Up until recently I was getting the new iPhone every year just as it comes out. Believe me, it is hard to do in Latvia, but I’ve always found a way. Sometimes through persistence, like with the iPhone X, I pulled every string I could, but got one of the firsts. Sometimes through luck – we’ve had tickets booked to Berlin right for the day of iPhone XS going on sale, so the second pre-orders started I was navigating Apple Store in German (which I don’t understand at all) and ordering the iPhone XS Max. This went on since I’ve returned to the iOS with iPhone 6S Plus, so it were a good couple of years. This was probably one of my favorite tweets of all time:
I don’t gamble. I don’t drink. My one vice is buying a new iPhone every summer.
Recently though, I’ve started to think more about upgrading the devices I use and try to ask myself – is it really necessary to do that just because the new comes out or do they improve something I really need?
First the AirPods, when the second generation came out, I didn’t see the need to upgrade, as I don’t use wireless charging, the battery on mine was still fine and the sound wasn’t improved. I could benefit from the faster pairing process and a bit longer battery life while calling, but those were minor changes considering the price. I’ve used the 1st generation AirPods until the battery got abysmal and upgraded.
Then there was an Apple Watch. I loved my Series 3, but when the Series 4 came out, it looked outdated, with the square screen and without the new watch faces. Series 3 was still powerful enough (unlike its predecessors). Series 4 had a couple of new health features, which are still not available in Latvia. The watch I had was still perfectly fine. On the other hand, when Series 5 came out with the always-on display, it was a big change and improvement to get myself an upgrade.
That way we get to the star of the upgrading show – the iPhone. I would love to have the newest and greatest, but do I need it? My year old XS Max works great, the battery is still good and lasts me all day. The camera improved, but I use it for some snapshots day-to-day and it is perfectly fine for that, when I travel I always take my “big” camera as I love to take photos with that. I tried Night Mode on my wife’s iPhone 11 and it is … okay. It looks cool, but I don’t see myself using it often yet.
The struggle is real and one of the biggest problems are social networks. I open my Twitter feed and there are all the tech bloggers getting phones for review or buying on the first day. I open my Instagram Explore tab and it is filled with new iPhones, AirPods and other products. From YouTubers, who got them from Apple, to influencers, to photo aggregator accounts. This creates the biggest FOMO I have probably ever experienced.
But are there any other reasons for not upgrading besides self-restraint? Except for the obvious one – money, there is also emotional – next year or the year after, when you upgrade, it would be a two or three times better leap in technology. Phones today don’t get much upgrade year over year, so in those two or three years there would be enough to surprise and delight you.
When I’ve upgraded to Series 5, as I’ve mentioned before the biggest upgrade was always-on display, but if I had Series 4 before that, it would be the only new feature. It is amazing, but it wouldn’t give you the same feeling for a couple of days, when you want to play with new device (if you don’t also consider the horrendous battery life as a new feature). For me the screen changed, it got bigger, there are a lot of new watch faces to play with. New types of complications. I’ve had this new device feeling, when for a couple of days I wanted to play with my new toy. I’m not sure it would have been the same upgrading from Series 4 to Series 5.
I’m not saying everyone should stop buying new watches or phones every year, I’m not even sure I won’t buy one, still. But I want to be more mindful about those things. Put more thought into the decision and not just run after new and shiny every time Apple presents or announces something.
Yesterday Apple held its biggest event of the year. As was rumored we’ve seen three new iPhones, watch and so much more. Luckily this time not all rumors came true, we’ve had a couple of surprises. On the other hand, some were expecting too much, so as always my strategy of not reading rumors before the event pays off.
Arcade
If you didn’t notice, Apple is services company now, so it started with two of them. Apple Arcade is gaming service, starting from 100 exclusive high quality games. You will pay the subscription fee and play whatever game you want on iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV. The games in the trailer look amazing. Considering that Apple announced support for xBox and PS4 controllers, this could be a very big deal for many.
As it often is, game demos are the weakest part of Apple presentation, after Tim Cook said “I won’t waste your time with usual updates” we’ve watched three game demos in a row with one of them being Froger, in 2019.
It will be available September 19 in over 100 countries around the world for a price of $4.99 per month for the whole family. And Apple will give 1 month free trial.
Considering the price, I feel like this is the one to at least try. As I said games look good, the lineup of developers looks strong with some big names and indie.
tv+
As every company under the sun Apple is launching original content. tv+ will have three shows at start adding more every month. Tim Cook was so excited that the trailer for the Morning Show was “one of the most watched trailers ever” it wasn’t even funny.
We also saw a trailer for the TV show See, which looks very promising.
It will cost $4.99 per month for family and will be available in over 100 countries. What was surprising, you will get 1 year of the service included with the purchase of any Apple device. Considering Apple only has a couple of shows at the start and doesn’t have any backlog this is very smart strategy.
iPad
This one was a surprise. There were some rumors about new iPad, but most thought it would be shown in October event later this year.
What Apple did is update it’s most popular iPad, the original size one. It is now 7th generation iPad, they’ve changed screen size a bit, increasing it to 10.2 inches (instead of 9.7). It has updated specs and is shipping on September 30 starting from $329.
Interesting how Apple doesn’t compare it to other tablets (because that market doesn’t even exist), all of the comparisons were with top selling PC and of course iPad beat it in every aspect.
