Whether you’re swapping out an aging wearable or are brand new to smartwatches, Amazon Prime Day is a good time to get a deal on an Apple Watch. The discounts extend to two of the three models in Apple’s current lineup including the flagship Apple Watch Series 8 and the more affordable Apple Watch SE (the premium Apple Watch Ultra isn’t discounted as of right now). Options from other brands like Samsung and Fitbit are also on sale. We’ve rounded up some of our recommended fitness trackers that are getting Prime Day discounts as well. Here are the best Prime Day deals on Apple Watches we could find.
Apple Watch Series 8
Apple’s flagship Series 8 is currently our favorite smartwatch and Prime Day is making it much more affordable.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is the brand’s most recent flagship and usually sells for $399 for the 41mm GPS model. Prime Day brings it down to $280, which is the best price we’ve seen. The Series 8 is our top pick in our guide to smartwatches because it combines detailed health and fitness tracking with seamless iPhone integration. New features include temperature sensors, ECG and blood oxygen readings, crash detection, and improved sleep metrics. The upcoming WatchOS 10 will bump the utility even more with widgets plus expanded health, fitness and mindfulness features.
We spent some time with the Apple Watch 8 when it came out late last year and called it “well-rounded [and] fully featured.” Apple claims an 18-hour battery life with average use and the always-on display enabled. Low-power mode (which we found particularly impressive) can give you up to 36 hours. If you want to make calls, get texts and more when you don’t have your phone, you may want to get the model with cellular capabilities. Those versions are down to $380 for both case sizes.
Apple Watch SE (44mm, GPS)
The larger, 44mm case size of the Apple Watch SE is down ton $230 for Prime members.
The most affordable smartwatch in the lineup is the Apple Watch SE. Right now, it looks like the 40mm case size is sold out, but the larger 44mm case is still on sale. It’s usually $279, Prime Day discounts are making it just $230 for the 44 mm size. We called the SE “the best smartwatch $250 can buy” in our Engadget review. It uses the same processor, matches the 50 meter water resistance and looks nearly identical to the Apple Watch 8, though the SE lacks dust resistance and the always-on display. It also can’t give blood oxygen, temperature and EKG readings. But if you don’t need those things, you can save money while still getting plenty of fitness and health data along with seamless integration with your iPhone.
Our reviewer Cherlynn Low notes that Apple made surprisingly few sacrifices with the SE and named it “the best smartwatch for the money.” In fact, in the wrap up to her Apple Watch 8 coverage, she said if she were shopping for herself, the SE is the watch she’d buy.
The cellular models are also on sale for Prime Day. The GPS plus cellular model lets you take calls, text and stream music even when your iPhone isn’t with you. The 40mm SE with cellular is usually $299, but is now $250. And the 44mm size with cellular is $280 instead of $329.
Smartwatches from other brands
Google Pixel Watch
Google’s first smartwatch is a beautifully designed wearable with plenty of useful watch faces and speedy Assistant responses.But the battery life is on the short side.
Prime Day is discounting the Google Pixel Watch to $250 for Prime members, which is a $100 off and the lowest price we’ve seen. Google’s first smartwatch only got a 74 in our Engadget review, but it’s a beautifully designed wearable with plenty of useful watch faces and speedy Assistant responses. Our main gripes were with the short battery life and software issues like awkward Fitbit integration — things that the upcoming launch of The best Amazon Prime Day Apple Watch and smartwatch deals for 2023