Apple just wrapped up an event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, where it unveiled new versions of the iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch.
Here is what Apple announced:
- iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
- Apple Watch Series 10 with an updated design, a polished titanium option and a new S10 chip
- The Apple Watch Ultra 2 in satin black
- AirPods 4 and updated AirPods Max in new colors and with USB-C charging
- The first Apple Intelligence features for iPhone 16 will launch in beta next month
Preorders for the new iPhones begin Friday and launch on September 20. Check the full blog below for more.
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max announced
Apple just unveiled the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which join the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus the company announced earlier. These are Apple’s more premium phones that have nicer screens and cameras than the regular models.
Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display, and the Apple 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display, larger than those of previous models, which measured in at 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches, respectively. The new models also have the “thinnest borders on any Apple product,” Apple said, calling them “by far our best iPhone displays ever.” The titanium is nearly half the weight of stainless steel and is “more scratch resistant than other forms of titanium others have used.”
The four finishes include white, black, natural and “desert.”
The company also said the new iPhone 16 Pro Max has “the best iPhone battery life ever” but did not offer additional details.
The new iPhone Pro models include an A18 Pro chip with second-generation 3-nanometer transistors and a new 16-core neural engine that powers Apple Intelligence, designed specifically for generative artificial intelligence workloads, the company said, leading to a 17 per cent increase in total system memory bandwidth. It is “even faster and more efficient than A18,” the company said.
The A18 Pro chip also powers new camera features, per Apple, including a new 48-megapixel “fusion camera,” which can read data 2x faster, and a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera that allows for more detail in wide-angle shots. The 5x telephoto camera offers more detail for zoom photos.
Apple also introduced video capture in 4K at 120 frames per second, the iPhone camera’s “highest resolution and frame rate yet.”
The Pro models have four “studio-quality” mics with reduced noise, designed in part for vocal and acoustic recordings, the company said, as well as spatial audio capture. A new “Audio Mix” feature, which Apple called an “industry first,” uses machine learning to identify and separate background elements from a user’s speech, the company said.
Apple said a new update to Voice Memos, coming “later this year,” will allow people to layer other tracks atop previously recorded voice memos. For example, the feature could help musicians testing out song ideas layer a guitar track over a vocal track they have previously recorded.
The iPhone 16 Pro starts at $US999 ($1500), and the Pro Max starts at $US1199, Apple said. Both models will be available for preorder on Friday, with in-store sales starting on Sept. 20.
iPhone 16 starts at $US799 and iPhone 16 Plus starts at $US899
Apple said the iPhone 16 starts at $US799 and the iPhone 16 Plus starts at $US899. They will be available to order beginning Friday and launch on September 20.
First Apple Intelligence features will launch in beta for iPhone 16
Apple’s senior vice-president of software engineering Craig Federighi is talking about the company’s new artificial intelligence capabilities. Many of these features were already announced at Apple’s developers conference in June, and the first set of features will be available in a free software update next month.
Apple Intelligence is available on the new iPhone 16 phones and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
He said Apple Intelligence operates across language, images, action and personal context. Federighi said data is never stored or shared with Apple, and independent experts can verify this privacy promise.
One feature Federighi highlighted is the new generative emoji feature, which will allow users to create custom emojis by typing in a few words. Users can also type in words to pull up photos and videos they want to find.
Federighi said Apple Intelligence marks the start of a new era for its voice assistant Siri. Users can prompt Siri with text; ask questions with their voices, even if they stumble over their words; pull up specific details from text conversations; and more.
Features such as generating emojis and a new Visual Intelligence feature will come later. Visual Intelligence lets you do things such as take a picture of a dog to find out what breed it is.
Apple announces iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus
Apple just announced the iPhone 16, which it says was built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence.
The new iPhone has:
- Aerospace-grade aluminium
- 85 per cent recycled content in the enclosure
- Two size options: 6.1 inches for iPhone 16 and 6.7 inches for iPhone 16 Plus
- Customisable action buttons (for example, flashlight at night and calendar during day)
- All-new “camera control” button to provide instant access to camera with one click, as well as the ability to adjust various camera features by sliding your finger
- A brand-new A18 chip created for iPhone 16, optimised for running large generative models and with a 2x faster neural engine
- New 48-megapixel camera, 4x the resolution of iPhone 14
- New ultrawide camera that allows for automatic focus and more light capture in low-light situations
- Spatial photos
- Customizable, pinnable collections in iOS 18 photo gallery
Apple said the new A18 chip created for iPhone 16 has 3-nanometer technology and four efficiency cores, which are used in nearly every experience on iPhone, including Apple Intelligence. The chip delivers up to 30 per cent higher sustained performance for gaming, Apple said.
It is also up to 60 per cent faster than the CPU in iPhone 12, and the speed challenges high-end desktop PCs, Apple said, adding that the GPU on the iPhone 16 is up to 40 per cent faster than in the iPhone 15.
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus start at $US799 and $US899, respectively.
AirPods Pro 2 has three new health features
Apple marketed AirPods Pro 2 as a product with “incredible health capabilities,” including three dedicated health features.
Hearing protection, which is turned on by default across listening modes, will be available to all users. Since 80 per cent of US adults have not had their hearing checked in the past five years, per Apple, the company introduced a clinically validated hearing test with AirPods Pro and iPhone that takes just five minutes to complete, the company said.
