Michael Kors wants to sell you a new $400 smartwatch with a 2-years-old chip

Fashion design company Michael Kors just launched a new set of smartwatches in its Runway line. You can pre-order one now, and some will deliver to you on October 1, 2018.

The only problem is that the smartwatches run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, which is over two years old at this point. Furthermore, Qualcomm is expected to launch the follow-up to that chipset on September 10.

In other words, you can pay now to get a new watch delivered to you with an old chipset a month after the launch of a new chipset.

That scenario wouldn’t be so bad if the watches were cheap; but this is Michael Kors we’re talking about, so that’s not the case. The cheapest watch in the line will set you back $295 and the most expensive will cost you $395.

Granted, these are really nice smartwatches. They ship with the latest version of Wear OS, have an NFC chip, built-in GPS, and are water resistant with a rating of 3 ATM. But why buy one of these when you can wait a month and get one for a similar price but with a new chipset that will keep you ahead of the curve for another year or two?

Another fashion brand just announced a new smartwatch with the 2100 chipset – Fossil – but it can be forgiven since it launched the new line before Qualcomm sent out invites for the chip event on September 10. The new Fossil watches will also all ship before the launch of the new chipset and cost less than these Michael Kors ones do.

I guess, in the end, it doesn’t really matter. The people who want to pay top dollar for a Michael Kors smartwatch are probably not doing so because of the technology inside; they’re doing it for the brand association. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time fashion-conscious folks overpaid for something just because it’s shiny.

You can check out the new Michael Kors line of smartwatches by clicking the button below.