Intro
Today was Apple's annual announcement: the latest iPhone and Apple Watch hardware, and details on when the new versions of software for all Apple devices will be released.
I'll spoil the surprise: if you have an iPhone 14 or a Series 8 Apple Watch, you probably won't find too much to be excited about this time around. Still, there's all that new software to get excited about. The release dates are:
- iOS 17: September 18
- iPadOS 17: September 18
- watchOS 10: September 18
- tvOS 17: September 18
- HomePod Software 17: September 18
- macOS 14: September 26
iPhone 15
Apple is releasing four new iPhones, as we've come to expect: iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The smaller two have 6.1-inch screens, and the Plus-sized ones are 6.7 inches. From what I can tell, all are similar in design to iPhone 14, though the edges are slightly more curved (Apple calls it "contoured"). This isn't curved like an iPhone 11, just less sharp corners around the frame.
The biggest physical change is the replacement of the Lightning port with USB-C. With Apple releasing a new USB-C charging case for AirPods Pro 2, this nearly completes the transition away from Lightning. The port can be used for audio, data transfer, and charging, just like Lightning. Data speeds are slow on the cheaper iPhone 15 models, but the Pro phones have 10GBPS ports. They are so fast that iOS will support recording video footage straight to an external drive.
All models gain a new option for satellite communication in the form of roadside assistance. Apple is partnering with Triple A to make this happen (yes, this is only in the U.S. for now). If you get stuck somewhere without cellular service, but you don't need emergency help, you can use your phone to text an operator. You describe your problem, and Triple A will dispatch the equipment you need. Every iPhone 15 comes with two years of this service for free, and it's included in Triple A membership plans. It can also be purchased separately after the free trial period expires.
There's also support for Qi 2 across the line. We don't know a lot about this yet, but Qi 2 is the new, updated wireless charging standard that replaces Qi. It charges faster, and incorporates a magnet system very similar to MagSafe. This might give non-MagSafe charging a speed boost if you're using a Qi 2 charger. Again, though, more information and testing is needed.
Finally, all four iPhone 15 models gain a new ultra wideband chip. This can connect to other devices that have the same chip at up to three times the distance the U1 chip could manage. Apple demonstrated people finding each other in a crowd using their phones, for instance.
The Non-Pro Phones
Let's start with iPhone 15. Everything I'm about to write applies equally to it and its Plus counterpart. The only difference is, of course, that the Plus is bigger.
iPhone 15 gets the same chip that can be found in iPhone 14 Pro--the A16 Bionic. It also gets the dynamic island and OLED screen that was exclusive to the pro line last year, along with the expected bump in camera performance. It seems like iPhone 15 is basically a slightly re-designed copy of iPhone 14 Pro, which isn't a bad thing.
That said, there are some improvements. The screen can get up to twice as bright, there's improved noise cancellation when talking on the phone, and there are the camera changes I mentioned. Low light performance is better, portrait mode will come on automatically if it detects a person, cat, or dog, and photos will be twenty-four megapixels instead of twelve. Will any of this improve your OCR or AI image recognition results? Probably not, but you never know.
The available colors are yellow, blue, pink, green, and black.
iPhone 15 Pro
The Pro models (Pro and Pro Max) are more interesting. To start with, they use titanium instead of stainless steel, with an aluminum inner structure. This makes them eight to nine percent lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro models they replace. Apple first introduced titanium with Apple Watch Ultra last year, but this is the first time it's been used in the shell of an iPhone.
The mute switch has been replaced by an action button, similar to Apple Watch Ultra. You can press and hold it to toggle mute, or press it to open an app or run a shortcut. This opens up a lot of options, such as toggling mute automatically, opening the camera or starting a voice memo recording with the press of a button, and a lot more.
The chip got some pretty significant upgrades, at least for certain use cases. The A17 Pro includes a lot of improvements in graphics and gaming, such as hardware-accelerated raytracing (it basically makes games look more realistic) and hardware AV1 encoding. The A17 is the world's first smartphone processor to use a 3nm (3 nanometer) architecture, which lets it produce less heat and use less power while being faster than the 5nm processor it replaces. You might not feel the changes day-to-day, but it's quite an impressive technical achievement.
