The Stainless Steel Apple Watch Is No Longer Offered With A Sport Band

For those of you who keep up with Apple announcements, today was a one of the few days during the year when Apple gets on stage and unveils new products. During today’s keynote, Apple unveiled the iPhone SE, it’s updated 4-inch iPhone, a few OS updates or Apple TV, iPhone and Apple Watch, and of course some updated and new Apple Watch bands.

One thing that surprised me was that Apple began offering the new Nylon bands for just $49 dollars. Given Apple’s reputation for high prices, I was truly expecting them to be at least $100 bucks. As I started browsing through the store, looking at the various models and colors, one thing struck me as odd: You can no longer buy a Stainless Steel Apple Watch with the fluoroelastomer Sport band. I’ve tried virtually every band Apple makes, and while they all fit well, the Sport band is by far the most comfortable in my opinion.

Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t get a 38mm Apple Watch starting at $549, because you can. The only difference, of course ,is that it comes with Apple’s new Nylon band. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless you only want the Sport band, in which case you’ll need to fork up an extra $49 bucks.

But when you look deeper, you start to realize something: Apple only lowered the price of the Sport model. When the Apple Watch first came out, the Sport model started at $349 and there was a $200 premium to get the Stainless Steel version. Now it appears that while the Sport model has dropped $50 bucks, the gap between that and stainless steel is like $249.

On a positive note, the Sport model is more versatile-looking than ever. Now you can buy a Sport model and have either the Sport band or the Nylon strap or both if you want and only spend $299 or $349. Pretty sweet.

To me this suggests that the Sport model is easily the most popular Watch and Apple wants to continue making it as attractive as possible. By starting it at $299 and offering more band options, I think that’s the right move. However, if you were looking to buy a stainless steel Watch with a fluoroelastomer band, it looks like you’ll have to pony up an extra $49 bucks starting today.