Apple announces $279 Apple Watch SE, $15 Apple One subscription, & $599 iPad Air

Announced at the Apple event today, the tech giant will be releasing a new model of the Apple Watch that’s targeted at consumers looking for a boost over the Series 3, but not as expensive as the new Series 6.

Priced at $279 retail, we predict sales in the $250 range over the next 12 months on the Apple Watch SE. However, if you are interested in picking up one at launch, both the Apple Watch SE and the Series 6 will be available for preorder today and in Apple Stores on September 18.

Regarding features, the Apple Watch SE uses the S5 system in chip, 2 times faster than Series 3. It includes the accelerometer, heart rate meter, compass, gyroscope, motion sensors, and fall detection. There’s also a cellular model, if you want that upgrade.

Beyond the Apple Watch SE, Apple also announced the new Series 6 smartwatch starting at $399. Apple has improved the display, making it 2.5 times brighter in the daylight. It can also show elevation in real time and has a blood oxygen monitor. Apple is debuting a new band for the watch called the Solo Loop, a stretchable silicone band without a clasp.

Both of the new Apple Watches now come with 3 months of Apple Fitness+, a fitness subscription service that costs $10-a-month or $80-per-year. On the topic of subscriptions, Apple is launching the Apple One subscription service.

For $15-per-month, individual users can get access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and iCloud. Family accounts cost $20-per-month for the same services (account sharing up to 5 people). There’s also a Premier tier at $30 per month that includes access to Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+. Apple is also announcing a 30-day free trial of Apple One later in the year, ideal if you want to test before you buy.

Outside of smartwatches, Apple announced an update to the base level iPad as well as a new version of the iPad Air. The new base level iPad has the A12 Bionic chip for a 40% jump in performance & a 2x jump in graphics power. It will be compatible with the Apple pencil and keyboards. It will utilize iOS 14 and will be priced at $329 ($299 for education customers). It’s also available for preorder today and in stores on September 18.

The redesigned, $599 iPad Air features a 10.9-inch liquid retina display offering 3.8 million pixels of resolution. Other features include a new, small Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the power button, the new A14, 5-nanometer chip with 11.8 billion transistors (40% increase in speed, 30% increase in graphics over the last iPad Air), and support for Wi-Fi 6 as well as USB-C. Apple didn’t announce a date for the release beyond an October 2020 release window, more details here.

At the end of the event, Apple announced that iOS 14 will be available for download for free tomorrow to all iPhone and iPad owners. In addition, watchOS 7 will be released for Apple Watch owners.

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