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[UPDATE] Wonderlust – Apple September event; new iPhones and watches

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By Lightwreather
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So, here are all the announcements, and stuff that happened:

Apple Watch Series 9

-Largely the same design, the most significant changes are to the internals

-Improved performance, but more crucially, longer battery life, are promised by the new S9 chip. Apple claims 60% more transistors than the Series 8 and a GPU with 30% more transistors. The neural engine's significant improvements to on-device processing for Siri requests, including 25% faster voice dictation, may be the most significant.

-Display now goes up to 2000 nits, double the brightness of Series 8, making it easier to use outdoors. Also goes down to a single nit in dark conditions

-Addition of an Ultra Wide-Band chip to show you the distance and direction to your phone, rather than simply having your phone make a loud noise.

-Apple also promised a new gesture - "Double Tap" that it claims Watch users will be using "every day". This works supposedly by the Neural Engine's detection of "the unique signature of tiny wrist movements and changes in blood flow when the index finger and thumb perform a double tap." Bit skeptical if this will actually catch on though.

-FineWoven is a new watch strap design that Apple is phasing out of its whole product line to replace the leather. FineWoven is a "microtwill made of 68 percent post-consumer recycled content that has significantly lower carbon emissions compared to leather," according to Apple. 82 percent of the yarn used to make the new Sport Loop is recycled.

- Supposedly, the company's first carbon-neutral device.

The Apple Watch SE remains available for $249, while the Series 9 starts at $399. They're both available for preorder today and should be released on September 22.

image.thumb.png.0d40c1b4125c596e50f996f23130ca67.png

 

Apple Watch Ultra 2

-The Ultra 2 has the same new S9 chip as the Series 9 alongside the same "double tap" feature.

-There's a new display that hits 3k nits, even more than the Series 9. (Sidenote: How bright would be too bright?)

-There's also a new "modular ultra" watchface that uses the edge of the display, “to present real-time data, including seconds, altitude, or depth”.

-There's also now support for Bluetooth cycling accessories, and ANT+ support.

-The battery is the same, hitting 36 hours on a single charge and 72 hours in low-power mode.

 

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus

Why, it's star of the show, and was literally what everyone was waiting for, waiting agonising minutes after it was revelled to see if a highly anticipated feature would be released. It was.

 

-Apple ditched its proprietary Lightning port in favour of USB-C (albeit on the USB2 standard; some claim it's because of SoC limitations) on this iteration of the iPhone, very likely because of the EU.

-The edge of the aluminium enclosure has a new contoured design that looks a bit different from the iPhone 14 and gives me a Pixel 4-esque vibe

-Apple also claims the iPhone 15 devices are the first phones to have a "color-infused back glass." Apple's announcement said that it strengthened the phones' back glass with a "dual-ion exchange process" and then polished it with nano-crystalline particles and etched it for a "textured matte finish."

-Dynamic island was introduced.

I take minor issue with Apple calling it an "all-new design" when it really isn't that different from the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro but I suppose that's a me thing.

 

-Spec bump to the A16 which was on last year's Pro line-up

-Main camera system was upgraded to a 48 MP sensor that takes 24 MP photos, using a default computational photography process. This is the same system found on the iPhone 14 Pro. Alternatively, you can opt for the "2x Telephoto" option with three "optical-quality" zoom levels (0.5x, 1x, or 2x).

-Additionally, for all of the iPhone 15's cameras, machine learning will automatically switch the main camera into portrait mode, with richer color and low-light performance, when appropriate. Night Mode ("sharper details and more vivid colors") and Smart HDR (brighter highlights, and improved mid-tones, shadows, and renderings of skin tones) are reportedly upgraded, too.

 

-The cameras will also introduce focus and depth control, which lets you switch focus on an image from one subject to a different subject after the photo has been taken.

I will admit, that is pretty cool

 

-Also includes the second-gen Ultra Wideband chip (same as in the Apple Watch). Apple said it enables connectivity with other devices from up to a three-times longer distance.

-The iPhone 15 is supposed to have better audio quality during calls, thanks to a new machine learning model that automatically prioritises your voice and can filter out more background noise, if you select "voice isolation" mode during a call.

This is also pretty cool, and will absolutely be very helpful when yer trying to listen to someone talking in a very windy place. THANK YOU APPLE.

