In a typical year, Tim Cook would take the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater to a round of applause from reporters and shareholders as he unveiled the latest and greatest iPhone. 2020 has not been a typical year, and today’s Apple event was not a typical Apple event. That being said, the new crop of iPhones is still on the way, and the team at Apple did unveil some exciting new products and services. Here’s a quick recap of what Apple announced.
Apple Watch Series 6
When the first Apple Watch was introduced, it was a pretty impressive smartwatch that many correctly predicted would change the way we interact with our iPhones. But now, more than ever, the Apple Watch is a device first dedicated to your health and wellbeing. The Apple Watch Series 6 expands on the already impressive capabilities by adding a new health sensor that can measure your blood oxygen levels with an infrared light sensor in just fifteen seconds.
Inside the Apple Watch Series 6 is a brand new S6 chip that is based on Apple’s incredible A13 Bionic chip that is found in the iPhone 11 series. This chip will bring improved performance and battery life and helps power a brighter always-on-display. The Apple Watch also now includes an altimeter, which is available to see on some of the new faces with a focus on health and wellness.
The Apple Watch Series 6 will be available in Apple stores on Friday, September 18 starting at $399 for the GPS only model and $499 for the GPS + Cellular model.
Apple Watch SE
If you have been clamoring for an Apple Watch for a while, but couldn’t justify spending the money on it, Apple has a watch for you. The new Apple Watch SE brings most of the features that customers love at a much more affordable price. It features the slightly older S5 chipset, but still comes with the impressive Retina display, is swimproof up to 50m and includes important features like fall detection, high and low heart rate notifications, emergency SOS and the all-new family set up. The only things missing are the ECG app and the new blood-oxygen app.
Starting at just $279, the Apple Watch SE is the perfect watch for your kids or elderly parents. It will be available in Apple stores this Friday, September 18.
Apple Fitness+ and Apple One
With fewer people venturing to crowded gyms, many are turning to at-home workout machines with subscriptions attached like Peloton and Mirror. Apple is introducing Apple Fitness+, a subscription workout program that only needs your Apple Watch. Fitness+ includes yoga, cycling, dance, treadmill walk and run, strength, core and plenty of other workouts at just $9.99 per month.
With yet another service introduced by Apple, a bundle seemed inevitable. Apple One allows individuals and families to bundle up to six Apple services together at one price.
8th Generation iPad
The first iPad was introduced ten years ago and has since grown into one of the most successful tech devices of all time with more than 500 million iPads sold. The new 8th generation iPad receives some pretty standard updates with the A12 Bionic chip providing improved performance and graphics. It’s compatible with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, providing a little something for everyone. It may not be the most impressive iPad in the lineup, but at just $329, it’s the best for most people.
A Completely Redesigned iPad Air
The biggest design shakeup of the day came with the unveiling of the new iPad Air with design elements similar to the iPad Pro. The edge to edge screen measures at 10.9-inches and has a Liquid Retina display with a 2360-1640 resolution. With no home button, the Touch ID has moved to the power button. The iPad Air is also the first device to be powered by Apple’s new A14 Bionic chip, a 5nm chip with a 6-core CPU and a 4-core GPU. It also moves away from Lightning to USB-C. It still lacks a few features from the iPad Pro like a 120Hz refresh rate and Lidar sensor, but if you don’t need that, the iPad Air is a truly powerful tablet.
The iPad Air will be available in silver, space gray, rose gold, green and sky blue. It starts at $599 and will be available for preorder next month.
iOS 14 Available Tomorrow, But Where’s the iPhone 12?
The biggest news of the day may end up being no news of the iPhone 12 lineup. Despite tomorrow’s rollout of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, WatchOS 7 and tvOS 14, there is still no update on when we’ll be seeing the next iPhone. Rest assured, as soon as more iPhone rumors are available, we’ll let you know.
