Apple unveils Watch Series 3 with LTE connectivity

Apple has unveiled its Watch Series 3 at the company’s iPhone 8 event, with built-in LTE connectivity.

As it stood before, the Apple Watch had to be within range of an iPhone to make calls and receive notifications, among other things. With cellular connectivity, it is now untethered from the phone, giving users more freedom.

Instead of using a nano SIM card, Apple has opted to go with an embedded SIM card, keeping the size essentially the same as Apple Watch Series 2. Additionally, Apple says the number for an Apple Watch Series 3 will be the same as for the user’s iPhone.

The third-generation wearable will also have an altimeter and a new dual-core W2 processor. There will also be a built-in speaker for Siri.

In terms of design, the wearable looks largely the same, with the exception of the flare of a red dot on the crown button. As for colours, there’ll be a Gold-Aluminum, Silver and Space Grey and ceramic cases in both White and Grey.

At the iPhone 8 event, CEO Tim Cook remarked that the Apple Watch is the number one watch in the world, beating out Rolex, Fossil, Omega and Cartier — presumably referring to revenue.

The Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular connectivity will be available beginning at $519 CAD at Bell and Telus, with pre-orders starting September 15th and availability beginning the 22nd of the same month.

There will also be a non-cellular version starting at $429 CAD.

Bell will be the first Canadian carrier to offer the cellular version of the device. Customers can use its $5 Smartwatch plan to link their wearable with a smartphone and use the voice, text and data services included in their existing plan through its ‘NumberShare’ service. As a promotion, the carrier is offering the first three months of service for free.

Telus has also confirmed it will carry the Watch 3 once it has put its system in place.