AirPods Pro will also have a clinical-grade, over-the-counter hearing aid feature. After users take the hearing test, AirPods Pro can easily turn into a personalised hearing aid, Apple said. The resulting “hearing profile” will be automatically applied to music, movies and phone calls across all of a user’s devices.
Apple said the features will receive clearance from the FDA and other regulators soon.
Updated AirPods Max announced with new colours, USB-C
Apple announced the updated AirPods Max with USB-C charging and three new colours: orange, purple and starlight. They are still $US549 and are available to order beginning Monday before they launch on September 20.
AirPods 4 announced
Apple just announced the AirPods 4.
Apple said it used 3D modelling and laser topography to develop the shape of its “most comfortable AirPods ever.” They are powered by the H2 chip.
The company said the headphones are a massive improvement in audio quality, and the “best sounding AirPods ever.” They also have personalised spatial audio, and Apple said they will be able to help reduce environmental noise.
The AirPods 4 charging case is compatible with USB-C, and it is the smallest case ever. You can also charge the case wirelessly.
AirPods 4 will be available for $US129, and AirPods 4 with active noise cancelling will be available for $US179.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 debuts in black
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has the “most accurate GPS in a sports watch,” Apple said, marketing it as the perfect companion for workout enthusiasts.
As a reminder, the watch offers:
- Depth gauge for scuba
- Dual-frequency GPS
- Advanced positioning software
- Pacing features
- Custom workouts
- Automatic stroke detection and lap count for swimmers
- Advanced compass app that includes latitude, longitude, waypoints and backtrack, as well as offline maps with turn-by-turn directions even when iPhone isn’t nearby
The watch starts at $US799, and customers can preorder it today. It will be available on September 20.
Apple Watch Series 10 new health features for sleep apnea
Apple said its Apple Watch Series 10 will be able to alert users to sleep apnea, which is a disorder that can cause people to stop breathing while they are asleep. The condition affects more than one billion people worldwide, Apple said.
The company said 80 per cent of people with sleep apnea are undiagnosed. Apple’s Series 10 uses an accelerometer to measure breathing disturbances while users are sleeping, and it analyses this data every 30 days.
This feature was built using an extensive dataset, Apple said, and the company expects clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration and other regulators “very soon.”
Apple Watch Series 10 preorders begin today, starts at $US399
The Apple Watch Series 10 launches September20. You can preorder it beginning Monday. It starts at $US399. It starts at $US499 with cellular.
Apple Watch Series 10 with thinnest design ever
Apple just announced the Apple Watch Series 10 with the thinnest design ever — 10 per cent thinner than Series 9 — and the biggest display yet.
“Today we’re building on the advanced technologies pioneered with Apple Watch to make it even more useful, essential and intelligent,” CEO Cook said of the Apple Watch Series 10.
Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams introduced the model, which he said will have the “biggest wearable display we’ve ever built” — even bigger than the Apple Watch Ultra — and has up to 30 per cent more screen area. It will also have an additional line of text visible for messages, mail or news.
Both the display and case have a wider aspect ratio and rounded corners, Williams said.
The Series 10 display will also be up to 40 per cent brighter when viewed at an angle in order to improve visibility, he said. The display will update once per second when in Always On mode instead of once per minute like before.
Apple also introduced the first-ever glossy aluminium finish for Apple Watch in jet black. It is polished using silicon nanoparticles to result in a specialised surface shine. Other options for the device include rose gold and silver aluminium. The aluminium finishes weigh up to 10 per cent less than the previous generation, Williams said.
A new titanium finish option weighs up to 20 per cent less than previous models and is “carbon-neutral,” Williams said. It is replacing the stainless steel finish in previous generations.
The device also still incorporates up to 50 meters of water resistance.
In 30 minutes, users can charge their watches to up to 80 per cent battery, making Series 10 the fastest-charging Apple Watch to date, Williams said. It also has 18-hour battery.
To improve phone calls, Apple incorporated a neural network into Series 10 that suppresses background noise to make conversations sound clearer, he added.
When it comes to fitness, Apple Watch introduced new ways to track workouts. For kayakers, canoers and rowers, Apple Watch’s workout app can track routes and rowing activity, introducing a Tides App and new depth and water temperature sensors.
Prices start at $US399, and customers can preorder today. The Series 10 will be available on September 20.
Tim Cook tweets ahead of the event
As usual, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a tweet on social media platform X ahead of the event. “Apple Park is glowing! #AppleEvent,” the post said with a picture of a rainbow structure on the company’s campus. The tagline for the event is “It’s Glowtime,” which seems to suggest the changes to Siri with Apple Intelligence, which will now glow around the borders of an iPhone’s screen instead of showing the standard Siri bubble at the bottom of the display.
Apple needs to show AI gadgets aren’t a bust
Apple needs to convince people to upgrade to the latest iPhones and prove to Wall Street that an iPhone upgrade cycle is underway. One way it will try that is with Apple Intelligence, which the company announced in June. It is artificial intelligence that customers can use to generate emojis, email messages, notes and more. It will tap into OpenAI’s ChatGPT, too. Some of those features will not launch until the end of the year, though, and AI gadgets have, so far, been a bust.
Apple’s iPhone sales declined one per cent year over year to $US39.29 billion during the company’s fiscal third quarter, or about 46% of the company’s total sales. “On a constant currency basis, we grew year on year. And so that’s sort of how we look at it from an operational point of view,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach in June, noting that Apple has “redeployed a lot of people to AI that were working on other things,” and that Apple increased spending for AI and Apple Intelligence.
CNBC
Source Agencies
