Apple wrapped up its annual fall product launch with the introduction of four new iPhones, including the ultra-luxurious iPhone 15 Pro Max. Each is an incremental update to last year’s models and will help grow Apple’s reach in newer markets like India. Apple also revealed new Apple Watches with a bump in performance and new gesture controls. With the event now over, here’s a quick recap of all the key announcements to emerge from the Steve Jobs Theater today.
The Apple Watch Series 9 comes with a new chip. (Image Source: Apple/YouTube)
Apple Series 9
The first big announcement from the event was the Apple Watch Series 9, which is faster and includes system-wide improvements, including better Siri performance. This is the most powerful chip ever put into an Apple Watch thanks to 60 per cent more transistors and a four-core Neural Engine. Apple promises that the new Apple Watch is capable of running for up to 18 hours on a single charge.
The Series 9’s new chip also enables Siri requests to be processed on the device itself. That means Siri should perform faster since it doesn’t have to send requests to the cloud. Apple is also introducing a new way of interacting with the watch called Double Tap which lets you move your index finger and thumb to answer calls.
It’s also worth highlighting that the new Apple Watch also features an upgraded Find My capability, allowing for haptic and audio feedback when locating your iPhone for the first time. The new Apple Watch is also getting a new display capable of 3,000 nits.
In terms of colors and materials, the Apple Watch Series 9 will ship in Midnight, Silver, Starlight, Pink, and Red in aluminum. The stainless steel will come in Gold, Silver, and Gold. Apple also introduced new fine woven bands for its Series 9 that are made without any leather, which the company says is better for the environment. The Series 9 will be priced at Rs 41,900. It will be available to buy on pre order this coming Friday, but they won’t ship until September 22.
It will be available on September 22. (Image Source: Apple)
Apple Watch Ultra 2
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is official, and it’s got a minor update. Like the Series 9, the Watch Ultra 2 features the new S9 chip, which supports brand new features such as the Double Tap as well as on-device Siri and Precision Finding. The display is now capable of 3000 nits, an increase from the first-generation Ultra model which featured a 2000 nits display. The Ultra 2 also gets a new watch face called Modular Ultra, which uses the outermost edge of the display to show more details like altitude, depth or seconds. Apple Watch Ultra 2 is available for $799 with cellular connectivity, and it will come out on September 22.
The iPhone 15 non-pro models get the dynamic island treatment. (Image Source: Apple)
iPhone 15 and 15 Plus
The stars of the show, as expected, were the new iPhone 15 lineup. First up, the company unveiled the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 and 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus, which are different from last year’s models aesthetically but come with the usual performance tweaks that we’ve come to expect from Apple’s baseline iPhone models. As rumoured, both iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will be getting Dynamic Island, a pill-shaped area at the top of the screen, offering a new way to interact with widgets on the iPhone. It features the same OLED Super Retina XDR display as last year, but brightness is up to 1,600 nits for even better HDR viewing. The new iPhone has smoother edges and an aluminium enclosure, as well as colour-infused glass. It comes in five colours: pink, yellow, green, blue, and black. The new iPhone also has an etched matte finish to give a more premium feel.
Apple also confirmed a previous rumour: A USB-C connectivity is coming to the iPhone 15, replacing the Lightning connector. Alongside, Apple announced that both the second-generation Airpods Pro and wired Earpods will also updated to USB-C.
Powering the duo of devices is the A16 processor from last year’s iPhone 14 Pro. Despite the increase in power, the iPhone 15 still boasts “all-day” battery life. The iPhone 15 is also getting a new 48MP camera, a giant leap from last year’s 12MP camera. It has a 26mm focal length, f/1.6 aperture, and sensor-shift optical image stabilization (OIS).
The iPhone 15 starts at Rs 79,900, while the 15 Plus will kick off at Rs 89,900. Both devices are available on preorder from this Friday, though they won’t ship until September 22.
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature the Bionic A17 Pro chipset. (Express Photo)
iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
In addition to the baseline iPhone 15 models, Apple also revealed the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, the next generation of premium phones in its lineup. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max improve on last year’s Pro models with new materials, cameras and processors. For the first time in years, the expensive Pro models feature a new titanium frame, ditching the stainless steel but retaining the same squared-off sides look as prior models. Both phones also have thinner bezels for slightly more glass on the front screen (they are still available at 6.1 inches for the iPhone 15 Pro and 6.7 inches for the iPhone 15 Pro Max).
The iPhone 15 Pro has a more advanced 48-megapixel camera with a larger sensor. They take 24 megapixels by default, and LiDAR scanning augments low-light and night photography. The phones also have a 12-megapixel ultra wide camera. But the big feature is better zoom, though only reserved for the larger Pro Max model. While the iPhone 15 Pro retains a 3x telephoto camera, while the Pro Max has a 5x optical zoom.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max come with the A17 Pro Bionic chipset, a 3-nanometer chip that has 19 billion transistors for faster performance. The new six-core GPU is up to 20 per cent faster than the A16’s GPU, and enables ray tracing. The new A17 chip is designed to take advantage of mobile gaming and AR apps.
As rumoured, the high-end Pro line is getting an action button on the side that can be customized to trigger a specific function. This new “Action Button” is similar to the one introduced on the Apple Watch Ultra. Both devices have ditched the Lightning port for USB-C that can transmit 10GB per second of data.
The iPhone 15 Pro starts at 11,413.58 Ghanaian Cedi, while the 15 Pro Max will start at 13698.58 Ghanaian Cedi, and both devices are available on preorder from September 15 with a shipping date of one week later.
