The Apple Event 2023 is here! “Wonderlust” gave us some exciting new launches, most importantly the announcement of iPhone 15. Check out our full recap:
The event opened with a video short about the health and safety features on Apple Watch and iPhone and people saved by those features. Centered around each person’s birthday, they each shared how their device saved their life. It was a powerful moment from Apple that took the event far beyond just announcing new products.
Tim Cook then took to the metaphorical stage at Apple Park, where he announced that this event would reveal a great deal about two cornerstone products: Apple Watch and iPhone.
He continued with a brief update about the Mac Studio and Mac Pro that we saw in June, as well as the 15″ MacBook Air. He referenced rave reviews about the new 15″ MacBook Air from leading publications. Cook also touched on Apple Vision Pro, which caused major waves in the tech world. The Apple team is making progress on the product and, according to Cook, is expected to begin shipping early next year.
Apple Event 2023: Meet Apple Watch Series 9
Jeff Williams, Apple COO, opened the Apple Watch portion of today’s presentation. The next generation of Apple Watch is here…and it’s pink. Apple Watch Series 9 features Apple Silicon and a slew of other exciting new features. The new S9 chip is the brand’s most powerful yet, with a 30% faster GPU than its predecessor. With S9, you’ll enjoy all-day battery life and other new improvements. The chip’s new neural engine means that when you ask Siri a question or make a request, the requests are directly on the device. What does that mean? It’s more secure AND more accurate. There’s also a brand new feature: using Siri to access your Health data. You can also now log your Health data with Siri, like your weight or menstrual cycle. It’s currently available in English and Mandarin, with more languages coming.
Apple Watch Series 9 also has Name Drop, making it easier than ever to share contact info. The watch also has a new ultra wideband chip that makes it even easier to find your iPhone, with the ability to tell you how far you are from the phone with sound and haptic notifications when you get close. 2,000 nits screen also means Series 9 has double the brightness of Series 8.
The most incredible new innovation of Apple Watch Series 9 is a new gesture. With just your watch hand, you can now use Double Tap; on that hand, just tap your index finger and thumb together twice. You can hang up a call, snooze an alarm and more, whatever is the main button action of the app you’re in. It’s ideal for when your other hand is occupied. How is this possible? A built-in gyroscope in the watch and a machine learning algorithm. Apple Watch Series 9 will be available in an all-new pink color as well as Starlight, Midnight, Silver and Product Red. Most excitingly, Apple Watch Series 9 is Apple’s first carbon-neutral product.
Apple 2030: A Carbon Neutral Commitment
The Apple Watch segment in the Apple Event 2023 transitioned into the brand’s increasing focus on sustainability, with a fun short starring Octavia Spencer as Mother Nature. In it, the brand shared their commitment to eliminate extra plastic from their packaging by the end of next year. They also shared that their offices, stores and data center are operating on clean electricity. They’ve also reduced their water usage by billions of gallons. What about charging your Apple Watch? For Series 9, Apple will match the energy expended by charging your watch by investing in renewable energy. Series 9 packaging is also fiber-based and more compact, so they can ship more watches per trip (that means less emissions from transportation). Most importantly, Apple’s goal is to be entirely carbon neutral by 2030—now, that’s a green initiative we can get behind.
In terms of short-term sustainability goals, Apple is eliminating leather from watch bands and cases and replacing them with an exciting all-new textile. FineWoven is made of 68% PCR, which has a much lower carbon footprint than leather, with a stylish suede-like feel. Apple has also collaborated with Hermes on woven, knitted and molded rubber bands that are as stylish as they are environmentally conscious. They also partnered with Nike for new Sport bands, also made of unique recycled material. The Sport Loop is made of yarn from previous seasons.
Apple Watch Ultra
The brand’s most rugged device is getting an exciting new upgrade. Apple Watch Ultra 2 also gets the powerful S9, so it also has the Double Tap feature. Plus, features like precision finding is particularly important for outdoor adventures. A massive, bright 3,000 nits display means you can read your watch in even the harshest sunlight. The new Modular Ultra display is the brand’s most customizable watch face to date, plus it has the Night Mode feature. There are upgrades for runners and cyclers. For divers, Ultra Watch 2 saves the depth of each dive session so you can track your progress.
In step with the over-arching discussion around sustainability in Apple Event 2023, Apple Watch Ultra 2 is now constructed with more recycled materials. Additionally, paired with specific bands, the watch can also be carbon neutral. All new Apple Watch models can be ordered starting today, and they’ll be released September 22.
Apple Event 2023: Introducing iPhone 15
In the words of Tim Cook, iPhone 15 is “absolutely incredible.” And what makes it so incredible? For starters, there’s an all-new design featuring Dynamic Island seen on previous Pro models. Now, Dynamic Island is more useful with new capabilities. You can see which gate you’re leaving from on a flight, or track your pizza delivery. The new Super Retina XDR display with OLED technology has rich colors and support for Dolby Vision. The display is also brighter, at a whopping 1,600 nits. Peak brightness is 2,000 nits. We’re getting a 6.1″ iPhone 15 and a 6.7″ iPhone 15 Plus. Both models have a new contoured edge that feels great in your hand, too. New color-infused technology leaves the perfect saturation, whether you bring home pink, yellow, green, blue or black. No matter where you go with iPhone 15, you’ll be ready for your adventure with enhanced water- and dust-resistance.
