The Apple Watch SE could soon get a much-needed makeover

It looks like plastic is making a triumphant return to Apple’s product portfolio. According to Bloombergthe next Apple Watch SE will ditch its metallic casing in favor of a plastic casing, and could arrive this fall.

This would be the first time that Apple has used plastic as the main construction material for its smartwatch. The main goal is to reduce production costs, with the hope of bringing the retail price closer to around $200.

A lower price definitely seems like an attractive proposition. But there can be a number of other advantages associated with using plastic. Compared to metal, which is more expensive and difficult to paint, plastic is cheaper and allows for a richer range of color selection with relative ease.

Furthermore, with a lower cost, Apple is apparently giving the smartwatch a stronger push towards the younger segment, especially among children. “With recent school phone bans, Apple has been promoting its watch as a low-cost phone alternative that can help parents stay in touch with their children – and track their whereabouts,” the report says.

Apple’s history with plastic in mainstream products hasn’t exactly yielded great results unanimously in recent times. To takefor example, the iPhone 5cwho adopted a plastic design in the name of accessibility.

But despite laying the groundwork for what would essentially become the iPhone SE, Apple never created a direct successor to the iPhone 5c. Ken Segall, who worked with Steve Jobs on Apple’s creative marketing for more than a decade, said the failure had to do with the perception of plastic as cheap and its conflict with Apple’s taste for premium aesthetics.

“Apple is a company that doesn’t do things “cheaply”. It makes products for people who care about design, simplicity, quality and a great experience – and are willing to pay more for those things,” Segall he wrote in 2014. “Apple’s commitment in any of these areas would be a violation of the Prime Directive.”

But the conundrum mentioned above was for a phone costing over $700, which would raise eyebrows even in 2024. We’re talking about a smartwatch here, which is likely aiming for an asking price of around $200. Given the rich watchOS ecosystem and Apple’s solid set of well-received health features, there’s a good chance that a plastic Apple Watch SE will succeed rather than experience ignominious failure.