Breaking down the key differences between the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley joins The Final Round panel to break down the latest specs for the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE and key differences between the two.

Video Transcript

MYLES UDLAND: Well, last week, Apple unveiled couple of new Apple watches at its big event. Dan Howley joins us now with what we need to know, Howley, about the main differences between the two models. And I guess, what you learned after getting your hands on the things that were announced last week.

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, I have the Apple Watch Series 6 here and I have the Apple Watch SE here. And basically, the main difference between the two, it comes down to their pricing, their processors and their sensors. So the SE starts at $279. The 6 starts at $399. That's for the smaller version, the 40 millimeter. You could still, by the way, get the Apple Watch Series 3 for $199, which is a heck of a deal. But the display on that is a lot smaller and it's running an older processor.

But as far as these go, I think the main thing that people should look for or take into consideration when they want to buy them, is that the Series 6 has a blood oxygen sensor on it. And basically, that's going to tell you how efficiently oxygen is moving through your bloodstream. What does that mean for a regular person on a daily basis? Who the hell knows. They don't really explain it that well. And it's not as good as something like your heart rate when you work out.

Apple also doesn't say that you should use this to consult with a doctor like they do the ECG meter on their Apple Watch. That can tell you if you're functioning in a sinus rhythm or you're suffering from atrial fib or some kind of irregular heartbeat. That's a really good feature. That's also available on the Series 6, not available on the SE. Neither is that blood oxygen sensor.

The Series 6 also gets a faster processor, the S6 chip, while the SE gets an S5 chip. Now in terms of performance, I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever. That could change though. As time goes by, we could see a greater delta or delta period, as more demanding apps come out, or they add additional features. But they let's get that hand-washing sensor. So if you wash your hands and you enable it, it'll tell you that you've washed your hands for 20 seconds. It's eerily accurate. It just activates as soon as you start washing basically.

And you'll still get the fall detection that they have on the Apple Watch Series 5 on both of these as well. So in my opinion, I think for most people, the SE is more than enough. But that's my opinion. In actuality, I already bought a Series 6, because I just want the most expensive and best product out there, and I'm willing to pay for it. So I think first for most people, that might be a little much. The $279 SE really is a great Apple Watch though.

MYLES UDLAND: I mean, Howley, it sounds like your iPhone reviews from the last couple of years, you just changed all the iPhones to Apple Watches.

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, I mean, basically, yeah. You're getting one or two different features, one or two different offerings out of them. And you still have that low cost entry. I got to say, the $199 for the Series 3 is still a great, great deal. I mean, if you're looking for something for someone who wants to get into using an Apple Watch, that really is the entry way. And in all honesty, the Apple Watch is what keeps me in the Apple ecosystem, because of the fitness rings that are incredibly addictive. You feel like a slug if you don't complete them.

And just the ease of use. I think that really is what makes me want to stick with Apple. I'll use Google phones for review units, and I think, these are really cool, but it doesn't have the Apple Watch, so why would I want to keep it. I think that's really the sticking point for me, and likely for a lot of people. And obviously, that's the whole point of this thing.

DAN ROBERTS: Dan, Dan Roberts here. You know way back when, Apple Watch Series 2 came out, and it was the first version of the Nike plus Apple watch collab. I used one for a while to do a review and I used it for running, and I remember actually thinking it was great to go on to run with. But I was so unimpressed. Now three years or four years have passed, but I was so unimpressed with the battery life and how much you needed to charge it. And if it wasn't fully charged, it wouldn't last for like a nine mile run. I still am a skeptic, and I swear by an old fashioned analog watch. But let me ask you. Has the battery life improved on these things?

DAN HOWLEY: So I usually get around I'll say, about two days of battery life from the watch itself. Now what they did with the Series 6 was, they added fast charging. So in about an hour and a half, you got a full charge from zero. And that's important, because they also added sleep tracking in watchOS7. And that's actually pretty impressive to see.

I wake up in the middle of the night and eat like a quarter of a jar of peanut butter to a half to our peanut butter. I ate 20 cookies last night or the night before last, because I like to eat. And it will show you like when you're not in bed or when you're not sleeping enough. And it tells you, you need to sleep more or you're not hitting your sleep goal. It's something it's good to be able to track over time and can help you get into better habits. You may also be able to show that to a doctor or something like that.

But I think really as far as the battery life goes, we're not going to get anything much more than two days, just because, I mean, the thickness of these is pretty well set. If you go any thicker than this, you're not going to want to wear it. If you go thinner, you're going to lose the battery life. So I think this is really the right size. And so two days is probably the max right now.

MYLES UDLAND: Well, Howley, I guess just finally, as you're talking about the Apple Watch, and you said, it really is the thing that keeps you in the ecosystem, is the Apple Watch now or is Apple falling into this cycle where they think they can basically get Apple Watch users to buy a $500 watch every year? Which by the way, is way more expensive than buying like a normal watch and then just wearing it for 20 years, because it just is a normal watch.

And I guess is that, is this maybe like, I'm sure analysts would say, yes, is this maybe the big growth driver for Apple longer term, because everybody has an iPhone, they're all pretty much the same?

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, I don't I don't see it as being a growth driver. And if an analyst told me that the Apple Watch is going to be the thing that people re-up every year, I would laugh in their face. That's not what people would do. I think they're going to hold on to the Apple Watch for a while. I mean, there's still people that have the Apple Watch Series 1. We're on Series 6.

So you could still use that. The Apple Watch Series 3 is now the last one that I'll get watchOS7, so they're allowing people to hold on to them longer. I think what it does though, is exactly what I was saying. It keeps you in the ecosystem, and that then will translate to you buying more Apple products, subscribing to more Apple services. Look, I have iCloud, I subscribe to that. I'm thinking about trying Apple TV Plus more, but you know, what's really on there? Apple Music is there as well. Apple Arcade.

So it really just kind of pushes you into these different lanes where you can give Apple more of your money. And then you see the new iPhone come out every year and you go, oh, maybe I should get that. So I think this is more of a sticky factor than it is a recurring revenue factor like you would see from something like an iPhone every two years or three years or one year if you're that kind of person, or from the services they offer.