Switch to a plastic case! Apple Watch SE competes for "little friends", is it difficult for little geniuses?

Ray Technology

2024-08-08 12:03Posted in Guangdong science and technology creators

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01Apple plans to change the material of the next-generation Apple Watch SE case from aluminum to plastic to reduce production costs and increase pricing flexibility.

02After switching to a plastic case, the Apple Watch SE will be more attractive, targeting the children and teens market.

03However, Apple's ecological binding problem may still affect the performance of Apple Watch in the youth market.

04 At the same time, brands such as Little Genius dominate the children's smart watch market and face competition from brands such as Apple.

05 In the future, the smart watch market may show fierce competition among children, teenagers and adults.

The above content is generated by Tencent's hybrid model and is for reference only

At Apple's autumn new product launch conference held in September 2014, Apple CEO Tim · Cook launched the first consumer electronics product he led after taking office: the original Apple Watch, which is also Apple's first smart wearable device.

In the following decade, Apple Watch flourished, not only dominating the global smart watch market, but also gradually subdividing Ultra, SE and other product series to meet the needs of different consumers.

Source: Apple

Among them, the Apple Watch SE series, which is relatively cost-effective, is the first choice for many users to try Apple smart watches. After all, the SE series has a starting threshold, even if there is functional castration compared to the Series and Ultra series, but as an entry-level product, the overall experience still maintains a consistent "fruity taste".

Recently, the Apple Watch SE series, which was already positioned as an entry-level model, was exposed to a major adjustment in the shell material. At the same time, Apple wants to make the Apple Watch a smart watch product for all ages, and the next generation of Apple Watch SE is the key to this transformation.

改用塑料外壳，Apple Watch SE背刺小天才

From the perspective of the update timeline, the original Apple Watch SE was released in 2020, and the Apple Watch SE 2 was released in 2022, maintaining a frequency of 2 years. In this way, 2024 is also time to update the next generation of Apple Watch SE.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has twice stressed in a row that the next generation of Apple Watch SE smartwatches will switch to hard plastic materials. The current Apple Watch SE, like other high-end Apple Watches, has an aluminum case. If the news is true, the obvious benefit of this change is to cut costs and give Apple more pricing flexibility.

When Apple released the Apple Watch SE 2 in 2022, it redesigned the back shell and changed the back material from ceramic to a new "nylon composite", which was sold at a price 30 USD lower than the original Apple Watch SE. Lei Technology speculates that after the Apple Watch SE switches to a plastic case, the offer price will definitely not be lower than the last price reduction.

Image courtesy of Apple

In fact, the ripple effect of changing the case material is far more than just a reduction in price, Apple's real goal is to create "all-age" smartwatches, including a cheaper plastic-shell version of the Apple Watch SE, targeting the children and teens market.

At present, the market price of mainstream children's watches is mostly concentrated in about 1,000 yuan, taking the head brand Xiaotiancai as an example, its children's watches are distributed between 398 yuan and 2299 yuan according to the configuration differences. The Apple Watch SE used to be close to 2,000 yuan, which is the top price of the children's watch category.

However, children's watches of brands such as Little Genius are not considered to be real smart watches, and there are no other functions except for basic communication, although there are some educational, entertainment, social and even imaging capabilities, but the functions are very rough. For most families, it is obviously unrealistic to spend 2,000 yuan to buy a non-smart watch for children mainly used for contact communication, even if parents have money, the product is really not as "price convincing" - this is an opportunity for Apple Watch and Android watches.

In addition, the plastic material means that Apple can make drastic changes to the color scheme of the watch. Apple's iPhone 5c, which is also made of plastic, is available in blue, yellow, pink and green colors, and the richer and brighter colors may be more in line with the aesthetic needs of children and teenagers.

Source: Produced by Lei Technology

To be a children's smart watch, Apple Watch must be more "independent"

In July this year, Apple's overseas official website launched a new page listing about 12 reasons why the Apple Watch is a perfect fit for child users.

Interestingly, the new page on Apple's official website only recommends the Apple Watch SE 2 and does not mention the higher-end Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2. Perhaps Apple itself knows that for most children, the Apple Watch SE 2 has enough features, and the rich entertainment functions on the flagship watch are not what parents want to see.

Source: Apple

Lei Technology noticed that the "child-friendly" features mentioned by Apple include: calls, text messages, class do not disturb mode, find function, waterproof, exercise records, contact emergency services, play music, install third-party apps, use Apple Cash, etc., basically covering the daily use scenarios of children's groups, plus the texture brought by Apple's system, the experience is not inferior to any brand of children's watches, the only thing that restricts it from developing the market is perhaps the ecological bundle that Apple is most proud of.

Everyone knows that Apple Watch does not support mobile phones other than iPhone. Even Apple Watch with cellular network capability needs to use the family member's iPhone for initial pairing and setup, and subsequent management also needs to be used with the iPhone. That is, the Apple ecosystem has led to the Apple Watch directly turning away families without iPhones.

