New Apple Watch 3 Launched Today – Starting Price is $329

As we expected, the Apple Watch 3 was announced today.  For the most part the watch looks similar to the second generation, but it now comes with built-in LTE radio.  Which means that users can make calls to their friends without the use of their smartphone.  The built-in LTE connectivity is definitely the headline feature of the watch.  It enables both calls and the ability to stream music directly from Apple Music.  Some of you are probably wondering if you can stream music from other locations, and my guess is not.  Overall the watch is now faster, thanks to a new dual core chip and other refinements to the overall system.

Another great boost with this version is that you’ll get 18 hours of battery life from it.  Which is quite an increase from my current Series 1.  But I’m not complaining.  The focus seems to be on the health and fitness tracking aspects for the watch, which includes an improved heart rate tracking.  With the Series 3, you will be able to see your current heart rate whenever you raise your wrist to check the time.  And the device will constantly calculate your base heart rate.  In addition, the company will spend time looking to develop a way for the watch to detect subtle, hard to diagnose symptoms of atrial fibrillation before they strike.  Which is an incredible advancement from a health perspective.

Since the launch of the Series 1 watch, the wearables industry has changed beyond immensely.  Mostly thanks to Apple.  It is estimated that there have been approximately 30 million of the watches sold.  Tim Cook, in his opening remarks, said that the device had grown in sales by 50 percent year-on-year, and now Apple Watch is the world’s most popular watch — although it’s probably not the world’s biggest watchmaker.

The Apple Watch Series 3 will ship with an aluminum case in either Gold, Silver or Space Gray as well as some premium ceramic options like Black or White.  Apple was excited to show their new Sport Loop band, which is a cloth, Nato-style smartwatch band that will handle the elements.

So what will one of these cost you?  It will cost $329 for the base model, whereas the LTE model will cost you $399.  This price may vary depending on size and the case options.  But overall, it kind of sounds like a reasonable price.  If you want to take advantage of the LTE option, it will cost you about $10 a month more to add it to an existing plan.  Apple has announced that they are going to start selling the Series 1 model for around $249.  Which they’re calling super-low budget.  And it is, but for an extra $80, you can get the Series 3.  So why wouldn’t you get the newest version?

As far as which carriers will allow you to add this to your current plan, you can check out our list below:

United States

• AT&T
• Sprint
• T-Mobile
• Verizon

Canada

• Bell
• Telus

China

• China Mobile
• China Telecom
• China Unicorn

Australia

• Au
• Docomo
• SoftBank

I am extremely excited for this update.  The watch itself looks really cool and it comes with a lot of really neat updates. I can’t wait to see what the watch bands are going to look like either.