The Apple Watch Series 3 is a smartwatch that was designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple from 2017 to 2022 as part of the Apple Watch series. The Watch Series 3 has been introduced on September 12, 2017, and its price started at $329.
The new Watch comes again in two sizes 38 mm and 42 mm and has been made in 7 different finishes including Aluminum (Silver, Space Gray, Gold), Stainless Steel, Space Black Stainless Steel, White Ceramic, and Gray Ceramic.
The device features a 1.5-inch or 1.65-inch OLED Retina Display with Force Touch covered by Ion-X glass or Sapphire crystal, Dual-Core Apple S3 processor, 768 MB of RAM, Apple W2 chip, 8 or 16 GB of flash memory, Taptic Engine, Digital Crown, NFC for Apple Pay, GPS, Bluetooth 4.2, ambient light sensor, heart rate sensor, accelerometer, a gyroscope, water-resistance up to 50 meters, wireless charging, and additional Cellular model.
The main new feature in Series 3 is built-in LTE cellular connectivity and offers both voice and data communication, including out-of-the-box Apple Music streaming. Antenna functionality (receiving and transmitting elements for LTE and UMTS) is part of the display and the watch features an Apple SIM (eSIM), 1% the size of a standard SIM card, and shares the same mobile number as the user’s iPhone.
Apple claims 18 hours of battery life. It has a dual-core Apple S3 processor, which Apple claims are 70% faster than the S2. The cellular-capable watch has a red digital crown but the Series 3 device is also available in a non-LTE version. Siri is able to speak on Apple Watch Series 3 due to the increased processing speed of the Watch.
On September 12, 2018, has been discontinued entire Hermes and Ceramic edition of the Apple Warch Series 3 was due to the introduction of the new Apple Watch Series 4. At the same time Apple announced new prices for 38 mm and 42 mm GPS models, and 38 mm / 42 mm GPS + Cellular models for $279, $309, $379, and $409 respectively.
Alongside the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 5 on September 10, 2019, Apple again drops the prices of Series 3 models. From this moment GPS-only models 38 mm and 42 mm have been priced at $199 and $229, respectively, and 32 mm / 42 mm GPS + Cellular models were priced at $299 and $329 respectively.
On September 15, 2020, Apple decided to keep on the market only GPS versions of the Apple Watch Series 3 in both sizes, but only in Space Gray and Silver colors. The rest of the Series 3 watches such as Nike+, Aluminum, and Cellular options have been discontinued.
On September 7, 2022, Apple discontinued this Apple Watch entirely while presenting the second generation of Apple Watch SE. Worth mentioning is that Apple Watch Series 3 doesn’t support watchOS 9, which means watchOS 8 is the last release available for this Watch.
