By: Sara Simon
Apple indeed went far out on the September 7th Far Out Event. In this event, Apple announced the new AirPod Pros, Apple Watch lineup, and most importantly the iPhone 14 lineup.
What are the Changes?
Most of the upgrades were minor upgrades, like the upgrades for the AirPod Pros, Apple Watch Series 8, Second Gen Apple Watch SE, iPhone 14 and 14 Plus. To summarize, the AirPods can now make a personalized Spatial Audio profile for each individual; you can swipe to adjust volume, instead of tap; and the case has a speaker now to be able to find it using Find My. The Apple Watch Series 8 and SE both now have Crash Detection and ability to personalize your workouts in the Workout App. The Series 8 can check the temperature of your wrist and predict your Ovulation Date.
This year, Apple got rid of the iPhone Mini and instead replaced it with the iPhone Plus. The only difference between the baseline model and the Plus is that the Plus is as big as the Pro Max. All of the iPhone 14s have Crash Detection, Emergency SOS via Satellites, use of eSim only, and Action Mode. If you are in place with no range and you are in an emergency, then Emergency SOS via Satellites will allow you to send one extremely compressed message using Communication Satellites.
The Big Takes
But those were not the upgrades that got everyone’s minds boggled. It’s the Apple Watch Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Starting with the Apple Watch Ultra. The Apple Watch Ultra is designed for the most extreme use. The Apple Watch Ultra is super durable with its Titanium casing and tough glass. It has an improved speaker and microphone to be able to talk to people in the most difficult conditions. This Watch also has a dual-frequency GPS which means it can get your precise location even in the middle of nowhere. For Divers, it has a dive computer built into it with the Oceanic+ app. Apple also put in a customizable button called the Action Button. You can even change its use depending on the app you’re in right now.
Next, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. The iPhone 14 Pros now have an Always-on Display. It also has the new A16 Bionic chip which means better performance. But neither of those is what stunned everyone at the event on the 7th. It’s Dynamic Island. Everyone rumored that Apple will remove the notch and, in fact when everyone was first introduced to the Dynamic Island feature, a lot of people thought that Apple was just naming the pill cutout. But what Apple was really doing was making a feature that makes the new Pill Cutout not just another edition, but instead something that once you get it you can’t live without it. It essentially bubbles up any on-going tasks next to the notch, so it looks like it’s extending dynamically.
Those are the major upgrades that Apple brought to iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPod Pros this year.