Price evolution of an Apple Watch in the United States
- Relevance of the price of an Apple Watch
- Price evolution of an Apple Watch
- Conclusion
- FAQs about an Apple Watch's price in the the United States
- Price evolution table and full chart
Launched in 2015 the Apple Watch is a key component of Apple’s “Wearables, Home and Accessories” product category. It is important to understand that the Apple Watch is much more than just a gadget that tells the time, it is a comprehensive health and fitness device. It can monitor heart rate, run ECG blood oxygen level tests, electrocardiograms and more. And of course it also serves as a quick access window to your iPhone, allowing you to read and send messages, receive and make calls and much more.
The prices on this article refer to the cheapest version of the main line from the latest release. In other words, the cheaper version of the Apple Watch 6 series, 7 series, 8 series, etc. but it does not contemplate lower price versions such as the SE or higher-priced ones such as the ultra or special editions.
Price evolution of an Apple Watch
The average price of an Apple Watch between 2015 and 2023 was $367, with the lowest price being $350 in 2015 and the highest $399 in 2019 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).
Absolute price of an Apple Watch per year
Our data source for this article was: Apple's Newsroom .
The absolute price of an Apple Watch in the the United States has gone from $350 in 2015 to $399 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $49, or 14% in a period of 8 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).
This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 8 years the price of an Apple Watch actually decreased year over year 1 times, in 2016.
The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of an Apple Watch was in 2016, when the price dropped by $-81, or -23.14%. The biggest price increase was $60, or 22.3% in 2017.
With the price increasing most years, it comes as no surprise that the price of an Apple Watch today is higher than what it used to be some years ago.
Inflation-adjusted price of an Apple Watch per year
As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.
So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of an Apple Watch in the the United States, in that same 8 years period between 2015 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).
When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of an Apple Watch also peaked in 2019, when it cost $489 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2016 when it sold for $350.
The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2016, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-106 (-23.24%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of an Apple Watch was still in 2017. However, the $60 jump actually felt like $72.65 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.
The average price of an Apple Watch during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $444, and the most current price of $399 is 10.16% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Conclusion
The absolute price of an Apple Watch has increased by $49 ($14%) since 2015. But that comes as no surprise, as prices always tend to increase over time due to inflation.
Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.
When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of an Apple Watch, we see that it has varied ± 15.75% over this period of time, and is currently 10.16% cheaper than the average over these years.
So not everything is bad news after all!
Even at $399 (per unit), Apple Watch is actually more afordable in 2023 than it was in 2015.
So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make less of an economic effort to purchase an Apple Watch today than in the past.
We can consider that the price of an Apple Watch has remained maily stable over this period of time. It sure had some ups and downs, like in 2017 and 2016, but considering the magnitude and complexity of the global economy its price has mainly kept up with inflation.
FAQs about the price of an Apple Watch in the the United States
The most expensive an Apple Watch has ever been was in 2019, when it would cost $399.
(at least within the timeframe we have data for)
The cheapest an Apple Watch has ever been was in 2015, when it would cost $350.
(at least within the timeframe we have data for)
Other Apple products products
Evolution of the price of an Apple Watch charts and table
Below you'll find the raw data of absolute and inflation adjusted prices of an Apple Watch in the the United States