Today Apple Watch Series 3 is 7 years old!
Apple Watch Series 3 Release Date and Original Price
| Introduced | September 12, 2017 |
| Released | September 22, 2017 |
| Discontinued | September 12, 2018 (Hermes and Ceramic Edition) September 15, 2020 (Nike+ and Cellular options) September 7, 2022 (Entirely) |
| Model Identifier | Watch3,3 (38 mm GPS) Watch3,4 (42 mm GPS) Watch3,1 (38 mm GPS + Cellular) Watch3,2 (42 mm GPS + Cellular) |
| Model Number | A1858 (38 mm GPS) A1859 (42 mm GPS) A1860 (38 mm GPS + Cellular) A1889 (38 mm GPS + Cellular) A1890 (38 mm GPS + Cellular) A1861 (42 mm GPS + Cellular) A1891 (42 mm GPS + Cellular) A1892 (42 mm GPS + Cellular) |
| EMC | 3165 (38 mm GPS) 3166 (42 mm GPS) 3169 (38 mm GPS + Cellular) 3170 (38 mm GPS + Cellular) 3167 (42 mm GPS + Cellular) 3168 (42 mm GPS + Cellular) |
| Generation | 3rd |
| Order Number | 38 mm Aluminum GPS MQKU2LL/A, MQKW2LL/A, MR352LL/A, MQKV2LL/A, MTF02LL/A, MTEY2LL/A 42 mm Aluminum GPS MQL02LL/A, MQL22LL/A, MR362LL/A, MQL12LL/A, MTF32LL/A, MTF22LL/A 38 mm Aluminum GPS + Cellular MQJN2LL/A, MQJQ2LL/A, MR2W2LL/A, MQJP2LL/A, MQJR2LL/A, MQJU2LL/A, MQJT2LL/A, MQJV2LL/A, MQJW2LL/A, MR1F2LL/A, MR1H2LL/A, MRQE2LL/A, MTGH2LL/A, MTGG2LL/A, MQKF2B/A, MQKH2B/A, MR2Y2B/A, MQKG2B/A, MQKJ2B/A, MQKL2B/A, MQKK2B/A, MQLV2B/A, MQLW2B/A, MR1N2B/A, MR1Q2B/A, MRQG2B/A, MTGP2B/A, MTGN2B/A, MQQE2CH/A, MQQG2CH/A, MR332CH/A, MQQF2CH/A, MQQH2CH/A, MQQK2CH/A, MQQJ2CH/A, MQQL2CH/A, MQQM2CH/A, MR212CH/A, MR222CH/A, MRQJ2CH/A, MTGL2CH/A, MTGK2CH/A 42 mm Aluminum GPS + Cellular MQK12LL/A, MQK32LL/A, MR2X2LL/A, MQK22LL/A, MQK52LL/A, MQK72LL/A, MQK62LL/A, MQK82LL/A, MQK92LL/A, MR1J2LL/A, MR1L2LL/A, MRQF2LL/A, MTGT2LL/A, MTGR2LL/A, MQKM2B/A, MQKP2B/A, MR302B/A, MQKN2B/A, MQKQ2B/A, MQKT2B/A, MQKR2B/A, MQLY2B/A, MQM02B/A, MR1U2B/A, MR1V2B/A, MRQH2B/A, MTH22B/A, MTH12B/A, MQQR2CH/A, MQQU2CH/A, MR342CH/A, MQQT2CH/A, MQQV2CH/A, MQQX2CH/A, MQQW2CH/A, MQQY2CH/A, MQR02CH/A, MR232CH/A, MR242CH/A, MRQK2CH/A, MTGY2CH/A, MTGX2CH/A 38 mm Nike+ GPS MQKX2LL/A, MQKY2LL/A, MTF12LL/A 42 mm Nike+ GPS MQL32LL/A, MQL42LL/A, MTF42LL/A 38 mm Nike+ GPS + Cellular MQL52LL/A, MQL62LL/A, MQL72LL/A, MQL82LL/A, MQLA2LL/A, MTGJ2LL/A, MQM72B/A, MQM82B/A, MQM92B/A, MQMA2B/A, MQMD2B/A, MTGQ2B/A, MQR42CH/A, MQR52CH/A, MQR62CH/A, MQR72CH/A, MQR92CH/A, MTGM2CH/A 42 mm Nike+ GPS + Cellular MQLC2LL/A, MQLD2LL/A, MQLE2LL/A, MQLF2LL/A, MQLH2LL/A, MTGW2LL/A, MQME2B/A, MQMF2B/A, MQMG2B/A, MQMH2B/A, MQMK2B/A, MTH42B/A, MQRG2CH/A, MQRH2CH/A, MQRJ2CH/A, MQRK2CH/A, MQRM2CH/A, MTH02CH/A 38 mm Hermes GPS + Cellular MQLN2LL/A, MQLK2LL/A, MQLJ2LL/A, MQLM2LL/A, MQMQ2B/A, MQMM2B/A, MQML2B/A, MQMP2B/A, MQRF2CH/A, MQX92CH/A, MQRA2CH/A, MQRE2CH/A 42 mm Hermes GPS + Cellular MQLU2LL/A, MQX62LL/A, MQLQ2LL/A, MQLP2LL/A, MQLT2LL/A, MQLR2LL/A, MQMW2B/A, MQX72B/A, MQMT2B/A, MQMR2B/A, MQMV2B/A, MQMU2B/A, MQRT2CH/A, MQX92CH/A, MQRP2CH/A, MQRN2CH/A, MQRR2CH/A, MQRQ2CH/A 38 mm Ceramic GPS + Cellular MQJY2LL/A, MQK02LL/A, MQM32B/A, MQM42B/A, MQQP2CH/A, MQQQ2CH/A 42 mm Ceramic GPS + Cellular MQKD2LL/A, MQKE2LL/A, MQM52B/A, MQM62B/A, MQR22CH/A |
