It’s that time again!
It’s September, which generally means two things: We’re blasting Earth, Wind, and Fire on repeat, and Apple will announce a new iPhone (or four).
Right on schedule, Apple held a remote event this morning, streaming kinda-sorta-live from its Cupertino campus. Whether you didn’t have time to watch the entire hour-long stream or just want the highlights, we’ve got you — as usual, we’ve boiled the whole thing down to the bullet points.
New iPads
Both the standard iPad and the iPad mini have gotten the update treatment — here’s whats new for each:
- Runs the A13 Bionic chip, which Apple first introduced in 2019 with the iPhone 11. Apple says it’s 20% faster across the board compared to the last gen.
- The front-facing camera has been bumped from 8 megapixels up to a 12 megapixel ultrawide lens.
- It’s getting Center Stage, the feature that debuted on the iPad Pro and automatically reframes front-facing video to keep your face centered as you move around a room.
- Starts at $329 (or $299 for schools). Orders start today, shipping next week.
Image Credits: Apple
- Redesigned with slimmer borders and rounder edges.
- The display has been bumped up to 8.3″ (from 7.9″) while keeping the overall device size the same.
- The CPU is 40% faster, while the GPU is 80% faster.
- USB-C!
- There will be a 5G model.
- The back camera has a much-improved 12 MP camera with True Tone flash, and, as with the standard iPad, the front camera is getting 12 MP ultrawide lens and Center Stage support.
- It’ll support the second-gen Apple Pencil.
- Starts at $499. Orders start today, shipping next week.
Apple Watch
Apple kicked off the Watch segment with a few new features coming to iOS 8 (like fall detection for cyclists and better algorithms for detecting calories burned when you’re on an e-bike) before announcing a new Watch — Series 7, they’re calling it.
- By reducing the screen’s borders, they were able to squeeze in a display that is 20% bigger.
- To take advantage of that bigger screen, buttons are bigger across the UI.
- It’s got a swipe-style prediction keyboard, for easier text input on the go.
- Apple says it’s got the strongest (most crack-resistant) display to dat, and is the first Apple Watch to be IP6X certified against dust.
- An “updated charging architecture” and a new USB-C charger allow it to charge 33% faster.
- Series 7 will start at $399 and start shipping “later this fall.”
New iPhones
Not one, not two, but four new iPhones — iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro max. Faster chips, better cameras, better battery life.
- Both run Apple’s new A15 Bionic chip. It’s got a six-core CPU (two high-performance cores, four high efficiency), a four-core GPU and big improvements to the neural engine that Apple taps for on-device machine learning.
- A “ceramic shield front,” which Apple says is tougher than any other smartphone’s glass.
- IP68 water resistance.
- 28% brighter display.
- iPhone 13 comes in at 6.1″, while iPhone 13 mini will be 5.4″.
- A wild new “Cinematic” mode that uses machine learning for tricks like auto-shifting the camera’s focus when one on-screen speaker looks at someone behind them.
- The 64 GB model has finally been retired, with the base models coming with 128 GB of storage.
- Apple says the iPhone 13 mini’s battery life has been improved by an hour and a half, while most iPhone 13 users will get two and half more hours per charge.
- iPhone 13 will start at $799, while iPhone 13 mini starts at $699.
- It’s getting that new “ceramic shield front,” along with an upgrade to A15, here with a five-core GPU.
- As rumored, it’ll get a display that can adjust its refresh rate up to 120 hz for super smooth movement/scrolling.
- It’s got three cameras on the back: a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, an ultrawide and a wide angle. Night Mode will now play friendly with all three cameras (including the telephoto lens, which previously didn’t support it).
- It’ll come in two sizes: 6.1″ (Pro) and 6.7″ (Pro Max).
- For those who just can’t seem to get enough storage space, they’re introducing 1 TB models!
- Pro starts at $999, Pro Max starts at $1099. Pre-orders start September 17, shipping September 24.
Other stuff
- iOS 15 will ship Monday, September 20th.
- Apple’s Fitness Plus service is rolling out in 15 new countries, including Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Mexico and Russia. Workouts will be in English and subtitled in six languages. They’re also launching group workouts, which can be launched from iMessage or FaceTime and will let you multitask your hangouts and your workouts.
- Apple’s MagSafe wallet will now be able to display its last known location via the Find My app if the wallet gets separated from the phone.
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