SAVE $100: As of Dec. 8, select configurations of the Apple Watch Series 5 are on sale for as low as $299 at Best Buy and Amazon.
For all of the Apple deals we found throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday — and trust us, there were a ton — we didn’t see last year’s Mashable’s Choice Award-winning Apple Watch Series 5 go on sale once. Come to think of it, we didn’t even see a product page for it go up on Amazon or Best Buy. It was listed as sold out, it wasn’t “unavailable” — it was just like it never existed.
Lo and behold, the Series 5 has made a triumphant return at both retailers as of Dec. 8, and it’s on sale with an all-time-high discount to boot. (It still doesn’t get a mention on Amazon’s Apple brand landing page, but we suppose we’ll let that slide.) Both sizes of both configurations are now $100 off, making it as cheap as $299 if you opt for the 40mm model with just GPS.
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Why the Series 5 erasure, then? The only reason we can think of (and this is just pure speculation) is because it’s effectively identical to this year’s all-new Apple Watch Series 6, aside from the kind-of-underwhelming additions of an updated processor and an SpO2 sensor for measuring blood oxygen levels.
“The Series 6 carries over all the same features from its predecessor,” Mashable tech reporter Brenda Stolyar wrote in her review, “including an always-on display, ECG sensor, fall detection, high/low heart-rate notifications, Emergency SOS, and more.”
If this new sale pricing hangs around, we think it’s fair to argue that the Series 5 ends up being a much better value for the money — no need to upgrade to the “latest and greatest.” You can take your pick from the following configurations (note that the 40mm and cellular versions are only available at Best Buy):
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Apple Watch Series 5 (40mm, GPS) — $299 at Best Buy
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Apple Watch Series 5 (44mm, GPS) — $329 at Amazon and Best Buy
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Apple Watch Series 5 (40mm, GPS + Cellular) — $399 at Best Buy
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Apple Watch Series 5 (44mm, GPS + Cellular) — $429 at Best Buy