The Apple event on Monday night was jam-packed with new devices and updates. The event which began at 10:30 pm IST, went for about 98 minutes, revealing 9 new devices and 2 devices getting just color updates. During the event, a huge emphasis was placed on making all the new products suitable for Apple Intelligence and its future updates.  Here are the 10 takeaways from the event.

Top 10 things from this event:
1. iPhone 16: new Macro lens, new A18 chip, still 60Hz
2. iPhone 16 Pro: 6”3 and 6”9, WiFi 7, better battery
3. New Health Features from Apple
4. AirPods 4 have 2 versions, Active Noise Cancelling for a higher price
5. AirPods Max comes with USB-C and new colors, old everything else
6. Watch 10: 2 new sizes, thinner and brighter
7. Watch Ultra 2: new black color
8. Apple Intelligence: releasing in US next month, other countries next year
9. Camera Control and Visual Intelligence
10. Prices remain same for all devices, new OS release dates

1. iPhone 16: new Macro lens, A18 chip, still 60Hz: Apple stuck to the usual approach in updating their iPhone models by providing this year’s non pro models with all the hardware features the pro has excluding the telephoto camera. The new 16 comes with an A18 chip, a 3nm processor with 4 efficiency cores and 2 performance. The tech giants revealed that their new A18 chip has a 40% faster GPU and 30% faster CPU than the 15. The most notable feature of this year’s iPhone is the addition of the camera control button. The new iPhones come in 3 new colors, teal, pink, and ultramarine along with the usual black and white. Macro photography has been added to the iPhone 16 series. Communication options via satellite have also improved, with now the ability to use iMessage under satellite services. The new pro models come in 4 colors: black, white, natural, and “desert titanium.” With the 15th iteration of the device, Apple is still reluctant to provide an improvement from the 60Hz display that has been there on the iPhone since the first generation. 

2. iPhone 16 Pro is bigger: 6”3 and 6”9, with WiFi 7, 48MP ultra wide camera, better battery: The iPhone event marquee product got some fascinating updates last night, with the phone size being increased ever so slightly. The 16 Pro and Pro Max do not seem to have any major differences this year, they are given a good number of major upgrades, starting with a new 6”3 and 6”9 design along with a higher body to screen ratio, WiFi 7, a more powerful 48MP ultra-wide camera, the ability to shoot 4K 120 including in cinematic mode, and new A18 Pro chips. While the chip is not a huge leap from the 15 Pro’s A17 Pro, the A18 Pro chip in the Pro models has a new ISP (image signal processor) module for improved photography computing. You can now shoot the video in 4K 120FPS, and slow it down to 24, 30, or 60FPS. The pro models are getting a new color toning panel to adjust colors while editing. 

3. Health Features: Hearing aid, protection, and tests; sleep apnea detection. Apple’s September event has always had a health emphasis, this year was no different. Apple showcased a wide variety of new health features, the most notable one is the ability to detect sleep apnea through the watch series 9 and the new 10, along with Ultra 2. AirPods Pro had a few hearing-related features added to the plethora of features it already has. Apple stressed on how they conducted studies with unprecedented no of participants (over 160,000 participants) to help create hearing tests and protection with the help of the AirPods Pro. They also announced AirPods to have hearing profiles to provide you audio based on your hearing deficiencies, along with a Hearing Aid feature allowing AirPods to act as a hearing aid. Since a lot of these features are waiting for FDA approvals across 150+ countries, the features will mostly be rolled out in an update once your respective region approves them.

4. AirPods base version has Noise Cancelling, but for a higher price: AirPods 4 came in hot with a new design, H2 chip, personalized Spatial Audio feature, improved voice isolations during calls, Spatial Audio, a slightly more expensive version which has Noise Cancelling and Transparency mode. The update had been speculated for months by many leakers. While they offer huge improvements in audio quality compared to its predecessor, the earphone’s cases get Find My too. 

