After numerous leaks and rumours, the centrepiece of today’s event – the iPhone 13 series is now official.
The virtual event, dubbed ‘California streaming,’ is where Apple took the wraps off the new iPad Mini, Apple Watch 7, iPhone 13/13 Mini, and iPhone 13 Pro/13 Pro Max.
The Cupertino tech giant has had two events already in 2021 so far. The first event was in April, where we witnessed the launch of new iPads, iMacs, AirTags, a purple iPhone12, and more.
A couple of months later, Apple held the annual WWDC developer event, where we got a glimpse of iOS 15, macOS Monterey, iPadOS 15, and WatchOS 8.
Are you interested in hearing more about Apple’s latest products? Here’s what you need to know.
Apple Watch 7
Apple today announced the Apple Watch 7 Series with more screen area and thinner borders. The Apple Watch Series 7 also features a user interface optimised for the larger display, offering greater readability and ease of use. Notably, it is the first Apple Watch to have an IP6X certification for resistance to dust and maintains a WR50 water resistance rating.
The Apple Watch 7 comes packed with tools for health and wellness, including an electrical heart sensor and ECG app, and a Blood Oxygen sensor and app.
As per the company’s claims, Apple Watch Series 7 will provide an 18-hour battery life on a single charge and 33 per cent faster charging compared with Apple Watch Series 6, thanks to the new charging architecture and Magnetic Fast Charger USB-C Cable.
The Apple Watch 7 comes in five new aluminum case finishes – midnight, starlight, green, and a new blue and (PRODUCT)RED, along with a range of new band colors and styles.
Apple Watch 7 Series will be available later this fall at a starting price of $399 (approx €337).
Apple iPad (9th generation)
Apple announced the new iPad (9th Gen) at its event today, as rumoured. The new iPad features a 10.2-inch Retina display with an upgraded ambient light sensor for TrueTone technology, which adjusts screen content to the colour temperature of a room.
The iPad is equipped with an A13 Bionic chip, delivering a 20 per cent performance boost over the previous generation. As per the company’s claims, the latest iPad is 3x faster than the best-selling Chromebook and up to 6x faster than the best-selling Android tablet.
The 9th-gen iPad still has support for Apple Pencil (1st generation) and smart keyboard, has an upgraded 12MP ultra-wide camera and comes with Gigabit LTE option.
The latest iPad will be shipped with iPadOS 15 with support for Centre Stage that detects people and moves the frame to follow them. This works in FaceTime, Zoom, and other video apps. The new Apple iPad comes in Silver and Space Grey colours and comes in 64GB and 256GB versions.
Starting at $329 (approx €278), the new iPad is available to order beginning today on apple.com, and in stores beginning Friday, September 24.
Apple iPad Mini
Along with the iPad, Apple has also launched iPad Mini featuring an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display with narrow borders. Due to narrow bezels, the Touch ID has been moved to the top button of the iPad mini.
The iPad Mini is powered by an A15 Bionic chip, which is expected to deliver 80 per cent faster performance than the previous generation. The Mini variant comes with an Ultra-Wide front camera with a new 12MP sensor and a much larger field of view, enabling Center Stage, which automatically pans the camera to keep users in view as they move around.
The iPad Mini supports Apple Pencil (2nd generation), 5G connectivity, and a USB-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfer. The iPad Mini will be shipped with iPadOS 15 out of the box.
The iPad Mini Wi-Fi models start at $499 (approx €422), and Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $649 (approx €549). It comes in 64GB and 256GB in pink, starlight, purple, and space grey finishes.
The new iPad mini is available to order beginning today on apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions, including the US, with availability beginning Friday, September 24.
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini
Post the iPads, Apple unveiled iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini with support for 5G, a new A15 bionic processor, and upgraded cameras. The iPhone 13 and 13 mini comes with 6.1-inch, and 5.4-inch OLED Super Retina XDR displays respectively, with Ceramic Shield on the front.
The phones are powered by an A15 Bionic 5nm Chip with nearly 15 billion transistors. It has a new 6-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, which the company says is 50 per cent faster than the competition and the fastest in any smartphone. The new 4-core GPU is up to 30 per cent faster than the competition, says the company.
However, the company didn’t officially disclose the amounts of RAM and the battery capacities of each model. Both the iPhone 13 and 13 mini comes with a new 12 MP wide-angle camera, which captures 47 per cent more light for less noise and brighter results. The secondary camera is 12MP 120° Ultra Wide with f/2.4 aperture. The front side is taken care of 12MP TrueDepth camera with f/2.2 aperture. iPhone 13 and 13 mini will be shipped with iOS 15 out of the box.
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini will be available in pink, blue, midnight, starlight, and (PRODUCT)RED, in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. The iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 (approx €592), while the iPhone 13 starts at $799 (approx €676).
The iPhone 13 and 13 mini will be available through Apple Authorized Resellers starting from September 24th, with pre-orders starting from September 17th.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
Alongside the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini, the company also launched 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max with a 120Hz refresh rate. In fact, this is the first iPhone to get a higher refresh rate.
The iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max sport a 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display with 1,000 nits of brightness. Notably, the Pro models can scale from 10Hz to 120Hz, and adjust their refresh rates accordingly based on user input, such as swipe speed, for a more responsive and power-efficient system.
The iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are powered by an A15 Bionic, which promises up to 50 per cent better graphics performance. The new 6-core CPU with two new high-performance cores and four new high-efficiency cores, is up to 50 per cent faster than the competition, claims the company.
The triple camera setup remains unchanged from last year, however, few changes have been done to make it better. The 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max come equipped with a 12MP triple camera setup with improved sensors, lenses, and image processing.
The iPhone 13 Pro models have a new 77mm f/2.8 telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom, an ultra-wide camera f/1.8 that can now take macro shots at up to 2cm, and a primary wide camera with an f/1.5 aperture and 1.9um sensor pixels. All cameras on the Pro models support Night mode.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available in graphite, gold, silver, and sierra blue in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and all-new 1TB storage options. The iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999 (approx €846), while the iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at $1,099 (approx €931) for the same 128GB.
The iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max will be available through Apple Authorised Resellers starting from September 24th, with pre-orders starting from September 17th.
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