Last July, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple started investigating the use of a plastic case on an Apple Watch SE to make a watch that could compete with its cheapest rivals. In August, Gurman provided more details about the plastic Watch SE and how it could be marketed as a “kid-friendly” product. In September, Gurman reported that the watch could ship this year, but that the product ran into “cost and quality challenges with the shift to plastic.”
Well, now it’s March, and the latest from Gurman is that the plastic Watch SE is in “serious jeopardy.” Sources say the casing isn’t up to the company’s standards, and the cost to make the case isn’t all that much cheaper than using aluminum.
Apple has offered plastic devices as cheaper options in the past, notably the original iBook and iPhone 5c. It was also thought that, like the iPhone 5c, a plastic Watch SE could be offered in an array of bright colors, which would be a departure from the standard shades found in the current Apple Watch lineup.
However, Apple moved away from plastic in its MacBooks a long time ago and hasn’t made a plastic iPhone since the 5c. Unless we see some sort of breakthrough, the Apple Watch SE’s future in plastic ended before it even got started. Learn more about the Apple Watch Series 10, the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and the current Apple Watch SE.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.