Apple spent a lot of time on this phone's camera upgrades, but don't worry, I won't. Basically, it has 5x optical zoom, a really cool mechanism to extend how far light travels inside the lens assembly so the camera can focus at different lengths, and better stabilization. There are a bunch of other features, but as often happens when Apple gets into camera details, I didn't really understand what was going on. The cameras are amazing, even more than last year. That's the takeaway for our community. Again, will this update be better for AI recognition of images? Almost certainly not.
iPhone 15 Pro comes in raw titanium, white, blue, and black. The Max model now starts at 256GB instead of 128GB, though the cheapest model costs the same as what an iPhone 14 Pro Max with 256GB of storage would have cost. That is, Apple dropped the 128GB option completely and kept all other prices the same.
Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2
Apple is upgrading both watch variants. We'll talk about them together, because the changes are mostly the same for both.
This year's Apple Watch update finally introduces a new chip, the S9. The Series 6, 7, and 8 all had basically the same processor, so this is a welcome upgrade. The chip is faster, and includes a four-core neural engine that allows for on-device AI tasks. Siri can now run common commands right on the watch instead of needing to talk to the cloud, and dictation, predictive text, and other machine learning features should be improved. Not only will this make Siri faster, but it lets Ultra users do things like set waypoints with their voice, even when they have no cellular service. Speaking of Siri, a future update will let users log and check health data with their voice.
Both watches gain the new ultra wideband chip found in iPhone 15. Thanks to this, your watch can now precisely locate your phone if you ping it. It can also pop up playback controls or media suggestions if you move near a HomePod.
The Series 9 and Ultra 2 will both get storage increases. They now come with 64GB instead of 32GB. Sadly, there's no increase to battery life. The stated usage times on a single charge remain the same as the Series 8 and first-generation Ultra.
The screens are brighter now. The Series 9 screen gets brighter in light, up to 2000 nits, and can dim as low as 1 nit. This should make it even less visible in theaters, bed, and other situations when you don't want a glowing square to stand out. The Ultra 2's new display peaks at 3000 nits, and can toggle night mode based on ambient light now.
I've buried the lead, though. The big new feature this year is Double Tap, where you tap the thumb and index finger of your watch hand together twice. This will act similar to the two-finger double tap most VoiceOver users know and love. If you have a Now Playing screen open, the gesture will play/pause. If your watch is ringing with an incoming call, this will answer it. During a call, it will hang up. If an alarm is going off, it stops the sound. You get the idea. The important thing to note is that you don't need to use your other hand. If you're walking along and want to hang up a call, but your cane is in your right hand and your watch is on your left wrist, you can simply perform this new gesture with your left hand. This is similar to the gesture controls watchOS has included for a couple years, but it's enabled by default and doesn't include the full set of gestures/commands. It's unclear whether this feature is exclusive to the Series 9 and Ultra 2, given that gesture control works all the way back to the Series 5 (maybe earlier).
The Series 9 Sport model (that's the aluminum one) comes in pink, red, starlight, midnight, and silver. The stainless steel Series 9 comes in gold, silver, and graphite. The Ultra 2 comes in raw titanium, like last year's Ultra, and a new black color. Prices are unchanged from the first Ultra and Series 8. The latest Apple Watch SE remains in the lineup, unchanged.
Environmental Impacts
Apple made a lot of its efforts toward lessening its environmental impact. From renewable energy powering its corporate centers and stores, to using all recycled aluminum in the Series 9, to all the recycled copper and cobalt in the newest phones, and more. In fact, Apple claims that the Series 9 watch is its first-ever carbon-neutral product. It even pledges to invest in renewable energy to offset the expected energy use for every Series 9 it sells. The packaging is also smaller, letting shipments of these watches fit 25% more boxes, and Apple is on track to remove all plastic from all its product packaging by the end of 2024.
One change I didn't expect was the replacement of an entire material. Apple is no longer in the business of leather. It replaced its leather watch bands and phone cases with a new material it calls FineWoven. Don't worry, FineWoven accessories are still expensive.
Wrapping Up
There you have it. Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, and the release dates for all the big software updates. Let us know what you thought, and what your upgrade plans are.
Personally, I'm sticking with my iPhone 13 Mini. However, I'm eying that Series 9 watch. While it's not much of an improvement over a Series 7 or 8, there are some nice-to-have features that my Series 6 lacks. What about you?