-Apple is also adding Roadside Assistance via Satellite with the new devices. Users will be able to text roadside assistance and then select what they need assistance with, with options such as "flat tire" and "locked out" appearing via a menu that comes up in response. The feature will debut in the US with AAA.

-The iPhone 15 starts at $799 (128GB), and the iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899 (128GB) available on September 22, with preorders starting this Friday.

-Apple also launched new case options for the iPhone 15 series, including the new FineWoven material.

 

image.thumb.png.605a45ad77ef302f304408a319a6baca.png

Apple (via ArsTechnica)

 

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max

-Apple announced that new iPhone 15 Pro line-up will switch from a stainless steel frame to one made out of a brushed "grade 5 titanium," which they says makes the phone more durable and lighter.

I honestly expected them to bump the price just because of this

-The phone is also a little smaller than past models thanks to slimmer display bezels. The screen sizes stay the same—6.1 inches for the base model and 6.7 inches for the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max one. Apple didn't announce any changes to the phones' actual screens, so expect the same resolution, ProMotion refresh rate, and brightness as before.

-The iPhone's tradition mute switch was replaced by an "action button" . By default, it still serves as a mute switch, but users can change it to launch apps or the camera or custom Shortcuts workflows, which I see as a neat inclusion. There will be a different haptic response depending on if the action mutes or unmutes.

-The Pro line-up will once again be a generation ahead of the non-pros with the introduction of the A17 Pro, which is apparently Apple's first chip built on TSMC's 3nm node. It continues to use two large high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores; Apple says the performance cores are 10 percent faster than they were before, a relatively mild improvement, while the efficiency cores are more efficient rather than being faster.
   -The A17 Pro's six-core GPU is 20 percent faster than the A16 and Apple has also added hardware-accelerated ray-tracing. This is something I don't see as being particularly useful on a phone, but I did call out that this would be implemented by Genshin Impact and Honkai Star rail. Speaking of which RE4 will also be coming to the iPhone.

   -The chip also includes hardware acceleration for the AV1 video codec that is becoming more popular on streaming services.

-Apple has also added a new USB controller to power that USB-C port, allowing the iPhone 15 Pro (Max) to use USB 3 transfer speeds. 
"technically, this would make it either a USB 3.1 gen 2 or 3.2 gen 2 controller, if you can keep the USB-IF's naming straight" –ArsTechnica

-Apple says the Pro's 48-megapixel main sensor is larger than the one in the regular iPhone 15. Like the iPhone 15, by default, it will shrink the finished product down to 24 MP to save storage space, but if you're shooting in ProRAW mode you can get the full 48 MP image for cropping and editing. The camera defaults to a 24 mm focal length, but 28 mm and 35 mm options are also made possible by the large sensor, and you can set any of the three focal lengths as your default.

 

-Apple says that after an iOS update "later this year," the phone will be able to shoot spatial video that can be viewed in three dimensions in a Vision Pro headset.

-The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999 (128GB), and the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199 (256GB) available from the 22nd of September with preorders starting this Friday. FineWoven cases will also be available for the Pro line-up.

 

iOS and macOS

-iOS 17 hits supported devices on September 18

- macOS 14 Sonoma will be available on September 26, just over a week after iOS 17

 

Sources

Apple - [1] [2]

ArsTechnica – [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Posted

UPDATE: The Event has come and gone, see Solution Post for what was announced.

 

Summary

Apple plans to showcase the next generation iPhone and Apple Watch on a webcast on September 12. The corporation confirmed the date this morning (well, evening in Europe) with invites extended to members of the press.

The invitation stated the date, contained (as usual) a mysterious picture, stated that the event will be streamed from Apple Park, and included the phrase "Wonderlust" as a teaser.

 

image.thumb.png.9c267e94eae237d037e21b6852f1aac0.png

 

What to expect

iPhone 15 (Pro)

Quite clearly the star of the show, it is rumoured to finally come out with a USB-C port instead of Lighting (the merits of the change, I will not weigh in on). Furthermore it appears that the Dynamic Island feature present on the iPhone 14 Pro line-up will be rolled out on the base models as well.
The most substantial change to the Pro line-up is, however, likely going to be a titanium frame, smaller bezels, and perhaps a bump in the the price tag. Pretty much just a refresh. There are (in my opinion) less likely features rumoured: The replacement of the mute toggle with an action button, not unlike the one on the Apple Watch, and the the iPhone 15 Max may exclusively get a periscope lens with up to 6x optical zoom. 

