Thank you for tuning in to the Chris Smith Show on TNTRadio.live, and to ABC North Tasmania listeners who are also tuning in to learn more about the new Apple launch for September 2023!
Apple has launched four new iPhones, two new Apple Watches, new eco-friendly watch bands, a new case with USB-C charging for its AirPods Pro 2, with its new iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and more due in the next week, with the macOS 14 Sonoma operating system due the week after.
Let’s get into more detail below, but first, here’s the full keynote, which clocks in at one hour and 25 minutes:
- Apple launches four new iPhone 15 models, each with USB-C charging, let’s start with the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus and what’s new there.
The iPhone 15 and Plus models finally get the Dynamic Island that featured on the iPhone 14 Pro models last year. This is like an expanding window at the top of your screen, that shows you how many minutes away your Uber is, whether you’ve got a timer or stopwatch running, music or other audio playing, sports scores, incoming calls and more. Tap the island, and the window expands to give you more details or controls.
Apple describes Dynamic Island as bubbling up alerts and Live Activities — so you don’t miss them while you’re doing something else. You can track your next ride, see who’s calling, check your flight status and so much more
It’s like being able to keep an eye on different things happening on your phone at the same time without opening up that app, and no other phone has this feature, which I’ve been using for the last year, and which is very handy. Now all iPhone 15 models have it, which is a great advance for every new user.
The camera system has been upgraded to a 48 megapixel sensor, which was exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro range last year. However, what this system can now do besides offer an 0.5x ultra wide screen and the 1x main sensor, it also gives you the equivalent of having a 2x optical zoom, without losing any quality as you would with a digital zoom, so while it only has two physical lenses, you get a genuine 2x zoom capability. Of course digital zoom is still there to zoom in even further, but this is a great development for iPhone 15 and 15 Plus owners.
Five colours are blue, pink, yellow, green and black.
For the 6.1-inch iPhone 15, the 128GB model is USB $799 / AUD $1499, 256GB is USD $899 or AUD $1699, and 512B is USD $1099 or AUD $2049.
The 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus sees the 128GB model is USD $899 / $1649, 256GB is USD $999 / AUD $1849, and 512GB is USD $1199 or AUD $2199.
Here’s the official video:
- Apple also launched two new iPhone 15 Pro models, with a 5x zoom capability, and cameras that can even take 3D photos for viewing on the Apple Vision Pro, tell us what else is new?
The new USB-C charging port on the iPhone 15 Pro range means you can use the same cable to charge your iPhone, iPad and MacBooks, but the USB-C used with the iPhone uses the USB-C 3.2 standard, which at 10 gigabits, is 80 times faster than the 480 megabits per second transfer rates of USB.
More details below, here’s the official iPhone 15 Pro range video:
Here’s the 8 minute and 31 second video that compares the new iPhone 15 range:
There’s the new A17 Pro main chip, which is 20% faster than the previous model, has one more graphics core for 6 total that is also 10% faster, which is very important for games and the fluidity of motion, it now has hardware based “ray tracing” for even more fluid graphics and true‑to‑life lighting, and promises to be the the fastest ray‑tracing performance in a smartphone and thus faster than the hardware based ray tracing that Qualcomm introduced last year (for use in Android phones), and a Neural Engine that is up to twice as fast as the last generation, for all those machine learning and AI tasks you are doing.
The 48 megapixel sensor from last year has been enlarged, and promises incredibly good low light and night photos, and in standard mode, instead of delivering you a 12 megapixel photo, you now have a 24 megapixel photo.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Max have a new camera system that gives you the equivalent of seven lenses to work with, through the magic of computational photography, with an 0.5x ultra wide macro lens, a 1x main 24mm lens, a 1x main 28mm lens, a 1x main 35mm lens, a 2x telephoto 48mm lens, and a new 5x telephoto 120mm lens.
When the camera detect a person, people, cats or dogs, it automatically takes a portrait photo for you, and you can change the depth of the photo automatically, even after you’ve taken the photo, so you can have one photo where the person in the front is in focus and the person in the back in blurred, or you can change it to the other way around, with the person in the back in focus, and the person in front is blurred.
A new mode coming later this year will let you take photos with two of the lenses on the back of the iPhone 15 Pro or Max, which then takes 3D photos. You’ll be able to see these 3D photos on the Apple Vision Pro headset that will come next year.
When you are recording video, you can now plug in a USB-C SSD hard drive, and record video straight to an external drive, which will be great for videographers and cinematographers using the iPhone 15 Pro models for professional movie making.
An Action button replaces the mute switch. This button can now be programmed to have different options. By default, it still mutes the phone when pressed, but it can do other things by default, whether you press once, or press and hold. You can press it to turn on the flashlight, go straight to the camera, open the voice recorder, select a shortcut to run a specific app or run a series of tasks, or even be set to activate HomeKit devices like lights on at home, or the start of a playlist.
It promises up to 29 hours on the larger Max and 23 hours on the Pro, and the Emergency Satellite SOS text messages and Crash Detection has been enhanced with US users able to get AAA roadside service when out of mobile range.
