MENU

Ahh, it’s like Christmas morning for the Apple lover – happy Keynote day! Each September, Apple holds an event to announce it’s newest iPhone. This September event has historically included updates to the Apple Watch, iOS release dates and more as well.

So overall impression – kind of boring, to be honest. I think the iPhone keynote can be pretty boring every year. It’s just not their most exciting keynote, especially coming off of an event like WWDC earlier this June, where they announced Vision Pro and all of this other cool stuff.

BUT there are a couple good nuggets in here that we do want to talk about for sure!

Here’s what Apple announced at today’s “Wonderlust” event:

 

Apple Watch Series 9 & Apple Watch Ultra 2

Apple has introduced the Apple Watch Series 9 and also the Apple Watch Ultra 2. They both include the “S9 SiP”, which is a fancy name for the chip inside the watch. This S9 SiP is powerful, and unlocks a few new and exciting features!

The first feature is called “Double Tap”. Double tap works by wearing your watch, and with that same hand, tapping your thumb and index finger together twice. This action will be like a “primary click”, so by double tapping, you can answer a call, hang up that same call, open your menu, turn off an alarm, etc. This is a pretty cool feature and will come in handy when you don’t have both hands free. (Am I the only one thats tapped things on my watch with my nose? 🤣)

The Apple Watch Series 9 is a better and brighter screen. When you’re outside, it’s easier to see the screen because it’s twice as bright as the current screen on the Series 8. It also dims much, much, much dimmer than the current screen. I’m here for the screen dimming – I’m constantly blinded by my husband’s watch at night!

Another feature they talked about was on device Siri (more secure!) and actions for your health. With the new watch, I can say things like “Hey Siri, how did I sleep last night?” And it will give me that data directly on my watch. Being able to access that data so easily is a really nice to have feature.

Also, thanks to the S9 SiP, there are new features in terms of precision tracking. Currently, my watch can ping my iPhone for me, but with the Series 9 and the Ultra 2 Apple Watch, I am able to turn on precision tracking and it will give me that fun little arrow that tells me which direction I need to go and how far away I am.

Last but not least, the Apple Watch Series 9 comes in pink. *cues Barbie soundtrack*

 

USB-C is here

USB C has officially entered the chat!

Not only do all iPhone 15 models have USB-C, but USB-C will also be available on the AirPod Pros as well!

I don’t know about you, but I’m in this weird middle right now where I have a MacBook Pro and an iPad Air that both use USB-C, and then my iPhone and my AirPods that use lightning. So this move to USB-C is definitely a nice one, as all my devices will use the same cable now.

Now, this is going to be a little painful at first… because how many Lightning cables do you have laying around right now? Probably a ton. So this will be a change thats going to suck for a little while as you swap out your cables. I would love to see a lightning cable recycle program from Apple though!

 

iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus

The iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus got some pretty snazzy updates today. They now have color infused glass, and personally, I really like the colors of the iPhone 15!  They have a very beautiful pastel tone and they come in pink, yellow, green, blue, and black. These iPhones have better displays and they’re brighter than ever before. The A16 Chip in the iPhone 15 gives it more power than ever before, and for the first time in a non-pro model, you now have a dynamic island on the iPhone 15.

The camera got some pretty impressive upgrades as well. They included some new features like a 48 megapixel camera and 2x optical zoom, which is really nice for a non pro model device. They also introduced the ability for the phone to use machine learning to identify if there’s a person in that photo. If it does detect a person inside of that photo, it’ll automatically take the photo using portrait mode.

The A16 chip also enables things like a slightly weird feature of precision finding your friends.  So if you’re somewhere like in a big crowd of people and you’re trying to find a friend, you can use your Find My app and it will give you the arrow and point you in the direction to find your friend.

 

iPhone 15 Pro & iPhone 15 Pro Max

Next up, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. This version of the iPhone is different than its previous versions because it is utilizing a lighter and more durable version of its housing, which is now titanium instead of aluminum. Now, when they pair that with their ceramic shield glass on the front, it makes it the most durable iPhone ever. So, if you are somebody that drops your phone a lot, or if you have toddlers like I do, this is great news for you. The iPhone 15 Pro comes in black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium.

So the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max introduces the A17 bionic chip. Now again, this just means it’s faster, more powerful, and it can do new things that it couldn’t do previously.

On the iPhone 15 Pro, the silence button has been replaced by an “Action Button”. This button can still be used to silence your phone, but you can also change what it does. So whether that’s setting an alarm or opening up a voice note or what other action or shortcut you want it to be, you can set that action button to do exactly what you want it to do.

The iPhone 15 Pro has gotten some camera upgrades as well. First, you can choose a default lens setting. So if there’s a certain lens you like to use, you can set it to automatically open that setting every time you open your camera app. The Pro camera system in the iPhone 15 Pro now gives you the ability to choose lenses from macro level all the way to 120mm if you are using an iPhone 15 Pro Max. That is a really powerful range for such a small and portable device.

Now here’s the feature that I am absolutely loving: you can now directly record your video content to external storage. As someone who has recorded entire courses in 4K (like Fearless File Management) on my iPhone, this is HUGE!

Apple has also announced that spatial video recording will be coming to the iPhone 15 Pro later on. This will give us the ability to record 3D videos that we can enjoy when we have the Vision Pro available to us.

The iPhone 15 Pro also includes precision finding, so I can find my friends when I need to, and also roadside assistance via satellite.

 

iOS17 Release Date

iOS17 will be released on September 18th.

 

Apple’s Commitment to the Environment

Apple definitely wanted it to be known that they have been hustling when it comes to their commitment to the environment. There was a fun (and unusually long for Apple) skit that shared a ton of data and information on exactly what they are doing.

 

So, what do you think?! What are your thoughts on Apple’s latest announcement? Tell us what you think and what you plan to buy in the comments below!

You can watch the full event here and see a full list of all announcements on Apple’s website here.