Apple Watch titanium models are largely unavailable

We hope you weren’t planning to festoon your wrist with a titanium Apple Watch Series 6. As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Mac Rumors note, the titanium Apple Watch is largely unavailable through the company’s online stores in the US and other countries, whether you try for delivery or pick-up. This applies regardless of your case or strap choices.

Gurman speculated in his “Power On” newsletter that Apple underestimated demand. It likely made a small number of titanium Apple Watches and stopped production “months ago” in anticipation of switching focus to Series 7, according to Gurman, but ran out prematurely as sales remained relatively strong. While we wouldn’t classify the titanium Series 6 as a runaway hit if that’s true, Apple’s luxury wristwear might have fared better than expected.

Whether or not Apple offers a titanium Series 7 is uncertain. The tech giant has frequently shaken up its Watch Edition strategy, ditching its solid gold originals in favor of more affordable ceramic and, eventually, titanium. It might decide that the costs of manufacturing upscale watches doesn’t justify the comparatively meager sales. There’s always the Hermès models if you want to splurge. At the same time, though, titanium versions don’t cost that much more in practice — and they might serve as halo watches that attract conventional watch enthusiasts as well as the wealthy.