Cellular) and then choose from a variety of bands and band sizes. It’s not until you’ve completed all these steps that you’ll see shipping times or availability for pickup.
This means there are a lot of permutations and combinations to go through, and it turns out that while most of them show “Unavailable,” there are a few selections that will still offer delivery this week, and possibly even in-store pickup.
Unsurprisingly, these are the less popular special edition bands like the Pride Edition Sport Band and Unity Rhythm Sport Band — the textile versions — and the medium/large gold Milanese Loop. The special edition Solo Loops are also available in the US, although they’re showing unavailable on the Canadian store.
While we can only speculate on the reasons for this, the most likely explanation is that Apple is preparing to introduce an entirely new collection of bands with tomorrow’s Apple Watch models. Since the special edition bands wouldn’t likely be replaced as part of this, it makes sense that these would remain available on the store even after tomorrow, while the rest of the colors and designs are discontinued and replaced with whatever else Apple has in store.
Don’t get too excited, though, as it’s likely these will simply be new styles and patterns. While we’ve heard rumors of a new band attachment system and even bands with built-in sensors, there’s been very little solid evidence those are coming this year — and unless Apple really does plan to introduce an Apple Watch SE 4 tomorrow, it’s going to have to continue to sell bands that are compatible with that older model.
A new band attachment system would require a significant redesign of the Apple Watch, which by all accounts isn’t coming until at least next year, and even if Apple were ready to offer bands with built-in sensors, it’s unlikely every single Apple Watch band would come with the sensors; Apple would be far more likely to offer these as an upgraded version of the Apple Watch band. Still, we can’t rule anything out, so maybe Apple has a few more surprises in store for tomorrow that the rumor mill has missed.