5. AirPods Max: Change in colors, not in features or price tagAirPods Max had the most disappointing update after a heavily expected revamp. The highly debated over-the-ear headphones has not been given any iteration since its inception, and many have been waiting for a new version of the AirPods Max expecting a different case, lossless support, Adaptive Audio, and a price dip. What is more disappointing is the fact that none of the new features were added for the new AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 while the massive INR60,000 price tag remained the same. The only thing “exciting” about the AirPods Max is the change in colors.

6. Watch 10 comes in 2 new sizes, new Water depth Gauge: The new Apple Watch was expected to have some major redesigns as it was the tech giant’s 10th watch iteration. The Apple Watch seemed to have gotten thinner, brighter and got 4 watch colors (for the aluminum version only) among which is a super glossy jet black. The watch series 10 now has the ability to charge 80% in 30 minutes. Despite the new 9.7mm design, Apple’s website suggests that there has been no change in battery life thanks to a more efficient S10 chip in the watch. While a good number of new features that are added also trickle down to the previous series 9, the 10th edition boasts a new display that allows much better viewing angles. The series 10 saw the return of a Titanium version, which replaced the stainless steel version. The titanium versions have a choice of 2 watch colors, namely gold and natural titanium. The watch 10 has a water depth gauge of up to 6 meters while the Ultra 2 has a gauge that can measure up to 40m underwater, this is because the series 10 has a water resistance rating up to 6m under water.

7. Watch Ultra 2 got a new black design: While the Watch Ultra did not get an iteration, it did get all the new software features that are added to the series 10, along with a highly awaited black titanium version. The ultra model finally got the premium Hermes bands, Hermes has been manufacturing bands for the Apple Watch since its inception, and it was quite shocking when Apple released the ultra without any Hermes bands. There were a lot of new updates given to the Ultra 2 like a Depth gauge up to 40m, a Water temperature sensor, High-speed water sports measuring, and the ability to track Recreational scuba to 40m. 

8. Apple Intelligence will be released only in the US next month, other countries can expect it next month: The heavily hyped generative intelligence feature from Apple is coming soon, as Apple Intelligence is announced to release sometime next month in the US, with other countries getting it sometime in 2025. Apple continues to take its own sweet time with releasing the generative AI as they seem to be initially rolling out only a limited number of features from what they announced. Given that the update was heavily focused on devices being able to support the personalized machine learning model, the new iteration of iPhones got a few Apple Intelligence updates just for themselves, namely Visual Intelligence.

9. Camera Control features and Visual Intelligence (coming only for 16 model): Apple kept shining a light on its new innovative feature for the iPhone lineup, the Camera Control. It is a haptic feedback button, similar to that of a MacBook’s trackpad, which has multiple gestures to perform various camera actions. Some of the features include clicking to open camera, and once you are in the camera app a click will capture the image or recording if you are in video mode. Holding on also activates the button; a light press to select zoom and camera functions, a light double tap of the button lets you access camera settings like depth while sliding your finger side to side to let you adjust things like zoom, exposure, etc. Thanks to camera control, apps like kino can let you adjust between multi-grid systems; to help you optimize and frame your shots based on the rule of thirds, grids, social media formats, and a director’s viewfinder mode. Visual Intelligence, another one of Apple’s later this year Apple Intelligence features that was announced on Monday night is seemingly made to take on the likes of Google Lens. The feature can be activated only from the camera control of the 16 lineup, which can look into the image you capture and give you any overview it can get about the entity captured. 

10. Prices remain same for all devices, new OS coming out on September 16: With 4 new iPhones, 2 new watches (42mm and 46mm), 2 new AirPods (AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with ANC) Apple seemed to not have hiked the price up for any of the 9 new devices. While the AirPods Pro and Watch Ultra were given all the new updates, no physical differences are seen in the models. All the new devices seem to be starting at the same price they did last year. For everyone who is waiting for the new OS updates, the wait ends on Friday ie, September 16.

Compiled by Barath PA, Analyst, Mathrubhumi Digital