iPhone event: Apple Watch, 15 Pro with an action button, and no more leather – everything from today’s launch
Four new phones, two new Apple Watches – and some notable departures
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Your support makes all the difference.Apple has held its latest event, named “Wonderlust”, and released its most important products of the year.
Chief executive Tim Cook and his colleagues revealed four new iPhones, and two new Apple Watches. But they also made a series of related announcements: about leather, AirPods and software, some of which came after the event.
Here’s everything you need to know about all the new announcements from Apple – whether that was in the live stream or after.
iPhone 15
The new base model iPhone was largely as expected. And it is familiar, too: in short, it takes the existing iPhone 14 and adds some of the features from the iPhone 14 Pro to it.
It keeps the same basic design and materials, and two-lens camera setup. It adds the faster processor from the iPhone 14 Pro, as well as some of its camera smarts, and the “Dynamic Island” that gets rid of the ears at the top of the display.
There’s a Plus model of this phone, too, that has a 6.7-inch display and a larger battery. It is otherwise identical.
iPhone 15 Pro
The Pro version of the iPhone 15 was a little more surprising and new – though only a little. The changes to the iPhone 15 Pro are relatively restrained.
It adds new features to the camera: a new coating, and hardware and software tools that should make the pictures both better and easier to edit. It also gets a new faster chip and an “action button” on the side that can be programmed to do whatever you want.
Most notable, perhaps, is the titanium material that will be used to make it. It adds a new look and makes the phone a bit lighter.
Apple Watch Series 9
The new Watch is also mostly limited in its updates. They largely boil down to an improved processor and a better display.
The improved processor adds a range of features, including better dictation and improved Siri. But probably most notable is a “double tap” option that lets people bring their fingers together to operate their Apple Watch without their hands.
The display is both brighter and less bright, which means it should be easier to see in the sun and less shocking at night.
Apple Watch Ultra 2
The Ultra 2 takes last year’s Ultra and puts this year’s developments into it. It has the same chip as the normal Watch – and the features that it brings – as well as its own brighter display.
No more leather
Two of the most notable announcements were about things being cancelled, rather than introduced. The first of them was leather.
Apple will not use leather in any new products, it said. And so there will be new iPhone cases, straps and AirTag holders that will instead be made out of more sustainable materials.
It was part of a broader sustainability focus during the event, which also included the announcement that the new Apple Watch is the company’s first ever carbon neutral product.
And no more Lightning
The other big removal was Lightning, the charging port that has been in the iPhone for more than a decade. Again, there’s something new in its place: USB-C.
This was widely rumoured, after the European Union passed rules that required it, which Apple had originally opposed. Now, though, its presenting it as an upgrade, with better data connections and more compatibility.
Updated AirPods
After the event, the AirPods got an update. That is only minor: they too will get a new charging case that uses USB-C.
Apple also noted that the shared connector now means that you can plug a USB-C wire into your phone, and then into your AirPods or Apple Watch, to charge them.
But the AirPods are otherwise unchanged – and no other new products were released, either.
New software release dates
Also not mentioned in the event was the release of new software: iOS, WatchOS, MacOS and more. In press releases about their respective hardware, Apple announced when those updates would be arriving.
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