Comments
Cool
The
Do you know when we will get announcements on software updates? Always dates
iPhone 15 pro
the iPhone 15 pro starts at 128 GB I thought? I think it is only the pro max that starts at 256 gb.
Dennis Long
Yes. The 15 pro max. Hope next year it will be in my hand. Need to finish paying the 13 pro that I got last Nov. I am very very happy with the 15 pro and the pro max. Next year the series 10 might be cool.
iPhone 15
I'm seriously considering the iPhone 15. I've got an iPhone 11 presently, so I could do with an upgrade. I'm torn between the 15 or the 15 Pro.
Utan
What about the iPad, 11th generation and Apple Watch ultra second-generation?
There were no iPad updatesā¦
There were no iPad updates today.
I think I will be sticking with my 14 pro for now
At this stage I don't think I'sl be upgrading.
I just got the 14pro a couple of months ago.
but it's good that Apple have finally transitioned to USBC.
Will be nice to use my USBC headset with the iphone now.
go for pro
if your upgrading go for at least the pro. I'm toren between the pro and pro max. would love to here peoples thoughts on why pro max over pro or vice versa.
Interesting stuff
The transition to USBC is welcome, although very late.
I find the 15 Pro model interesting. I don't plan to buy any new iDevice soon, I just purchased an iPhone 13. But I like the action button.
LiDAR
The iPhone 15 has everything I need except LiDAR. So $200 for LiDAR! Not sure it is truly worth it but I'd like to try the upcoming point and read feature.
Pro versus Pro Max
The main difference between the Pro and Pro Max models is screen size; the Pro has a 6.1 inch screen whereas the Pro Max has a 6.7 inch screen. I believe the Pro Max has some exclusive camera features, but I don't know enough about those to advise one way or the other.
USBc FTW
I, as I am sure most of you as well, already knew about the moving away from the Lightning Port. Personally I am looking forward to the iPhone 15, but I am torn between the base 15 or the 15 Pro. Either way, it should be an interesting upgrade to my old SE 2nd Gen. š
I won't be upgrading but...
I'm really glad they've followed the wrest of the world, (they didn't like it but I don't care,) and are now using USBC.
As for the camra, these things do actually matter in my oppinion. I may not understand them but what I do know is that more power is better and that AI will be using that power to improve things. I do think the zooming feature you mentioned might mean that blind people won't have to take pictures so far away from the objects they want described or whatever but I don't think it's worth an upgrade from my Iphone.
I find it very interesting that nothing was upgraded with Siri.
It's such a basic assistant for these days and should be upgraded with AI. I'm really hoping apple catch up with Android but honestly? I don't think they will, like with the USBC thing, it'll probably take a European company to demand they follow some law or other or won't be able to sell in Europ.
I know this isn't part of the topic but I keep flipping between apple and android and have realised that I might be moving back to android in a year or so.
It seams that if you want cutting edge tech then you need to go to android, google is using AI to do a lot of things and that includes their phones, but then again I'll probably be lazy and just stick with my Iphone until something really ground breaking comes out.
ultra wideband chip
I don't know enough about the ultra wideband chip, but I could think of accessibility use-cases with it, including, as mentioned, locating people in a crowd.
iPhone 15 Pro max for me
My usual upgrade pattern is to wait for my initial AppleCare coverage to near its end and get a new phone if I can afford it and it has new features I want. In my case, because I have usable vision, I always appreciate camera spec bumps. The 5x optical zoom is what sold me, because it will almost certainly improve the performance of the magnifier since it apparently (based on a simple test I just did) takes advantage of the optical zoom capabilities of the phone.
Upgrading to the 15 Pro
Now that LiDAR has been around for a while and I'm seeing more use for it, I'll be getting the 15 Pro. I'm looking forward to playing with Point and Speak.
Remember the RAM
This year the Pros are getting 8gb of RAM 33% higher than the 6gb the 14 Proās have. I wonder if this will help with the Siri voices being a little dodgy. New 3NM SOC is nice too. Difference between Pro and Pro Max is 5x zoom on the camera, a bigger screen and bigger battery. With Titanium frames it might be easier to deal with the extra weight of the Pro Max. I read the Pro Max has a similar weight to the 10 S Max which was a really lightweight phone for its size.
Waiting another cycle
My iPhone XS is among the oldest devices that will be able to run iOS 17. I suspect it won't be supported by iOS 18, though, making late next year the time to consider an upgrade.
