Apple unveiled new phones, watches, and AirPods at a briefing on September 9, 2024. The updated hardware includes new cameras, features, colors, and even buttons. Here's what happened at this year's iPhone launch event.
The Apple Watch Series 10 has Apple's biggest display yet; it has a 46mm option, which is even larger than the Apple Watch Ultra's 44mm screen. The Series 10 also boasts a wide-angle OLED display, which is brighter than previous versions.
The Series 10 is also a full millimeter thinner than the Series 9, at 9.7mm. And despite the bigger display, it's up to 10 grams lighter than its predecessor, thanks to improved miniaturization of its components and a titanium material option replacing the 9's stainless steel.
This Apple Watch has two finishes: aluminum and titanium. The aluminum case is available in black, rose gold, and silver, while titanium offers natural (tan), gold, and gray.
Apple upgraded the Apple Watch's chip to the S10, which supports a 4-core Neural engine and advanced features like crash and fall detection and an on-board Translate app. Along with these features, the Series 10 is capable of playing media directly out of its onboard speakers instead of sending it to an iPhone or AirPods.
Another major update involves sleep monitoring. While the Apple Watch has always offered some kind of sleep tracking, the Series 10, 9, and Ultra 2 are also gaining sleep apnea detection and notification of breathing disturbances.
The Apple Watch Series 10 costs between $399 and $1,049 with different options adding to that base price. For example, the titanium case is $300 more expensive than the aluminum one, and the 46mm display is pricier than the 42mm version.
Apple didn't announce a new Apple Watch Ultra, but it did show off a new color for the Ultra 2: black titanium. Along with that new look, the Ultra 2 gets a matching, Milanese loop.
Apple updated its entire AirPods lineup, starting with a new version of the base model. This round of earbuds has a new, H2 chip, which unlocks a variety of new features, including:
Another major add to the AirPods 4 is optional active noise cancellation, which was previously only available on premium models like AirPods Pro and Max. That feature adds $50 to the price ($179 vs. $129 without ANC).
An update to Apple's most premium headphones brings new color options and USB-C charging. The new lineup is black, blue, orange, purple, and Starlight (tan).
Some of the most exciting features Apple talked about in the whole event are coming to the AirPods Pro 2. The company focused in on hearing protection and announced a couple new things coming to their premium earbuds.
The first is the ability to use the AirPods Pro to do a five-minute hearing test via the iPhone. This exam consists of playing a variety of tones through the headphones; you tap the screen when you hear them.
More interestingly, the AirPods Pro 2 will also have FDA approval to work as an over-the-counter hearing aid.
The iPhone 16 is available in either a 6.1-inch or a 6.7-inch Plus version and the following colors: black, white, pink, teal, and blue. The big news, however, is about the physical buttons in the new devices.
One, which came over from the Apple Watch Ultra, is the programmable Action button, which performs customizable tasks like turning on the flashlight, opening an app, and more. You can also have it do different things depending on the time of day.
The other new button is called Camera Control, and it provides a faster way to open the Camera app, take pictures, and change settings. A single press takes a photo, and a long press starts recording video. Double-tapping the Camera Control button opens a menu that lets you adjust exposure, depth of field, and other options.
The iPhone 16 has a 48MP main camera, a 12MP telephoto lens, and a 12MP ultrawide option that you can also use for macro photography.
As we expected, though, the big news for the iPhone 16 lineup this year was Apple Intelligence. This platform both upgrades digital assistant Siri and integrates third-party resources like ChatGPT to bring a variety of new features to Apple devices.
Some notable Apple Intelligence features let you take pictures of objects to learn more about them or add events to your calendar. Apple Intelligence can also summarize emails, prioritize notifications, and pull up specific photos or moments in videos from your description.
Apple Intelligence draws its power from the A18 chip, which has a 16-core Neural engine to make it faster for machine learning. It uses 17 percent more memory bandwidth than its predecessors and has a 6-core CPU. Apple says it also uses 30 percent less power and has better heat management and ray tracing for games.
The final product Apple debuted was the iPhone 16 Pro, which will come in 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display options and titanium finishes in white, black, natural (gray), and desert (tan).
This phone also has an impressive camera lineup, including a 48MP main "Fusion" option, 48MP ultrawide, and a 12MP telephoto. It can handle a digital zoom of up to 25x and a 10x optical zoom range.
Apple touted the video and editing capabilities of the iPhone 16 Pro more than anything; the device can capture 4K resolution at 120fps. You can change the framerate, filters, tone, and color on both video and photos even after you take them.
The iPhone 16 Pro also relies heavily on Apple Intelligence, and it has its own chip to handle it (and all of that video editing). The A18 Pro chip has a 16-core Neural Engine, 17 percent more memory bandwidth, a 6-core GPU and CPU. Despite the power, Apple says it uses 20 percent less power than the iPhone 15 Pro.