Another year, another iPhone. Maybe it’s getting to be a little ho-hum, but this is also the event that determines a lot of peoples’ phone-buying plans for the next 12 months. And then there’s the big device that’s been languishing for a while, the Apple TV, and the biggest fish in a small pond, the Apple Watch.
Oh, and the fly-around video that Apple started with shows that the Steve Jobs Theater looks like a big Apple store, complete with tourists — sorry, journalists — taking video and pictures of it. And then a nice two-minute Steve Jobs tribute, a hurricane relief pitch and an update on Apple’s “town squares” (aka stores), and the opening of one in Chicago on October 20.
Though Apple treats the operating-system updates as news, iOS 11, MacOS High Sierra and WatchOS 4 were unveiled at the company’s World Wide Developer Conference in June, and we’ve been covering them extensively — iOS, MacOS, WatchOS — since then.
Here’s what you missed.
iPhone X
The long-rumored new iPhone flagship is a real thing, the iPhone X.
- Please call it the iPhone Ten
- Six-core A11 Bionic chip with support for Metal 2 API acceleration and a custom image-signal processor for photography. Plus it’s tuned for AR.
- Edge-to-edge display, glass on front and back and the controversial notch
- Space Gray and Silver
- Super Retina Display, 5.8-inch OLED, 2,436×1,125 resolution. 2.7 million pixels. That’s a pixel pitch of 458ppi. It supports HDR (both Dolby Vision and HDR10)
- Buh-bye, Home button
- It’s all swiping — swipe up for home, for example
- Face ID is the new Touch ID; made possible by a the A11 Bionic chip, with a new neural engine, and computer vision array. Face data stays on device. And it works with Apple Pay and apps.
- Now you can create animated poop emoji’s for iMessage with the new Animoji and its face tracking.
But wait! There’s more!
- New 12MP camera sensor with optical stabilization
- Dual cameras with OIS in both
- Additional features. Portrait Lighting, with preset choices you swipe through
- A new custom video encoder with improved performance and motion prediction
- 1080/240p for slow-mo
- New selfie camera with Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting
- Qi wireless charging via the glass back; Apple will sell Belkin and Mophie charging pads in their stores
- Battery life claims of two hours more than iPhone 7
- Support for latest technologies, like Bluetooth 5, LTE Advanced
- Starts at $1,000 for 64GB, shipping November 3. How to preorder.
Also, AirPower — Apple’s charging mat (a fork of Qi) that will allow you to charge your AirPods and iPhone as well. Slated for 2018.
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus
These updates to the 7 series look like more than just a typical “S” update. Here’s what’s new in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus:
- Glass back, new gold finish and steel and aluminum construction
- Louder speakers
- True Tone Retina displays with 3D Touch
- Same A11 Bionic chip as iPhone X
- The 8 Plus has the same camera system as the iPhone X; the iPhone 8 is a single-camera version.
- Qi wireless charging
- iOS ships September 22, available September 29. Prices start at $700 and $800. How to preorder.
Apple TV 4K
Here one of the biggest updates is baked into the name! The highlights of Apple TV 4K:
- 4K support, natch
- HDR support: It supports both of the current industry standards, supporting Dolby Vision and HDR10 (which is easier to implement and more popular at the moment).
- A10X Fusion chip (same as iPad Pro)
- In addition to iTunes, working with Netflix, Amazon for 4K content
- Free upgrade of movies you own in HD to 4K
- Live sports and news
- New app for TV, iPhone and iPad
- A new That Game Company game
- Will cost $179, shipping on September 22. Here’s how to get it.
Apple Watch Series 3
It’s the top watch in the world and people love it. Cut to video proving it. But from a “what’s new” perspective, here are the highlights of the new Watch Series 3:
- The big deal here is LTE support, so you can use it as your phone (sharing a number with your phone) and stream Apple music without your iPhone
- Updated dual-core processor for better performance
- W2 wireless chip for faster Wi-Fi
- Barometric sensor
- An integrated SIM
- Display is the antenna
- Swimproof
- Will cost $399 with cell, $329 without, new starting price of $249
Also,
- An Apple heart study using Apple Watch data in conjunction with Stanford Medicine
- WatchOS 4 available September 19
Looking for more? Here’s our liveblog of Apple’s 2017 iPhone event.
You can also check out all our coverage of Apple’s announcements.
