While all eyes were on the Apple Watch 6 and the new Apple Watch SE at yesterday's Apple event, Apple, the developer of the best smartwatches, quietly announced one of its most important products. [The Apple Watch Series 3 is limited to the $199 GPS model; the $299 LTE-enabled Apple Watch 3 is no longer available. The entry model in the lineup of watches with cellular connectivity is the $329 Apple Watch SE.

While the $30 price tag is not a premium to lose sleep over, the legacy of the former model deserves one last look.

Back in 2017, few saw the need for the Apple Watch to operate independently of the iPhone. In our initial review, we even recommended skipping the Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular capabilities, even though it was the first major smartwatch with cellular capabilities.

But times have changed, and LTE on the wrist has come in handy in more and more cases. With many gyms and fitness classes operating at limited capacity (or even being shut down altogether), outdoor activities are convenient. It's hard to bring a cell phone.

And with contactless payments becoming increasingly popular, the Apple Watch's NFC chip makes it easy to literally walk out the door without a wallet or cell phone and buy groceries or toiletries. music storage on the Apple Watch, step-by-step map directions, and Siri integration further increase the number of instances in which the Apple Watch can be used autonomously.

And then there is the introduction of Family Setup, which Apple added this week. This new Apple Watch setup is intended for children and older users who do not own an iPhone. Instead, a single family member who owns an iPhone can assign controls to multiple Apple Watches.

Family Setup only works with Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, Series 6, and SE. So perhaps Apple removed the LTE-equipped Series 3 to avoid confusion for shoppers trying to take advantage of the multi-watch control feature.

Or perhaps the Series 3 watch's internals are too outdated to keep up with the new flagship model's standards, and pricing has gone awry; the Apple Watch 3 with LTE has a newer S5 chip, drop detection, and an always-on altimeter, larger display, higher than the starting price of the Apple Watch SE.

Whatever the real reason, let it be known that the Apple Watch 3 with LTE is a walk in the park for all LTE-enabled smartwatches. While it may not have been fully appreciated at the time, this first cellular-connected Apple Watch created an irreversible expectation for the inevitable evolution of independent wearables.