Up until now, this was The iPad to get, considering the price and power you get. It remains the one device in Apple lineup which you can consider inexpensive and well worth every dollar you spend.
watch
Tim Cook started with the video showing how Apple Watch save lives with its ECG function. What was nice this time – it also showed how Apple Watched helped get healthier by asking you to close your rings or stand. Those videos are always Apple at its best.
There will be three new studies – Hearing, Women’s health and Heart and movement study. Those are great, but unfortunately available only in the United States.
And here is the announcement I was most surprised by – new Apple Watch. Watch Series 5 will have THE feature, the one many asked for from the very beginning – always on display, while still having all-day 18 hour battery life.
All the watch faces were optimized for low-power mode when it shows time, so you don’t have to tilt your wrist or tap the screen. This is the feature for getting a new watch, especially if you didn’t upgrade to the Series 4 last year.
As everything in the US, Apple Watch now has a compass. As most of the cities in the US were built considering the directions, this will be helpful to Americans, but also around the world, Maps app will now be able to show where are you heading more precisely.
There will also be international emergency calling in more than 100 countries if you have cellular Apple Watch. Amazing feature, which I hope nobody has to use.
This year Series 5 is available in a couple of new finishes – two Titanium models and white Ceramic. They look great, but will cost accordingly.
Apple Watch Series 5 will start at $399 for GPS model and $499 for cellular. You can already order one and it will ship on September 20.
What also interesting, Apple leaves Series 3 in its lineup for $199. It is great entry price, but only if you don’t care about the look and newest feature. By itself it is ok, but if you ever come across Series 4 or 5, two year old model looks very old and dated.
iPhone
The main star of the event – iPhone. Last year, I think Apple confused buyers with releasing three models which were hard to differentiate for average consumer (believe me, I know, the amount of questions I got about which one should someone buy was like a customer sat – through the roof). Fortunately this didn’t stop iPhone XR to become the most popular iPhone and smartphone in the world.
This year the lineup is much more clearer. First, there is iPhone 11. Which you can consider the standard one – everyone who wants to buy an iPhone this year should get this one. It has 6.1 inch display, Haptic Touch and Spacial Audio.
It also has two cameras this year, but instead of adding telephoto, the second camera is ultra-wide. This will allow you to switch to x0.5, which means you will be able to capture 2 times more of the scene from the same point.
This is also shown in the new camera interface. When you launch it, it will look more immersive, showing you the whole available picture instead of black bars.
Although there is no telephoto camera, Portrait mode is still made using hardware, so it will work on animals, unlike the iPhone XR.
Apple also showed Night mode, which in presentation looked great, but we will need to see comparisons with Google Pixel, where night mode is just out of this world. Hope Apple delivers.
If photography is something Android manufacturers, especially Google, mastered, in videos Apple is still unbeatable. Adding to that ultra-wide and cinematic stabilization, makes it even more impressive.
Front camera was also updated, it is now wider 12MP sensor which will take normal selfie, until you rotate it sideways and it will get wide.
Apple also added 4K video support and slo-mo to the front camera and invented the word Slofies – which is probably officially the worst word of 2019.
A12 processor leads the industry, the overhead it has is not even funny, it is still faster than all the newest Android phones and Apple made it even faster. A13 Bionic is the new processor inside iPhone. It is so ahead, it will take Android manufacturers a couple of years to catch up.
What iPhone XR did have, was amazing all-day and then some battery life. In iPhone 11 it was improved – adding 1 hour.
It will be priced starting from $699 and as I’ve already mentioned, this is the one to get.
iPhone 11 Pro
As Phil Schiller said – this is the first phone Apple called Pro and it is worthy of its name.
There are four new colors – Midnight Green, Space Grey, Silver, Gold. And at least on photos the green looks amazing, I will be surprised if it will be available on first day in enough quantities. The back has a nice matte finish now, which doesn’t even look like glass anymore.
There are two phones iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, with the same sizes as last year of 5.8 and 6.5 inches. It will also have A13 Bionic processor, but one of the biggest improvements is battery life. 4 hours more for iPhone 11 and 5 hours more for iPhone 11 Pro Max. As a XS Max user I can tell you this will be amazing, it will bring phones closer to the main iPhone 11. It will also have 18 watt adapter in the box, so you will be able to charge it faster.
There is now three cameras. The ultra-wide was also added to the Pro models. One amazing thing 3rd party developer Filmic Pro demoed, was shooting video with two cameras at the same time. So you have more different footage for the same moment.
Apple also showed sneak peak for a feature coming later this year called Deep Fusion. What it does is it takes 9 photos (8 of them before you even press a button) and combines them to bring a lot of detail. On stage it looks great, we will have to wait for it to come out.
The iPhone 11 Pro will start at $999 and iPhone 11 Pro Max at $1099 with pre-orders this Friday and shipping on Septemver 20th.
Apple will also keep in it’s lineup iPhone XR for $599 and iPhone 8 for $449.
Some already are saying this was the weakest Apple event in recent history, but I think it was good. Making already great iPad even better, always-on display on the Apple Watch making it even better in the market with almost no competition. And iterative update on the iPhone, which should be expected, as this is a mature market already.
