Apple’s on Wednesday hosted its biggest event of the year at the Steve Jobs theater. The company unveiled three new iPhones and a new Apple Watch.Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max start at ₹₹99,900 and ₹109,900 respectively in India. The iPhone XS series will be available starting September 28 through Apple Authorised Resellers. Apple iPhone XR has a starting price of ₹76,900, and it will be available later in the fall on October 26.Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR: SpecificationsApple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max feature a 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED Super Retina display. The iPhone XR, on the other hand has a LCD ‘Liquid Retina’ display. All three iPhones are powered by Apple’s new A12 Bionic processor. In terms of storage, the iPhone XS comes with 64GB, 256GB and 512GB. The iPhone XR will also be available in three storage variants of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. For photography, iPhone XS and XS Max have 12-megapixel dual rear cameras, and a 7-megapixel selfie snapper. On the iPhone XR there’s a 12-megapixel wide-angle single rear camera with OIS, f/1.8 aperture and True Tone flash. On the software front, all three iPhones will ship with iOS 12 out-of-the-box.Here are the highlights from Apple’s event.
Apple iPhone XS will be available with a starting price of $999. The larger variant iPhone XS Max starts at $1,099. Apple’s new iPhones will be available in India starting September 21.
Well, here’s the third iPhone. The new iPhone also has a notch display. It comes in different colours, reminding us of the iPhone 5C. The phone comes in more than five colour options.
eSIM stands for embedded SIM and is also known as eUICC (Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card). The new technology is said to be pivotal for new age computing devices such as Internet of Things (IoT). eSIM allows users to switch carriers remotely instead of physically swapping the SIMs.
Apple also announced dual-SIM support for iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. But the new iPhones don’t have regular dual-SIM slots. Instead the secondary SIM is an e-SIM, which is already available on Apple Watch. Apple will be partnering with Airtel and Jio to bring e-SIM iPhones in India. READ: eSIMs in India get go-ahead from DoT
Apart from new OLED displays with notch, Apple’s new smartphones don’t really bring any remarkable new feature. There’s incremental upgrade in the processor under-the-hood. The camera has also been improved.
Apple’s new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max come with dual-rear cameras featuring 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor and 12-megapixel telephoto lens. Apple has also made improvements to HDR and portrait modes. Apple now allows users to adjust the depth in the background for photos taken in bokeh mode.
The new platform paves way for more advanced Augmented Reality-based apps. The ARKit 2.0 now allows multiple developers work on the same app or game.
Apple is demonstrating gaming capacity of its new iPhones. The demos look good. It will be interesting to see how well the graphics quality are optimised. Well, Apple hasn’t bagged big names such as Fortnite for an exclusive launch, like Samsung did with its Galaxy Note 9.
Apple’s A12 Bionic chipset is the real deal. The processor with dedicated neural engine brings a slew of machine learning and artificial intelligence features. It also ensure better performance. Apple says the new chipset consumes 1/10th of energy than the previous generation.
Apple will be offering its new iPhones with 512GB built-in storage. Samsung, however, has already launched 512GB model of its new Galaxy Note 9. Samsung’s phone also supports expandable storage up to 512GB via a microSD card.
Apple says FaceID is now faster. The new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max rely on FaceID for facial recognition. The new smartphone skips TouchID.
Apple has launched a larger variant of its iPhone XS. Called iPhone XS Max, the phone features 6.5-inch OLED display with 458ppi pixel density.
Apple announces iPhone XS with IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. It comes with a notch display (Super Retina Display). It supports HDR photos.
“Let’s talk about iPhones”, says Tim Cook. He points out the advanced features on iPhone X, which also happens to be Apple’s most expensive iPhone ever. “iPhone X has changed the industry,” he adds.
Apple Watch Series 4 will be available in three variants. There’s a gold version as well. The price of the new smartwatch starts at $399 (Rs 28,000 approximately). The model with cellular connectivity will be available from $499 (Rs 35,000 approximately). The new watchOS 5 will be rolled out to Apple Watch users later this month.
