This week at Apple’s annual WWDC event, the company announced watchOS 9 with several changes and new features. And while Apple didn’t mention the Watch Series 3 specifically, its cheapest watch will not support the next update, meaning it’s reaching the end of its life.

And honestly, that’s a good thing as we wouldn’t recommend the Watch Series 3 these days anyways, especially with better options like the newer Apple Watch SE available.

For those unaware, the Apple Watch lineup is currently on Series 7, but for whatever reason, Apple kept the Series 3 around at a wallet-friendly $199 price point. And while that sounds like a great deal, it’s pretty outdated and not really worth buying here in 2022.

The older Watch Series 3 doesn’t offer very good performance, battery life is abysmal, and plenty of other options are worth buying. Considering it came out back in 2017, it had a pretty good run.

With some of the upgrades coming with watchOS 9, the Series 3 would likely struggle even more. For example, Apple added some fun new customizable watch faces, new metrics and views for training through the Workout app, AFib history (on supported hardware), and a new Medications app that’ll help remind users to take their meds, to name a few.

Keep in mind that Apple didn’t expressly state it’s going away, but considering it doesn’t support watchOS 9, the writing is on the wall.

via iMore