Apple Watch - Series 3 still a good option?

Looking to buy my wife an Apple Watch, and the S5 is just a little out of my price range. Is the S3 (which Apple are still selling) still a decent option? I’m using a S4 and would love to get her one but you can’t buy them new anymore.

The Apple Watch S5 is mid cycle so it’s going to be a while before it is replaced which implies that the S3 will continue to be sold for at least that long. I’d be surprised to see it continue past that point but updates should be offered for a while after that.

IMO it’s a safe buy in the short term for medium length ownership but not necessarily the best choice for long term ownership YMMV.

I just bought one and I decided to get the Series 5, even though I had a coupon to get the Series 3 cheaper. I thought that in the long run it was better to pay more to get the more up to date technology.

If you don’t need falls detection its fine. I went with the S5 (from an S1) only because I could access that, and the 4 had been discontinued. If I didnt want falls detection, I may not have bothered upgrading at all. The S3 will be fine.

Recently got a S3 as an upgrade to a S1. Would have preferred a S5 but got a great deal on the S3 and couldn’t justify the extra cost.

If your not after the updated screen then the S3 will do almost all the same things and as mentioned will be supported for a while as still being sold.

Over the years I have upgraded from Series 0 to Series 3 and then Series 5.

The Series 0 had so much potential, the 3 made it actually work very very well, the Series 5 with it’s larger and always on screen was basically an instabuy for me, although arguably didn’t really do much more than the 3 (if you don’t need fall detection).

I don’t know about others, but for me it’s all about the notifications. I don’t actually use any of the other functions. For that reasons, the Series 3 at half the price would be just fine. Battery life is apparently just as good (according to the specs), but I will say that using Cellular kills the battery very very quickly. With my 42mm S3 Cellular I could easily get through a full 16+ hour day without issue without using cellular (other that short walks to the bathroom or something out of range of the phone at work) where my Wife with her 38mm S3 only gets to about lunch time on cellular (leaving her phone in her locker at work) before the battery dies. Keeping her phone with her and it lasts all day again… Cellular really sucks that much juice. A run or bike ride or swim is probably fine, bit apparently it’s not an all day thing.

So, S3 on a budget is fine… just watch how long it takes for her to develop that very pronounced way to raise and flick the wrist to activate the screen :wink:

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Thanks for all the replies. It’s so annoying the S4 isn’t sold anymore - the S3 is maybe a bit too old and the S5 a bit too expensive :weary:

I’d personally wait till September… Watch OS7 may be the last update the 3rd gen receives…

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