Oh, and the Max might be renamed the "Ultra".

Miscellaneous

Although significant changes are not anticipated, Apple is expected to introduce its newest line-up of smartwatches. With the exception of a darker titanium shell, not much is known about a possible update to the high-end Apple Watch Ultra, although rumours suggest that the Watch Series 9 will include an upgraded S9 Processor based on the A15.

Also,  Kuo predicted last year that Apple would launch AirPods with a USB-C charging case in 2023, and now we may finally see that come into being. However, It’s not clear whether Apple will actually make any updates to the AirPods themselves

Software

We'll presumably learn the release dates for iOS 17 and watchOS 10, however, according to Apple's current history of releasing them in October, we may not see iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma until later this fall.

 

My thoughts

All-in-all, this event appears to very well likely be a rather mundane event. Just a bunch of refreshes and spec bumps, not that incremental improvement is bad thing. I doubt Apple will pull a "One more thing" this time around (this is pure conjecture, and entire based around my gut feeling), but I would like to be pleasantly surprised. I won't likely be updating this post as the event is going on, but I will probably do so, a couple hours after. Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 

Sources

Apple

ArsTechnica

TheVerge

"A high ideal missed by a little, is far better than low ideal that is achievable, yet far less effective"

 

If you think I'm wrong, correct me. If I've offended you in some way tell me what it is and how I can correct it. I want to learn, and along the way one can make mistakes; Being wrong helps you learn what's right.

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Posted

Nice wallpaper...

Not English-speaking person, sorry, I'll make mistakes. If you're kind, maybe you'll be able to understand.

If you're really kind, you'll nicely point that out so I will learn more about write in good English.  🙂

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Posted

Yo. Yet another refresh of the iphones, third time in a row. Somehow I thought with the 15 rumours had it that this time there‘d be actual new cool stuff again.

If it‘s true that „ProMotion“ will remain exclusive to the Pro models, it‘ll be a hard disappoint. It‘s about damn time every iphone gets this.

 

Also IMHO kinda lazy from Apple to use Covid to permanently axe live events. These pre-recorded shows are boring and every new one seems

to be more lifeless than the one before. 

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Posted

My body is ready.

 

My "one more thing" last minute wish would be some spicy unrumored satellite-related announcements. 

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Posted

I'm good with my iPhone 13 Pro for now, but I do think the 15 Pro could be a meaningful update. Improved cameras, faster chip, lighter body, USB-C, improved base storage (albeit at a higher price), thinner bezels... yeah, there won't be a reason to upgrade from a 14 Pro, but I'd say it'll be huge for anyone upgrading from the iPhone 12 series or earlier. Even for me it's a bit borderline as I'd love to catch up on features.

 

The big upgrade for me this year is the Apple Watch Series 9. It's mainly a speed boost, but the steel models may be lighter (due to 3D printing). And I'm coming from a Series 5, so it'll still feel like a huge improvement.

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Posted
22 hours ago, Senzelian said:

Stop butchering German words! 😤

My first thought exactly. Followed by Skunk Anansie.

 

12 hours ago, Dracarris said:

Yo. Yet another refresh of the iphones, third time in a row. Somehow I thought with the 15 rumours had it that this time there‘d be actual new cool stuff again.

Like what? My 2018 phone has no noticeable drawbacks to a 2023 model (except I don't get major updates anymore).

It is somehow better and has an actual IR depth camera for face recognition. Something many newer phones just leave out to not turn the punch-hole into a (w)hole-island.

12 hours ago, Dracarris said:

Also IMHO kinda lazy from Apple to use Covid to permanently axe live events. These pre-recorded shows are boring and every new one seems to be more lifeless than the one before. 

There was a steady decline of Apple keynotes, even before the pandemic. But I agree that lately it's just awful. They are only showing incredibly expensive CGI clips that show happy people with the device in their hand or on their head and vague marketing claims - 6x faster1 ... advanced process node27 ... more exciting than ever404

 

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Posted

12 Mini still good here, shame they dropped the line 😞

 

Guess I'll be grabbing a 13 Mini when I see a refurb bargain for the small updates so it will last me til nearly 2030...

