It’s hardly a surprise that Apple had to increase the prices of its iPads, Macs and other devices last month amid ongoing RAM and storage shortages, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the upcoming iPhones follow suit — but it’s not completely doom and gloom for Apple fans.
Apple’s wearables weren’t impacted by these price hikes, which is good news for anyone looking to upgrade to a watchOS 27-compatible device (as there will only be a select few left) or if you’re keen to get a swanky new watch to track your workouts.
The Apple Watch 11 was already going at a fantastic price of AU$429 during Prime Day last month, but surprise, surprise, it’s ever-so-slightly cheaper now, and it’s not even sale season! The Apple Watch Series 11 with the 42mm chassis and GPS-only option is now AU$2 cheaper, making this the lowest-ever price on Amazon Australia — that’s 37% off in case you were wondering.
Apple rates both the 42mm and 46mm models’ battery life at 24 hours of typical use and up to 38 hours in Low Power Mode, with battery capacity up 9% and 11%, respectively. Our reviewer found the claim checks out, with tests getting a full day and a half of battery life with light use, but the Low Power Mode makes it go even longer.
Health tracking is more comprehensive with the Series 11, adding blood-pressure monitoring to the usual arrhythmic heart-rate alerts, ECG, wrist temperature, respiratory rate and cycle tracking. Hearing health and Sleep Score are other notable additions, but these are also available on the cheaper SE 3 and have been rolled out to older models too.
Admittedly, the Apple Watch Series 11 won’t be much of an upgrade over the Series 10 because of the very similar hardware (and watchOS 27 compatibility), but upgrading from the Series 8 or older models, or even the Watch SE and SE 2, will see a significant performance jump and a longer support period.
And at this price, you don’t even need to wait till Black Friday as we don’t see it getting much cheaper than this in a few months’ time.