Four colours: Natural Titanium, a kind of light grey, blue titanium, white titanium and black titanium
With the new grade 5 titanium frame, which is lighter than regular titanium, Apple explains the titanium band is bonded with a new internal aluminium frame through solid-state diffusion. Billed as an industry-first innovation, using a thermomechanical process that joins these two metals with incredible strength, Apple says these are the lightest iPhone Pro models they’ve ever made.
the iPhone 15 Pro is 6.6 ounces or 187 grams, compared with the iPhone 14 Pro’s 7.27 ounces or 206 grams. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is 7.81 ounces or 221 grams, compared with the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s 8.47 ounces or 240 grams, and Apple says the weight different is definitely noticeable.
For the iPhone 15 Pro, with 6.1-inch screen, the 128GB model is $999 in the US and $1849 in Australia, 256GB is USD $1099 / AUD $2049, 512GB is USD $1299 / AUD $2399 and the 1TB model is USD $1499 / AUD $2749.
For the iPhone 15 Pro Max with 6.7-inch screen, there is no more 128GB tier, the 256GB tier is USD $1199 / AUD $2199, 512GB is USD $1399 / AUD $2549 and 1TB is USD $1599 / AUD $2899.
- What this about the new roadside assistance features for iPhone 15 owners in the US when they’re out of range of phone networks and only have satellite connectivity?
Apple has launched a new AAA roadside service for people in the US who are outside of mobile cell/mpbile phone range, using AAA, which is like NRMA, RACQ or RACV roadside assistance in Australia.
This part of the Apple keynote starts exactly at the point Apple starts talking about these features:
- Ok, so next up are new the Watch Series 9 and the Watch Ultra 2, what’s exciting about these models?
Both the Apple Watch Series 9 and the rugged Apple Watch Ultra 2 have a new processor that is faster than before, indeed it’s the first time Apple has introduced a faster processor for Apple Watch models in the last three years, so everything happens more smoothly and faster.
Also, the screens can go up to 2000 nits in daylight, twice as bright in daylight as before, while being able to go as dim at one nit at night time, so your eyes aren’t bombarded with light in low light situations.
A new “double pinch” feature where you tap your index finger and thumb together lets you answer and hang up on calls, take a photo when you’re looking at the camera lens of your phone through your Apple Watch, which is great for group photos, stop timers, snooze the alarm and you can use that gesture anywhere you’d ordinarily need to tap, but can’t, because you’re holding your child, a bag of shopping, a coffee or anywhere else it is hard to use your other hand to tap something on the watch.
Existing Apple Watches can do this by turning the feature on in the Accessibility mode area, but Apple has made this a standard feature on the new watches.
You can also now talk to Siri without having your voice sent to the cloud for processing first, meaning your watch will respond to voice commands that much faster, and will respond in areas where you have no or low connectivity, like asking it to start an outdoor walk session, set a timer, an alarm, a calendar appointment, or any other task or query that Siri can handle.
Apple also stated its keynote with a great video showing how Apple Watch’s health features saved people’s lives, and they were unexpectedly able to enjoy another birthday:
Full details of the Apple Watch 9 here, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 here.
Here’s a video of the Watch Series 9:
This part of the main keynote takes you straight to the details of the Ultra 2:
- Apple also made a big song and dance about rolling out its first carbon neutral products, and more environmental friendliness, so what is Apple claiming to have achieved?
According to Apple’s keynote, and its press release (which you can read here in full), Apple is well on the way to carbon neutrality with all of its products by 2030.
It has some carbon neutral Apple Watch models, wich meet the following strict criteria: 100 percent clean electricity for manufacturing and product use, 30 percent recycled or renewable material by weight, and 50 percent of shipping without the use of air transportation (as a lot of products are now shipped by sea, resulting in 1/20th the emissions).
Apple says these combined efforts result in at least a 75 percent reduction in product emissions for each model. The company will use high-quality carbon credits to address the small amount of remaining emissions, resulting in a carbon neutral product footprint. Every carbon neutral Apple Watch — which includes any aluminium Series 9 and SE models when paired with a new Sport Loop, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 when paired with a new Trail Loop or Alpine Loop — is certified by SCS Global Services, a leader in environmental standards and certification.
Here’s a video featuring Octavia Spencer as “Mother Nature” meeting Apple executives to question them sternly on Apple’s claims and how strong they really are:
- What advances in protective cases are the third party manufacturers already claiming?
Zagg has a new case that uses graphene to make its cases “harder than diamond”, with the white “MagSafe” ring on the back of the case able to pop out and become a kickstand, while its screen protector boasts the strongest anti-blue light technology – I’ll post some different articles looking at the various cases at the home page later.
- When are iOS 17 and the new macOS Sonoma launching, and why should you update your iPhone, iPad and Mac right now anyway, before these new operating system versions launch?
iOS and iPad OS 17 are due on September 19 in the US, which is early the next morning in Australia, and macOS 14 Sonoma is due September 26 in the US, and the next day down under.
However, there are updates for a security vulnerability that is being exploited, so if your iPhone or iPad hasn’t already updated to 16.6.1, and if you haven’t checked for updates on your Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac or HomePod, then it’s definitely worth checking sometime later today in the Settings, General and Software Update section, and updating.
- And in some non-iPhone news, well known camera, keyboard, mouse and accessory maker Logitech is launching a new webcam, on a stand, called the Logitech Reach. What makes this camera so unique and different?
See Logitech’s blog post here.
Here’s the video that explains it all!