| Original Price | $329 (38 mm Aluminium GPS) $399 (38 mm Aluminium GPS + Cellular) $359 (42 mm Aluminium GPS) $429 (42 mm Aluminium GPS + Cellular) $599 – $1,299 (38 mm Stainless Steel GPS + Cellular) $649 – $1,399 (42 mm Stainless Steel GPS + Cellular) $1,299 (38 mm Ceramic GPS + Cellular) $1,349 (42 mm Ceramic GPS + Cellular) |
| Colors | Aluminum (Silver, Space Gray, Gold) Stainless Steel Space Black Stainless Steel White Ceramic Gray Ceramic |
| Case | Stainless Steel Aluminum Ceramic |
| Weight | 0.94 – 1.49 oz. – 26 – 42 Grams (38 mm) 1.14 – 1.86 oz. – 32 – 52 Grams (42 mm) |
| Dimensions | 1.52 – 1.54” H x 1.31 – 1.34” W x 0.45 – 0.46″ D (38 mm) 3.86 – 3.91 cm H x 3.32 – 3.4 cm W x 1.14 – 1.16 cm D (38 mm) 1.67 – 1.68” H x 1.43 – 1.44” W x 0.45″ D (42 mm) 4.24 – 4.26 cm H x 3.63 – 3.65 cm W x 1.14 cm D (42 mm) |
| Predecessor | Apple Watch Series 2 |
| Successor | Apple Watch Series 4 |
Tech Specs
Processor
| Processor | Apple S3 Apple W2 |
| Processor Speed | Unknown |
| Architecture | 32-bit |
| Number of Cores | 2 |
| Memory | 768 MB RAM |
Storage
| Storage | 8 GB (GPS) 16 GB (GPS + Cellular) |
Display
| Display Materials | Ion-X glass (Aluminum) Sapphire crystal (Stainless Steel and Ceramic) |
| Display | 1.5″ OLED Retina Multi-touch Display (38 mm) 1.65″ OLED Retina Multi-touch Display (42 mm) |
| Display Size | 563 mm2 (38mm) 740 mm2 (42mm) |
| Resolutions | 272 x 340 (38mm) 312 x 390 (42mm) |
| Brightness | 1000 cd/m2 |
| Pixel Density | 326 ppi |
Input
| Input Method | Digital Crown Multi-Touch Force Touch Digital Touch Side Button |
Sensors
| Sensors | Ambient light sensor Heart rate sensor Accelerometer Barometric altimeter Gyroscope |
| Tactile Feedback | Taptic Engine |
Connections
| Wi-Fi | 802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz |
| Networks* | LTE and UMTS |
| SIM Slot* | None – Built-in Apple SIM (eSIM) |
| NFC | NFC for Apple Pay |
| Location | GPS GLONASS QZSS Galileo |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Audio In | 1 – Microphone |
| Audio Out | 1 – Speaker |
Software
| Original OS | watchOS 4.0 |
| Maximum OS | watchOS 8.7.1 |
| System Requirements | iPhone 5s or later (GPS) iPhone 6 or later (GPS + Cellular) |
| Intelligent Assistant | Siri |
Power
| Battery | Built-in rechargeable Lithium-Polymer |
| Battery Capacity | 279 mAh (38 mm) 352 mAh (42 mm) |
| Battery Life | Up to 18 hours |
| Power | Apple 5 W or 12 W Power adapter |
References:
Apple Support – Apple Watch Series 3: Technical Specifications