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30 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

Like what? My 2018 phone has no noticeable drawbacks to a 2023 model (except I don't get major updates anymore).

It is somehow better and has an actual IR depth camera for face recognition. Something many newer phones just leave out to not turn the punch-hole into a (w)hole-island.

It's a valid point. Basically you can buy anything from 12 to 15 with no real substantial drawbacks if the rumors turn out to be true.

 

Heck I am currently on a temporary X (from 2017) that I quickly bought after water-killing my SE 2020 (it had a cracked screen at the earpiece where water could now enter), and holy moly is that still an awesome phone! Fast, snappy, even the aged battery lasts all-day still _and_ it is still on the most recent iOS 16.

(Sadly for me) this also reflects on the used market prices for iphones.. to go below 100 for an X I had to accept 64GB of storage and (another) cracked screen, otherwise these 6-year old phones still easily move for 150-200.

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1 hour ago, Dracarris said:

am currently on a temporary X (

Tbh, any iPhone post 2018 and mid-flagship Android post 2020 is perfectly usable today. Heck, I upgraded from my OnePlus 6t because it's battery was degrading and I wanted to try a smaller phone. I could've very well just replace the battery for pennies and still have a perfectly usable experience today(os is still snappy, it still does all the stuff I use it for). 

 

Up till 2018-2019, phones would become practically useless after 3-4 years. Now I feel like most phones in midrange-flagship market are still perfectly good phones after you use them. Throw on a case+screen protector and replace the battery every 4-5 years and I don't see why you can't extend an iPhone X or a 1+ for 8-9 years.

 

I can buy a really nice phone for 400-500 bucks and have it run really well. Smartphone specs have really just solidified. 6-8 Gigs of memory. 128 gigs of storage and a decent enough chip, with an ultrawide/main lens (a telephoto for flagships) has become the norm since 2020.  8 gigs was just the standard on Android side when I bought my 1+ and it still is all you need. Even iphones haven't needed that much of a spec bump since the chips are just so freaking overpowered for day to day use. I still can't fathom that the chip in my phone(a13 or a12 iirc) is probably faster than my previous computer(a 4c 8t i7)

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2 hours ago, JediFragger said:

12 Mini still good here, shame they dropped the line 😞

 

Guess I'll be grabbing a 13 Mini when I see a refurb bargain for the small updates so it will last me til nearly 2030...

I gotta 13 mini like a year ago and its been great. After this one dies, I'm probably gonna move to one of the small ASUS phones if ASUS keeps making them.

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Posted

still rocking a launch day iPhone X lol.. almost to 2000 battery cycles! 

I really wish they did a full redesign instead of a refresh 😕 

"If a Lobster is a fish because it moves by jumping, then a kangaroo is a bird" - Admiral Paulo de Castro Moreira da Silva

"There is nothing more difficult than fixing something that isn't all the way broken yet." - Author Unknown

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6 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

still rocking a launch day iPhone X lol.. almost to 2000 battery cycles! 

I really wish they did a full redesign instead of a refresh 😕 

 

It is time…you’re getting the iOS17-banhammer this year…lightweight titanium, 1.55mm bezels, Qi2/Magsafe2, usb-c, always-on display and dynamic island sounds like a pretty significant redesign coming from a X..


Next year’s iPhone 16 Pro is getting slightly longer and slimmer for some reason..(aspect ratio going from 19.5:9 to 19.6:9)

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1 hour ago, saltycaramel said:

you’re getting the iOS17-banhammer this year

Bummer that they don't support it on the X - that's dropping support after "only" 6 years. iOS 16 is fine, but still.

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Every time a new iPhone gets announced I always think "damn, I really want that". Then I remember all the smaller (and bigger) things I see as inherent issues with the iPhone. USB-C will fix one of those things.

Hopefully the proposed (approved?) EU act about "gatekeepers" will fix most of the software related quirks I have.

 

Any news on the A17?

I saw that it was TSMC N3, so that should give a decent boost in efficiency and/or performance.

New microarchitecture maybe? SVE2 support?

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36 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

Bummer that they don't support it on the X - that's dropping support after "only" 6 years. iOS 16 is fine, but still.

