Apple Event — October 13

October 13, 2020
5 min read

As other companies are trying to repeat the success of Apple presentation from June, they are going to the next level with the production of their events. This time the focus was even more on transitions and again, the event is much shorter, clocking at 1 hour and 10 minutes.

HomePod mini

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

The smallest announcement (no pun intended) was HomePod mini. Apple claims that it will have an amazing sound and for $99 it will be a very compelling device.

Two notable things — when talking about 3rd party services, Apple didn’t mention Spotify — the most popular music streaming service, but it will be supported in the new OS.

Second, Apple please stop showing HomePods without cords in the middle of the room, it’s misleading.

The Intercom feature could be potentially interesting, with the ability to ask Siri to communicate something to everyone in your family. What’s important it works not only on HomePods, but on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Macs and even CarPlay.

iPhone

Watching presentation, you could have missed that the main feature of the new iPhones is 5G (powered by Verizon). It is fast (in ideal conditions), reliable (in ideal conditions), has low latency (in ideal conditions). Oh, and did I mention? The new iPhones will have 5G (powered by Verizon).

The 5G was all over the presentation in partnership with, you guessed it, Verizon. Nobody knows how much Verizon paid Apple for that commercial inside the commercial, but it was bad. It was the worst presentation for a long time because of that. One would think Apple is above such things, but no, today was the very low point in the history of Apple events.

The one good thing in Apple implementation of 5G is Smart Data Mode, which will use LTE to preserve battery when the high speed is not essential.

iPhone 12

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

The main difference from the iPhone 11 is of course the new flat design, similar to the iPad Pro (and iPhone 4 and 5).

There are 5 colors — black, white, red, green and blue. And the screen is a bit bigger at 6.1”, but it has smaller borders, so the difference in the physical size is non-existent. The screen itself is OLED now, instead of LCD in the previous year model. It has a new technology which Apple calls Ceramic Shield, which is new material for the screen for dramatical improvement in toughness. Apple claims it has 4x better drop performance. We’ll have to wait and see if it will improve scratch resistance.

The new A14 Bionic chip is better and faster and will be faster than competition for years to come, that is everything you need to know.

The main camera is a bit better, the processor also allows for Night Mode on all cameras including front one. And you can also shoot Night Mode Time-lapses now.

MagSafe

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

There are magnets in the iPhone and it looks very interesting. You can attach wireless charger (similar to the Apple Watch), Apple cases will now have magnets to easily snap on and off.

And Apple introduced wireless charger for Apple Watch and iPhone.

Oh, and there won’t be a power adaptor and headphones in the box.

iPhone 12 mini

The smallest iPhone in the lineup. Physically it is even smaller than iPhone SE, but it has 5.4” display.

It is the same as the iPhone 12 except for the screen, so you won’t compromise on anything, just need to choose the size.

iPhone 12 Pro

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

Pro phones also feature a new design, although the band is from stainless steel and there are 4 colors — Silver, Graphite, Gold and Blue.

The displays got a bit bigger 6.1” (instead of 5.8”) for iPhone 12 Pro and 6.7” (instead of 6.5”) for iPhone 12 Pro Max. As with the iPhone 12, the bezels are smaller, so the physical size of the phone is just a bit bigger.

The biggest improvements are with the camera. Deep Fusion is now available on all 4 cameras (including front one).

There is LiDAR for depth data. The biggest improvement is in low light autofocus. The camera will find focus at night 6x faster. It also allows making portraits at night.

Apple will now support RAW photography right in app and what is more importantly there will API for Apple ProRAW, which will help 3rd party developers (like Halide) to improve their processing.

The iPhone Pro Max will have even better camera sensor. Starting with a bit better Telephoto sensor, which will allow using up to 2.5x optical zoom. And the main camera will have a Sensor Shift technology, which shifts the whole sensor instead of the lens for more precise image stabilization.

Prices for the Pro models will remain the same, but it will now start at 128 GB storage capacity. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro will be available in a week, while iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available in a month.

Apple September Event

September 11, 2019
8 min read

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.