The new iPhones each year offer very incremental improvements over their predecessors. However, if I wait long enough, the improvements accumulate to the point at which it's worth upgrading.
That's what I did, I wentā¦
That's what I did, I went from a 6S to a 12.
I'm still using my 12, cause there isn't any compelling reason to update for my use case.
The new Apple Watch nine
I will be sticking with my iPhone 14 pro for now. I have the Apple Watch six now, other than the new magic tap feature, what features would I be gaining if I purchase an Apple Watch nine?
Lisa
Better CPU, the second gen ultra chip for better find my. Better battery. I am hoping to get it. Need to check if I still getting $150 for my series 7.
iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro?
I had the iPhone 13, didnāt get the pro and there were things that didnāt really work, and seems like the screen wasnāt great when I looked at it and Face ID didnāt work in the endā¦. Had to passcode everything. But I think Iāll upgrade as my iPad 10th gen is USB C and MacBook Pro is USB C canāt wait to see dynamic island for the first time. Iām excited to be honest.
No new Apple toys for me this year
I'll give them credit. They tried to make things sound at least a little bit tempting, but I'm sticking with my apple watch ultra and iphone 13 pro. I'm mildly curious what the titanium blue iphone 15 pro might look like, but I like my mute switch, and I have no interest in the dynamic island or an even bigger camera bump. I know the whole USBC thing is a big deal to a lot of folks, but I'm perfectly content with my lightning charger. As for the watch, there honestly didn't seem to be enough differences to make it even a little bit tempting. I did order the blue varient of the apple watch ultra's ocean band, just to say I got something new, but that's definitely the only purchase I'll be making for the forseeable future. Especially in light of the fact that Apple no longer allows us to purchase unlocked iphones on the Apple card payment plan, I'll probably be keeping my Sierra blue iphone 13 pro for as long as it's supported unless there's a genuinely new and different accessibility feature worth upgrading for.
LiDar
It actually bothers me a little bit that Apple hasn't brought the lidar sensor to the base model iphones yet. In light of the new accisibility features which rely on lidar, it doesn't seem right to me that people are essentially forced to buy pro model phones just to take advantage of those particular capabilities.
I have the iPhone 13 pro Max
Actually, I was thinking to buy the iPhone 15 pro before the Apple event the 13th of September, but after watch that event, I think Iāll stay in my 13 pro Max for another year Now my battery health is at 88%. I think thatās okay. I can still use this phone for a day and a half. For USP-C thing that is tempting, but still not making me to jump from the iPhone 13 Pro Max to the iPhone 15 pro.
any sign of a new SE for the iphone?
just hope there will be a new SE series because I like my smaller phone and touch ID. My cynical bastard side says that if I can avoid being recorded, I will. I've turned every feature that uses my voice off. Most like the USBC switch from lightning. I'm not happy that they're, again, switching like they did when they removed the headphone jack and switched from 30 pin to lightning. But it will be very nice to say goodbye to proprietary cords.
Question
I am not upgrading my device. I'm letting the features stack up before I justify the switch.
Does anyone know what is Audio Zoom? Also, can voiceover users utilize the personal voice feature that I've been hearing about?
I like reading the specs of the models, so I'm sure when I finally upgrade, it will be worth it.
iPhone SE
I've read a few articles, and they were in disagreement over whether there will be one in 2024, or sometime later on, or just discontinued. It will supposedly be the size and appearance of the XR, and might have a fingerprint reader on the side, lock button. I wouldn't count on the fingerprint reader though. We'll have to wait until March or whenever of next year to find out if there is one.
Keeping my 12
I'm personally going to be keeping my iPhone 12 for now. I'm not saying that the 15 is bad, but I feel like my 12 does perfectly fine. The only thing I'm really getting out of this is bigger size, better camera, and faster. And then just a couple more odds and ends thrown in. I'm not quite sure if I want to upgrade just yet.