Just like the new watches, Apple’s new phones are built to reduce their environmental impact. 75% recycled aluminum in the body and 100% recycled cobalt in the battery makes the new generation of phones more sustainable than ever.
iPhone 15: Exciting Camera Upgrades
iPhone 15 features a 48MP megapixel main camera has a quad pixel sensor and can truly capture professional-quality photographs on your phone. Computational photography groups pixels together, which enhances light capture. Optical-quality 2x Telephoto retains image quality no matter how much you zoom. For videos, awesome features like continuous zoom delivers a truly cinematic experience, great for content creators and filmmakers.
Portrait Mode is also getting an upgrade with zero shutter lag, vivid colors and more. And now, with machine learning, your phone camera can automatically sense persons and animals and switch to portrait mode. Even more exciting? You can switch photos you’ve already taken to portrait mode. Things get pretty technical here, but in short, the iPhone 15 camera is getting a major camera upgrade with double the resolution. Night Mode is also getting an upgrade for even more detail in low lighting.
A16 Bionic
We met the newest phone chip in iPhone 14 Pro last generation. This chip features a 16-core neural engine to enhance everything from computational photography to transcribing voicemails. 5-core GPU has more memory bandwidth, great for gaming. You’ll also enjoy all-day battery life so you can play with all the exciting new features without worry. Additionally, audio quality gets a major upgrade with a new machine learning model that knows how to prioritize your voice; and if you’re in a noisy area, you can turn on the voice isolation feature. For added safety, the Emergency SOS is expanding further, coming to Spain and Switzerland for a total of 16 countries. And now, Apple is introducing Roadside Assistance via Satellite. You’ll be able to send a text explaining what’s wrong and connect to a satellite. The feature will launch in the United States with AAA. Apple is offering the service free for the first 2 years when you buy iPhone 15.
USB-C
As predicted, USB-C is coming to iPhone 15. Now, the same cable can charge your MacBook, iPad and iPhone as well as select AirPods models with the same cable. iPhone 15 also has MagSafe. iPhone 15 starts at $799, and iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899.
iPhone 15 Pro: Titanium
Next, Tim Cook introduced the iPhone 15 Pro, the most pro model the brand has ever created. It’s powered by the most advanced Apple Silicon yet with an all-new premium grade-5 titanium design. Durable yet incredibly lightweight, this construction means that 15 Pro is the brand’s lightest professional model ever. It will also have the thinnest borders yet, reducing the overall size of the phone without reducing the size of the display. The Ceramic Shield front adds more durability. There are 2 sizes, the 6.1″ Pro and 6.7″ Pro Max. The new phones will be available in four stunning metallic finishes: black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium and natural titanium. The substructure is also made of entirely recycled aluminum to support Apple’s sustainability goals.
Also getting an upgrade is the ring silent switch. Now, iPhone 15 Pro will have a customizable action button. Press and hold the button to confirm the change from ring to silent; there will also be a haptic feedback. The button also lets you start a voice memo, launch the camera or access an accessibility feature like Live Speech. The Pro display is also getting upgraded: in addition to Dynamic Island, users will enjoy the smoothness of ProMotion, the brightness and color of Extreme Dynamic Range, and the convenience of the Always-On Display.
New Features: Standby, A17 Pro and More
Standby Mode is a new feature for iOS 17 that keeps the screen on while in a horizontal position and charging. That way, you can still access convenient information while on your nightstand or desk. iPhone 15 Pro will also get the industry’s first 3-nanometer chip. A17 Pro has dedicated engines that power the exclusive features like the always-on display. It will also enhance your watching experience for video streaming services. This is the first iPhone with USB 3 speeds with up to 20x faster transfer speeds than USB 2. The A17 Pro chip also has a brand-new GPU that performs performance and efficiency, adds new rendering efficiency, and is 20% faster. The GPU will also enhance your mobile gaming and VR experience with Ray Tracing, which more accurately represents real life for realistic, immersive graphics. A17 Pro is the fastest chip ever on any iPhone, and it’s this chip that makes iPhone 15 Pro the best mobile gaming platform in the industry.
The Pro Camera
And, of course, the newest Pro models are all about the camera. It’s Apple’s best camera system yet with better photos and videos. There’s a 48MP main camera with a larger sensor than the standard iPhone 15 models that reduces lens flares and has better low-light performance. Additionally, users can also shoot in 48MP , with 4x more resolution. There’s also the new super high-resolution default setting on the main camera. 24mm, 28mm and 35mm focal length photography is now available, a must for pro photographers. iPhone 15 Pro also has next-gen portraits with focus and depth control not before seen on iPhone. Greater dynamic range reveals more detail and vivid color than ever before, while the 3x Telephoto camera is ideal for classic portraits. The larger phone size enables the longest optical zoom yet, 5x Telephoto at 120mm focal length. 120mm is ideal for portraits, sports photos and wildlife photography, making it ideal for all kinds of professionals.
iPhone 15 Pro is all about the professionals. That’s why now you can capture professional-quality photos and transfer them directly to your Mac. To make the ProRes feature even more powerful, . With this, the 15 Pro will be the first smartphone to support the Motion Picture Academy’s color encoding system, or ACES.
Apple Event 2023: All-New Spatial Video
Experience immersive video never before seen on a smartphone. iPhone 15 Pro also features Spatial Video, which lets you record videos in stunning 3D. These videos can then be shared with anyone who has Apple Vision Pro.
iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999, while Pro Max starts at $1,199, the same entry prices as last year’s model. They’re available to preorder this Friday, September 15 and are available in stores starting September 22.
Apple Event 2023: Time for an Upgrade?
Now that the Apple Event 2023 behind us, it’s time to decide if you need a new phone or watch. And if you’d rather skip the crazy lines at the Apple Store, visit Abt’s atrium, where our own Apple boutique will have the new iPhone 15 and Apple Watch S9 and Ultra 2 on sale soon.
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