The “Wanderlust” event which was supposed to have the new generation iPhone as the main topic surprised many by using big portions of the event to address sustainability. Everyone knows they’re amazing at marketing and at branding, but their video addressing the sustainability aspect of the business was on a whole new level. Mother Nature was impersonated in a meeting with Apple, where the employees, including the CEO Tim Cook, were extremely intimidated by her while trying to impress her with the huge environmental developments of the Californian tech company.
The first new product presented was the Apple Watch Series 9, with a new “double tap” gesture for one-hand actions, and a bigger range of screen brightness, going from 1 to 2000 nits. It comes with an improved chip when compared to previous generations, which enables on-device Siri, and also precision finding for iPhone. The biggest accomplishment of this new generation though, is Apple’s first carbon-neutral product, taking a huge step forward to “Apple 2030”, the company’s sustainability project to become fully carbon-neutral by 2030.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 followed, bringing basically the same advancements brought by the Series 9, such as the double tap feature, and precision finding, and in terms of screen, it is also brighter, this time going up to 3000 nits, the brightest any Apple display goes. This also enables a better flashlight and a brand-new watch face that takes advantage of the new display screen. Following the eco-friendly line of thought, it is also a carbon-neutral product.
The expected iPhone 15 lineup is consistent with iPhone 14’s: it is composed of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, as well as the pro versions, one of them being larger, therefore with “Max” in its name. The standard versions bring the super useful Dynamic Island, previously only available to Pro models, and has a twice as bright display that goes up to 2000 nits peak brightness in outdoor environments. As for the camera aspect that iPhones are very well known for, a brand new system has been introduced, bringing a 48MP sensor to the iPhone, enabling 24MP standard image size, a brand new automatic portrait mode, and a 2x optical zoom option. In terms of connectivity, it has better precision finding, even amongst different iPhones, so you can find a friend, or in worst cases, your child. The rumors were right, and now all iPhones use USB-C charging ports instead of lightning ones, therefore increasing connectivity. The design is pretty much the same, though with 5 new astonishing color options: matte glass on the back, and rounded contours.
For the Pro users, performance has jumped. The first ever Pro Chip, the A17Pro is the most powerful chip in any smartphone, improving gaming performance to such an incredible extent that console games such as Assassin’s Creed can be played on it. The new Aluminum frame is much stronger and durable, yet lighter than the stainless steel used in previous generations. A new action button that is customizable replaced the ring switch that was present in all iPhones since the first one. For the Pro users of the camera system, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a highlight once it comes with a 5x optical zoom enabled by a brand-new sensor. It has the equivalent of 7 back cameras according to Apple, and the ultra-fast USB-C 3 allows for recording in 4K60fps ProRes directly to an external drive or to a Mac. And a very exciting new feature is the ability to record in 3D, called “Spatial Videos”, which will be very immersive when played in the soon-launching Apple Vision Pros, Augmented reality headsets recently released by Apple. Prices are the same as always, though the lowest price for the Pro Max is a little higher due to the minimum storage starting at 256 GB rather than 128 GB like the other models.
The new products don’t offer many new features, though the improvements will be very appreciated and surely helpful. This could be disappointing to Apple fans, though it was expected since Apple has a bigger and more exciting project to work on right now: the Apple Vision Pro.
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