Made for adventurers, the Watch Ultra also has a new Oceanic+ scuba diving app and is very clearly looking to take some marketshare from Garmin.
- Apple Watch SE and Watch Series 8 start at US$249 and US$399 respectively. Both available 16 September.
- Apple Watch Ultra will retail for US$799. Available 23 September, apple.com.
iPhone 14 and 14 Pro
As predicted, Apple has ditched the mini iPhone in favour of a Plus variant. The iPhone 14 lineup consists of a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 and a new 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus. Both devices feature the narrower notch found on the iPhone 13 range, sport the same diagonal dual camera setup on the back and the same A15 Bionic chip. This marks the first time that Apple has utilised different chipsets for the standard and pro lines of the iPhone.
While the A15 Bionic is an impressive chip that is easily able to hold its own against the best that Qualcomm and Mediatek have to offer, it begs the question whether you should be getting an iPhone 14 or just buy last year’s iPhone 13?
Both the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus feature Emergency SOS via satellite, an OLED display and the same Crash Detection capability found on the new Apple Watches.
Apple event: everything you need to know
Apple’s 90-minute “Far Out” event met some of the rumoured expectations and completely disregarded others
Image: Supplied
A new rugged Apple Watch, new Airpods Pro and a new notch on the iPhone Pro line were the rumoours that proved to be true, however anyone hoping for new iPads and a redesigned Apple Watch Series 8 were left wanting.
The Cupertino based company followed an all too familiar playbook by unveiling devices with mostly iterative updates, whilst proclaiming them to be the “best product x we’ve ever made”, with the more significant, and impressive changes, made on the software side.
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Second-Gen AirPods Pro
Apple’s second generation AirPods Pro feature the same short stem design that debuted with the original AirPods Pro (sorry if you were hoping for stemless AirPods) but bring a feature that is sorely lacking from them, capacitive volume controls. With the new AirPods Pro you’re able to swipe up and down to adjust the volume of the audio you’re listening, a feature that should not have taken almost 3 years to materialise.
The new wireless buds also feature double the noise cancellation of the first gen Pro’s, up to 6 hours listening time on a single charge with up to 30 hours when coupled with the case and an all new H2 chip. The charging case for the new AirPods still features a lightning port but is also MagSafe compatible and works with the charger for your Apple Watch, there’s also a speaker to help you find the case if you ever misplace it and a lanyard loop.
Image: Supplied
Apple Watch
Apple’s second generation Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 8 look like every other Apple Watch you’ve seen to date. The rounded square watch face isn’t flat and the watch itself hasn’t changed much in terms of design. The true changes take place in the sensors that Apple has built into the new devices. Both the new Watch SE and Series 8 include a new Crash Detection feature which is able to detect when you’ve been in a car crash and is able to call emergency services. While the new Watch SE has the same S8 chip that powers the Watch Series 8, it lacks the temperature sensor and always-on-display.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
The true star of the wearable show is the all-new Apple Watch Ultra. The chunky device looks like an Apple Watch but not like any Apple Watch you’ve ever seen to date, it’s more like the cousin you only see over the holidays who vaguely resembles you.
Unlike the Watch SE and Series 8, the Watch Ultra has a flat, 49mm, sapphire crystal display, orange action button, a button guard and a redesigned crown. The Ultra has a titanium case, comes with cellular connectivity and sports up to 36 hours battery life (with up to 60 hours promised later this year via a software update).
Image: Supplied
Made for adventurers, the Watch Ultra also has a new Oceanic+ scuba diving app and is very clearly looking to take some marketshare from Garmin.
iPhone 14 and 14 Pro
As predicted, Apple has ditched the mini iPhone in favour of a Plus variant. The iPhone 14 lineup consists of a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 and a new 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus. Both devices feature the narrower notch found on the iPhone 13 range, sport the same diagonal dual camera setup on the back and the same A15 Bionic chip. This marks the first time that Apple has utilised different chipsets for the standard and pro lines of the iPhone.
While the A15 Bionic is an impressive chip that is easily able to hold its own against the best that Qualcomm and Mediatek have to offer, it begs the question whether you should be getting an iPhone 14 or just buy last year’s iPhone 13?
Both the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus feature Emergency SOS via satellite, an OLED display and the same Crash Detection capability found on the new Apple Watches.
Image: Supplied
The big iPhone news comes in the form of the new iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max which have ditched the notch in favour of what Apple calls the “Dynamic Island”, which is just a pretentious marketing term for a pill-shaped cutout.
A rather bold design move for Apple, the Dynamic Island is immediately noticeable purely because it isn’t a notch. Apple has chosen to embrace this and has made the cutout a feature in its UI by allowing notifications to expand from it and allowing it to adapt to the app you have running in the background. It sounds weird but makes sense when you see it and leaves you wondering why no other smartphone manufacturer has embraced cutouts like this before.
The part that puzzles me is the fact that iOS 16 has shifted notifications and music controls to the bottom of the device, thereby making them easily reachable, but the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max centers these same notifications and actions around the Dynamic Island which sits at the top of the display.
Image: Supplied
Whatever Apple’s logic is for this uncharacteristically disjointed experience, it’s clear that the company is taking serious steps to differentiate the standard iPhone as the device for normal, everyday people, while positioning the Pro line as the ultimate content creation device for professionals. The inclusion of a new 48MP sensor on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max appears to solidify this burgeoning divide and raises the question of how far Apple will take this new approach.
With these new product segmentations, its clear that Apple is aiming to provide a device for everyone, professional or not, that will work with you and for you no matter where you are.
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