As you know, your Apple Watch SE is not new. The second generation came out in September 2022 alongside the Series 8 and the first iteration of the Ultra. You've given the iPhone, all models of the iPad, AirPods, MacBooks and both the flagship and premium smartwatches updates since then -- but not the budget smartwatch. Last month, my editors asked me to see how the Watch SE stacks up in 2025 and I was happy to oblige. I love getting my hands on novel tech, analyzing, evaluating and experiencing a device (then giving it back when I'm done so I don't have to accumulate more stuff).

It's a great time to get the Apple Watch Series 9 if you've been planning to buy one -- the smartwatch is currently on sale for 280 for Amazon Prime Day. That's a pretty impressive 119 discount as part of Prime Day deals, and it's even 15 lower than its previous all-time low, but the deal appears to be specifically for the smaller 41mm model. It's our best smartwatch for 2024 so far, though it first became available in September last year. We gave the Apple Watch Series 9 a score of 92 in our review and praised its on-device Siri for having the capability to work offline and even when the wearable isn't connected to a phone. If you don't want to take your phone with you to the gym, for instance, that's no problem: You'll still be able to ask Siri on your watch for health data, like the number of steps you'd already taken.

There's something so satisfying about waiting to buy a newly released product and then seeing it go on sale. Take the Apple Watch Series 9, which debuted in September at $399 before dropping to $329 for Black Friday. If you still waited, there's good news: the Apple Watch Series 9 in (Product) Red and Storm Blue is even cheaper now, at a new all-time low of $310. The great deal comes courtesy of an eight percent discount and a $59 coupon that will activate at checkout. It's down to an new all-time low thanks to a sale and a coupon thrown in at checkout.

Apple has just three smartwatches in its current lineup: the affordable Apple Watch SE, the advanced Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the flagship Apple Watch Series 9. All three offer fitness tracking, safety features, Siri support and iPhone integration, and all come in carbon-neutral configurations. But there are plenty of differences too, not the least of which is pricing: the Apple Watch SE starts at $250, whereas the Ultra 2 will run you a whopping $799. Internal sensors, displays and battery life vary from model to model, as well. In short, deciding the best Apple Watch for you might be trickier than you think.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is only a few months old, but it's already on sale. You can grab the smartwatch for $349 from Amazon or from Walmart as part of an early Black Friday deal. The standard price is $399, so that's a savings of $50 or 13 percent. The discount only applies to the 41mm model but includes multiple band and color options. The larger 45mm model is also on sale, but for $379.

Apple's smartwatches get their first speed increase in years along with brighter screens and new hands-free gestures – keeping the market leader still miles ahead of the pack. The Apple Watch Series 9 comes in various sizes and materials and starts at £399 (€449/$399/A$649) – a £20 price cut in the UK. It launches alongside the Ultra 2 costing £799 (€899/$799/A$1,399), which is £50 cheaper than last year's model. Both watches look the same as their predecessors on the outside. The Series 9 has a more svelte pillow-shaped profile available in 41mm or 45mm size options, while the 49mm Ultra 2 embraces the chunky look with a solid titanium shell and oversized buttons. New for this year are significantly brighter screens.

Being stressed is not usually a good thing. But when you're reviewing a high-profile smartwatch that touts stress-tracking as one of its most noteworthy new features, experiencing stress can be helpful. During the time I tested the Pixel Watch 2, I was going through a lot emotionally. I was maid of honor at our senior commerce editor's wedding, had a family funeral to think about and was getting updates on the results of my best friend's cancer diagnosis. Add to that the frenzy of Google's hardware launch event and a super tight deadline for this review, and my mental landscape became the perfect testing scenario for the Pixel Watch 2's body-response sensor. That's not the only new feature Google is bringing to its sophomore smartwatch.

Amid a barrage of Amazon-branded tablets and Alexa-powered tech, Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices and Services, announced the company's digital assistant will soon tap into a purpose-built large language model (LLM) for almost every new Echo device. Amazon set out to design the LLM based on five foundational capabilities. One of these is ensuring interactions are "conversational," and the company claimed it "studied what it takes to make a great conversation. Still waiting on Amazon to add eyes and hand gestures to its Echo devices. Has anyone seen Astro recently?

Have you seen the meme about people who dangle too many things on their fingers for no reason whatsoever? I'm not proud to admit it, but I'm one of those. No matter how big of a bag I'm carrying, I always find my hands full, making it difficult to interact with my phone or smartwatch on the go. Which is why voice controlled assistants and hands-free gestures are so appealing. With the Apple Watch Series 9, the company is introducing two new methods of interaction: Double Tap and Raise to Speak (to Siri).

The newly unveiled updated Apple Watch Series 9 will be Apple's first-ever carbon neutral gadget that requires a simple tap of two fingers to work. The device, which will become available on September 22, was also made using renewable materials and clean energy, leading to a 75 percent decrease in the amount of carbon waste emitted. And for the first time, users will be able to control the watch simply by tapping together the index finger and thumb on their watch hand. The Series 9 will start at $399 while the Apple Watch SE will run you $249. The Ultra 2 model will set you back $799.