The Apple Watch price will be much higher on the cellular network, and the bigger problem is the poor user experience. Even if a child can borrow a friend's iPhone to attach to the watch, but using the Apple Watch without the iPhone means that all the interaction of the App must be completed through the small screen of the watch that is less than five square centimeters, which in itself is contrary to the interaction habits of the smart wrist device of the Apple Watch: the ideal smart watch interaction time should be controlled within 5 seconds, and if it is used without the iPhone, the single interaction time is likely to exceed 30 seconds.

The Apple Watch, which is based on the cellular network for stand-alone use, is essentially an "accessory" rather than a complete product, which is the biggest obstacle for Apple to make the Apple Watch a children's smartwatch.

Launched a juvenile version, and the little genius is waiting for him

According to a report by Grand View Research, the global smart wearable market will reach $8.948 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.92%. Among them, the shipment of Apple Watch was 38 million units, accounting for 31.2% of the smart watch market, fully demonstrating its strong market influence.

Previously, IDC provided a data that in Q3 2023, China's smart watch market shipped 11.4 million units, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, including 5.59 million adult smart watches, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%; Children's smart watch shipments were 5.8 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. In terms of the number of shipments, children's smart watches have surpassed adult smart watches, and the growth rate is faster. The market share of Xiaotiancai's domestic children's smart watches is basically maintained at more than 30%.

Source: Little Genius

If Apple is a well-deserved TOP1 in the global smart wearable market, then the little genius is the existence that cannot be bypassed in the market segment of children's smart wearable watches. Nowadays, the two are "going both ways", and when the Apple Watch is undergoing a low-age transformation, the little genius is also actively breaking through to a higher age group.

On August 2nd, Little Genius officially released the latest product of the juvenile series: Little Genius flagship Z10 Juvenile Edition, which is mainly for middle school students, and has been upgraded in an all-round way to meet the needs of user groups, such as time management, youth system, learning, sports and other functions.

Previously, Little Genius has been focusing on primary school students, relying on the unique social method of "touching" to become an essential tool for primary school students to make friends. The preconceived advantages have made Xiao Tiancai form a social barrier that is difficult for any brand to break, even Apple. Therefore, in the children's market such as primary school students, Lei Technology does not think that Apple can gain a share with plastic materials.

Source: Little Genius

However, when the target audience changes from children to teenagers, the situation is completely different.

Nowadays, teenagers all have mobile phones and social media accounts on their mobile phones, such as WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin. Many secondary schools don't allow secondary school students to bring their mobile phones to school, but they are still free to use them on weekends and holidays – and there is a real need to give secondary school students access to mobile phones as a tool and the world of the Internet on mobile phones.

Little Genius has its own ecosystem and adopts a closed-loop social approach. That is, only users of this brand are allowed to add friends to each other, and at the same time, mainstream apps such as WeChat and QQ are not supported, and built-in micro-chat is used as social software. The "social ecology" that Xiaotiancai has worked so hard to build among children will be vulnerable once it faces mainstream social ecosystems such as WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin.

Looking at it this way, the middle school student group will be the home of Apple Watch and Android smart watches. The little genius has no obvious advantage, and there will be a problem of adaptation between the watch and the mobile phone. Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi and other brands all have mobile phone products, and have ample conditions to lead the creation of more new features, even if the little genius has a good idea, it is difficult to implement it on their mobile phones, after all, no one wants to contribute to the competition.

Source: Xiaomi

Even Apple's Apple Watch wants to be a group of children and teenagers, and the fierce competition in the market can be seen. With the wide application of AI technology, children's smart watches, and even smart watches for all ages, will be closely integrated with AI technology to develop new functions and use cases, such as smart assistants and AI learning tools with active perception capabilities. In terms of R&D and application of AI technology, Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi have obvious advantages, so look at the future smart watch market, children are still the sphere of influence of little geniuses, and the youth and adult markets may be "fairy fights".

In the first half of 2024, the technology circle is surging.

The implementation of large models has been accelerated, and AI mobile phones, AI PCs, AI home appliances, AI search, and AI e-commerce have ...... AI applications are emerging;

Vision Pro was launched and landed in the Chinese market, setting off a wave of XR spatial computing.

HarmonyOS NEXT is officially released, changing the mobile OS ecosystem.

Automobiles have entered the "second half" in an all-round way, and intelligence has become a top priority;

The competition of e-commerce is becoming increasingly fierce, and the volume is more expensive and the volume is more service;

The wave of going overseas is surging, and Chinese brands are embarking on a journey of globalization;

……

In July, Lei Technology · mid-year review special feature was launched, summarizing the brands, technologies and products worth recording in the first half of 2024 in the technology industry, recording the past and looking forward to the future, so stay tuned.

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