Apple says its new Watch Series 4 delivers up to 18 hours of back up. Here are the top features of the new Apple Watch. ALSO READ: Apple Watch Series 4 launched with ECG compatibility, new design
Apple says its new Watch Series 4 has been cleared by FDA. It will be also one of the first commercial ECG-enabled smartwatches in the market. Apple says all the fitness data is encrypted on the device and on cloud.
Three new heart features:
1. Apple Watch to now send notifications when heart rate is way too low.
2. Apple Watch can now monitor your heart rhythm. It will alert users if there’s any irregularity.
3. Apple Watch now supports Electrocardiogram (ECG) for better heart rate monitoring.
Apple Watch Series 4 comes with better processor under-the-hood. It now also recognises fall and other motions, courtesy improved sensors inside the new smart watch.Apple Watch Series 4 also comes with SOS feature.
Apple says it has completely re-engineered the crown. It now supports haptic feedback, like iPhones. The speakers are now 50% louder. The microphone has been moved to the other side to reduce echo while making calls.
Apple has redesigned its wearable to give more real estate to the display. Not just the subtle design tweaks, the new Apple Watch has a new UI. Apple Watch Series 4 also comes with fresh watch face and more personalisation features.
Connected, Fitness, Health - Apple highlights key focus areas for its new wearables.
Tim Cook announces new smart watch. The new smart watch is expected to be called Apple Watch Series 4.
Apple claims it has 2 billion iOS users worldwide.
Apple CEO Tim Cook look back at the key achievements made by the company over the years. He also highlights the success of Apple Stores.
Folks, Apple’s event has begun. The company is running an AV with Mission Impossible music in the background. The AV focuses on Siri! What’s in the suitcase?
It’s a packed house at Apple’s Steve Jobs Theatre. The event will kick off shortly.
Hours before the event, name of Apple’s new smartphones appeared on the company’s product sitemap XML file. The listing more or less confirmed the names of the new iPhones - iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The three new iPhones are said to be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options.
Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup will feature the same design as iPhone X. But the OLED iPhones are expected to be offered in a new gold colour. The other two colour options would be black and silver.
Apple’s new iPhones will most likely be powered by the A12 processor. Built on 7nm process, the A12 processor will be faster and more power-efficient.
Apple is said to bring to iPhone X’s design to all three new iPhones. Counterpoint on Tuesday published a detailed report on the performance of iPhone X. According to the report, Apple shipped over 60 million units with 10 months of its launch. But the phone didn’t take off in emerging markets like India. READ: Apple iPhone X is big commercial success but iPhone 6 performed better
This is the second event Apple is holding at the new Steve Jobs Theatre. Last year, the company unveiled Apple iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X at the venue.
Apple will reportedly launch a low-cost iPhone dubbed ‘iPhone XR’. This iPhone model will have a 6.1-inch LCD display wrapped in an iPhone X-like design.
Among the many details leaked about the new iPhones, price was one of them. iPhone XS could start at $999 (Rs 72,500 approx) while the top-end model iPhone XS Max will cost around $1,049 (Rs 76,000 approximately). This would make the iPhone XS Max the most expensive iPhone.
Ahead of the launch, the storage variants and colours of the new iPhones leaked. iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will come with storage options of 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB, in silver black and gold colours.
iPhone XR will be offered in 64GB and 256GB storage variants. According to the leak, iPhone XR will have multiple colour options - black, white, blue, red, yellow, blue and coral.
2018 is said to be the ‘S’ year for iPhones which would mean incremental upgrades under the hood. iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are expected to come with improvements in the camera and battery departments. These iPhones will most likely be powered by Apple’s new A12 processor.
This year’s Apple iPhone lineup will most likely include iPhone XS, the upgraded version of iPhone X and the bigger ‘Plus’ model which would be called ‘iPhone XS Max’. A low-cost iPhone is also expected which would carry the moniker ‘iPhone XR’.