Apple Releasing watchOS 6 for Series 3 and Later Sept. 19, Delayed for Older Apple Watches

Apple today announced that it will be releasing watchOS 6 on Thursday, September 19 for the Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 4 models.

watchOS 6 will not be immediately available on Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watch models, with Apple instead delaying the release until "later this fall."

watchOS 6
It is not clear why older Apple Watch models won't be getting the update at launch.

September 19 is just one day before new Apple Watch Series 5 models are expected to begin shipping out. Apple Watch Series 5 pre-orders are available starting today on Apple.com.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

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Top Rated Comments

G3Blue Avatar
72 months ago
Probably delaying it for performance reasons or something similar.

Out of interest, did the Series 5 not tempt you to upgrade? Even the series 4 is a massive jump over the 2.
For what I use it for the series 2 is still working great. I’m waiting to upgrade when the battery life is significantly extended. I thought today might have been the day!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BaggieBoy Avatar
73 months ago
Strange, the beta is running fine on my series 2.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jmausmuc Avatar
72 months ago
Blah blah blah
nice comment. Keep at it
[doublepost=1568144633][/doublepost]
Have the say I was stunned they didn't rev the hardware on the Series 5. Have a 3 and was slammed dunk for a update, but with Series 4 internals and a for sure hardware update with Series 6, now I'll have to think about it. I'm okay with raising my 3 to have the display come on (not a draw for me).
Wait one more year. I’m sure next years version will be a “full” upgrade.
Same with the iPhone btw
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sasparilla Avatar
72 months ago
Probably delaying it for performance reasons or something similar.

Out of interest, did the Series 5 not tempt you to upgrade? Even the series 4 is a massive jump over the 2.
Have the say I was stunned they didn't rev the hardware on the Series 5. Have a 3 and was slammed dunk for a update, but with Series 4 internals and a for sure hardware update with Series 6, now I'll have to think about it. I'm okay with raising my 3 to have the display come on (not a draw for me).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaveMcM76 Avatar
72 months ago
The latest beta seems to be working absolutely fine on my series 2 but as I’ve just preordered a series 5 my main concern is now whether a watchOS 6 beta backup will restore ok on the watchOS 6 release version as it looks I won’t be able to update the series 2 before my 5 arrives.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KillerScoregasm Avatar
72 months ago
Probably trying to find a way to throttle those older watches but in a way they don’t get caught.. jk. What I think they should do is offer a light software version for their older model. I don’t use half the features of my bloated watch software..
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)