Try remembering what Android phone got major OS update after 5 years... Also iOS 16 will continue getting software updates for next 2-3 years. Security fixes and critical issues only, but still.

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12 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Try remembering what Android phone got major OS update after 5 years... Also iOS 16 will continue getting software updates for next 2-3 years. Security fixes and critical issues only, but still.

There's a reason I never bought an Android phone in my life. Well, there are numerous, but this is a major one.

41 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Every time a new iPhone gets announced I always think "damn, I really want that".

Curious: What exactly caused that desire for 12 over 13, 14 over 13? Changes/improvements were so damn small.. I'm honestly at a point where the availability of my favorite color influences my decision for which model to go in a non-insignificant way since the technical/internal differences are so small.

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2 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

There's a reason I never bought an Android phone in my life. Well, there are numerous, but this is a major one.

Curious: What exactly caused that desire for 12 over 13, 14 over 13? Changes/improvements were so damn small.. I'm honestly at a point where the availability of my favorite color influences my decision for which model to go in a non-insignificant way since the technical/internal differences are so small.

Well, you have Samsung in Android world that's top notch with software support basically from Galaxy A series and up. A50 series is somewhat the spot where they offer 4 years of major OS updates and 1 extra year of security updates only. Then it's just software components that get updated individually and on latest models, GooglePlay security updates (not sure which Android version started with this). So you're not left out entirely.

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3 hours ago, saltycaramel said:

 

lightweight titanium, 1.55mm bezels, Qi2/Magsafe2, usb-c, always-on display and dynamic island sounds like a pretty significant redesign coming from a X..

 

And I forgot the new customizable action button replacing the ringer switch after 16 years…pretty redesign-y..

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44 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

Curious: What exactly caused that desire for 12 over 13, 14 over 13? Changes/improvements were so damn small.. I'm honestly at a point where the availability of my favorite color influences my decision for which model to go in a non-insignificant way since the technical/internal differences are so small.

It's a combination of things, some hardware-related, some software-related, and some "ecosystem" related. I can't point to one or even several specific things that make me go "wow, I want that".

 

By the way, when I say "I really want that", I am talking as a Galaxy S22 owner. Not as a previous-gen-iPhone owner.

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20 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Hopefully the proposed (approved?) EU act about "gatekeepers" will fix most of the software related quirks I have.

That law does not require vendors to open up the OS, it does not require apple to add new apis that would let people say alter the Home Screen or other system features.   

 

All you might get is some services pushing apps through sources other than the App Store but remember the law does not remove the requirement to pay apple for using the SDK so mostly side loading will be used for cracked pirated apps and for apps that want to harvest to much data or display content not permitted in the App Store, aka porn.   Apps will still need a signed cerfcate and if they make any money apple will be revolting these very aggressively for apps that do not $ up. 

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On 9/1/2023 at 11:40 AM, hishnash said:

That law does not require vendors to open up the OS, it does not require apple to add new apis that would let people say alter the Home Screen or other system features.   

 

All you might get is some services pushing apps through sources other than the App Store but remember the law does not remove the requirement to pay apple for using the SDK so mostly side loading will be used for cracked pirated apps and for apps that want to harvest to much data or display content not permitted in the App Store, aka porn.   Apps will still need a signed cerfcate and if they make any money apple will be revolting these very aggressively for apps that do not $ up. 

I wonder if apple can price out the SDK of non app store app developers and then offer the SDK at normal prices for app store exclusive publishing. Seems like it might violate a law.

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17 minutes ago, WolframaticAlpha said:

I wonder if apple can price out the SDK of non app store app developers and then offer the SDK at normal prices for app store exclusive publishing. Seems like it might violate a law.

They will simply price the SDK as the rev share 30% of all your revenue from users on iOS (regardless of how you make that revenue).  This is just like Epic with the Unreal engine.  If you use the Epic store they take rev share just from the store cut but if you use steam they take rev share from all rev sources (including ads, paid product placements etc).

Same with Sony who take rev share (even if users buy coins on anther platform if they consumer these on the playstation then Sony get the cut). 

This rev share will even include ads so all the free apps (like Facebook, etc) will not have any option but to stay in the apps store as being in the App Store means you do not need to pay rev share on ads but being outside means you do. 

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