by Elaine Evans, on Sep 16, 2020 9:20:45 AM
This is usually the season of the new iPhone, but in a (not so) shocking Apple Event, they didn't even mention the iPhone even though they've traditionally done so since 2012 in their September events. Fear not, if you do a little internet digging, you can find plenty of guesses and rumors for when "iPhone 12" is set to be released.
So, what did get updates?
The Apple Events in September are traditionally all about hardware, and more recently, Services. We saw updates to Apple Watch and iPad along with the introduction of a new service.
Apple Watch
Series 6
(Image credit: Apple)
Series 6 Apple Watch has one major update to its healthcare component: the ability to measure blood oxygen levels. Apple also announced that they would be partnering with major healthcare organizations to do three new studies around some of the key cardiovascular health metrics that Apple Watch can now measure.
Innards: Series 6 has the Apple Silicon S6 Chip which helps with the usual increase in performance, battery life, and speed. Automatic Brightness means your screen will become 2.5 x's brighter when you step outside (making it easier to see your watch face) and it now continuously measures your elevation.
Exterior: With "the most colorful lineup ever," they added some colors such as blue aluminum, gold stainless steel and a Product Red variation as well. They are introducing a myriad of watch faces and a few new bands to round out the launch.
Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch SE will be a lower price, but carry many of the same features of the Series 6 missing some of the marquee features like ECG app and blood oxygen levels. See a full comparison between Series 6, SE, and Series 3 here.
iPads
Apple made sure to mention the drop of the new iPad OS on 9/16/20. iOS 14 does have some pretty cool features such as Scribble coming out that makes the iPad an even more compelling tool. They also announced some changes to the hardware lineup to go along with the iPad OS release.
iPad Air
(image credit: Apple)
iPad Air seemed to be the darling of the new announcements (alongside the Series 6 ability to measure blood oxygen levels). They redesigned the case and enhanced it's specs.
Innards: The newest iteration to the Apple chip family is the A14 Bionic and it has increased performance of up to 40%. The iPad Air is also wifi-6 capable, USB-C (as opposed to lightning) and has upgraded cameras/stereo speakers.
Exterior: There are new (pastel) colors like sky blue and mint green and the overall body has been redesigned to look more like the iPad Pro's shape. They moved Touch ID to be a button on the top of the iPad. It also has a liquid retina display with some of the nicer iPad display features.
iPad (8th Generation)
Here we see a boost in performance with a A12 Bionic chip, but the same form factor as the previous 10.2" model (in case you were worried about cases).
I personally find Apple's iPad lineup to be the most confusing and esoteric technology line ever since they reuse names, slightly change processors and screen sizes, and have some many variations running at any given time (they currently have six models you can purchase). Save yourself some time and look at the side by side comparison here.
Services
Fitness+
(image credit: Apple)
Fitness+ is a service designed to go with the Apple Watch and is all about (you guessed it): fitness. It's a streaming service of workouts led by top instructors. The workouts sync with your Apple Watch metrics and Fitness app. They plan to have a wide variety of workouts ranging from cycling to yoga to strength training.
Learn more about it here.
Apple One
Apple keeps launching more and more services for users to enjoy. They recognized the need to consolidate subscriptions for their services into one easy option by launching Apple One. Apple One allows you to get Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud storage, and Apple Arcade together starting at $14.95 p/m. You can go premiere and add on more iCloud storage, Apple Fitness+ and News+ for the whole family starting at $29.95 p/m. Learn more about the options here.
Apple and the Environment
If you don't know, Apple takes their commitment to the environment seriously and they have for years. Let's be honest: they produce many items (aka waste). Yet their attention to detail and willingness to innovate on things like supply chain, hardware recycling, and building materials makes them very unique.
Apple did a great job of highlighting their commitment to the environment via their operational strategy, design and sourcing of products. They have committed to being carbon neutral by 2030. Everywhere from their packaging to an Apple Store's building materials to the internal components of their devices is thought about. They try to use recycled and non harmful materials, use sustainable/ethical sources and find ways to minimize their footprint. You can read more about that here.
Those are the truly "big" items from the 9/15/20 Apple Event. New iPad OS, iOS, Watch OS and TV OS drop 9/16/20 so be on the look out for those (announced at the June WWDC event).
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