Sticking with the 13
I had planned to buy the 15 Pro but am sticking with the 13 for another year. Partly, this is because I hope to be moving house and so a thousand quid or so would be better spent in that endeavour - it at least pays the conveyancing fees. i have to admit, however, that such a sacrifice was made easier by the event on Tuesday. Whoever it was that said they did their best to make some of the stuff sound tempting was absolutely right. Put simply, I didn't feel that i would be missing out on all that much by not uprading. USBC? Very nice but I can handle using a Lightning cable. Titanium? Not that exciting, to be honest. Door detection, point and speak, that sort of thing? They'll probably be better in 2024 anyway. Noise isolation? I'll just have to speak louder. Dynamic Island? Don't really understand it - I'm sure it's lovely but I can live in a static country for another year. the A17 particle accelerator that allows me to split the atom and open my emails 0.1 seconds quicker? Well, i suppose if I added up all the 0.1s it might amount to a tidy amount of time - enough for another pint, perhaps - and splitting the atom might be awfully good fun. On the other hand, the project mentioned at the outset of this missive is altogether more significant. So, in short, whereas Tim Cook says the 15 Pro is more pro than ever, Bingo is sticking with the glorious amateurs for 12 more months.
No new iPhone right now, possibly 15 later
Hi! As I write this, I have no plans to give up using my iPhone SE 2020 any time soon, as it's still working well. However, I don't want to let it get as old as my iPhone 6, which I had to replace urgently in 2020 because the battery had pretty much given up and that six-year-old phone was malfunctioning sometimes because of its age anyway: I expect to change my phone in 2024, probably to an ordinary iPhone 15, as I don't feel the need for a pro. Before this year's new iPhone announcement, I was convinced that I didn't want an iPhone 15, because that would mean me ending up with several useless Lightning accessories, but I now realise that USBC is the future, so there will come a time when I won't be able to refuse to use that.
@Missy Hoppe.
The thing is, this stuff costs money.
I completely understand wanting all the new toys now now now! But You pay for what you get.
13 pro
I got it in Nov of last year. I will wait for next year. I will get the 15 pro or pro max. Hope Verizon will have a nice deal. For @Missy Hoppe I want a toy for Christmas, may I have one please with sugar.
quote: Noise isolation? I'll just have to speak louder. unquote
if you have the 13, you have voice isolation. you should turn it on everywhere--phone, facetime, any kind of voip apps you use--, the difference is day and night.
also, i know many people don't give lidar a damn. but trust me, when you have the right apps, you'll swear by it. the only problem is there is only a single lidar sensor, and since lidar is good for narrow focus, longer range applications, in opposed to infrared, the usefulness is curtailed. i hope apple make a phone with multipe lidar sensors.
noise isolation
I've been hearing about this, and how it is available on my 13 pro, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to enable it. I read that you have to enable it while on a call through the control center or something, but I never found it anywhere. If someone could please explain how to activate this feature, I'd really appreciate it.
voice isolation
Open control center while you are on a call. An option will show up called mic mode. The voice isolation setting is in that menu. It stays on for every call until you turn it off.
mic mode doesn't show up
Thanks for the instructions. These are the ones I've found multiple times. The problem is that mic mode never shows up in my control center. I called the iPhone using my land line and tried to go into control center multiple times. I'm obviously missing something somewhere, because mic mode simply doesn't exist as an option. Is there a particular area of the control center I should be looking for? Thanks again!
doesn't
Mic mode
When in a call on your iPhone:
1. Activate Control Center.
2. Flick "left". This is important because you will likely land on Airplane Mode as your starting point, but the Mic Mode and Video Effects are above that (***see note below).
3. While still in your call, double tap "Mic Mode".
4. You should have 3 choices; Standard (the Default), Voice Isolation, and something called Wide Spectrum.
5. Double tap on whatever's clever and that will be your permanent choice until you manually change it again.
6. Close out of Control Center.
*** Regarding the location of the mic mode control. Sometimes VO likes to be stupid and not focus on the buttons; perhaps they are sometimes hidden, or VO is just being a brat. Regardless, you may have to flick left and right until they "appear".
HTH. š
No ctoys this year
Sounds interesting, but I already have enough devices with USB see. As Iāve already lost one USB see plug. RIP to that Paul thing. As for the Apple Watch, I see no improvements to either watches. Iāll be downloading iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14, as soon as I can.
so i hope the person got her mic mode set
remember, one needs to turn it on individually for each app, and one can only do this while on a call.
i'm very mystified. for all the marketing hypes, voice isolation is actually a very good technology, something can really benefit the user, but apple has to make it so difficult to activate. why can't we just set mic mode to voice isolation as default for relevant apps?