On Monday, Apple’s “Glowtime” event introduced four new iPhone 16 models, the Apple Watch Series 10, the AirPods 4 earbuds and a surprisingly reserved list of new AI features. The company also shone a light on the new iOS 18, which will soon land on all iPhones that can currently run iOS 17.
Among the new features for Apple phones, watches and earbuds, the sleep apnea detection for recent Apple Watches and noise-canceling features on the higher end AirPods 4 seemed to resonate the most with Apple users, but there were many more features announced on Monday. Read on to learn all the biggest news from yesterdays’ event.
Looking to preorder the latest Apple devices? We’re rounding up the best iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4 deals at launch.
Watch this: Watch Everything Announced at Apple’s iPhone 16 Event
Although battery life is the No. 1 thing people care about for the Watch and the iPhone, we didn’t hear much about it. The iPhone does get some flashy new colors, though, including bright pink, bright blue and bright pastel green (ultramarine). And a big hit seems to be the Apple Watch’s sleep apnea tracking and notifications.
The big new software features driven by Apple’s new Apple Intelligence, won’t arrive all at once or even at hardware launch.
For more minute-by-minute details of the Septemer 2024 Apple event, check out our archive of CNET’s iPhone 16 event live blog.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus come in bright new colors
The iPhone 16 models are the first iPhones “built from the ground up” for Apple Intelligence, which got a long recap. (Despite people’s relatively low interest in AI features.) And all that was said about the battery was that it’s bigger and there are optimizations.
Watch this: Apple’s iPhone 16 Gets Camera Control Button
New colors: ultramarine, teal and pink. It’s water- and dust-resistant and more durable overall. The screen brightness goes up to 2,000 nits and as low as 1 nit. They now have the customizable Action button as well as a dedicated Camera Control button for touch control. The Camera Control will let you perform a Google Lens-like click-for-info about whatever the camera’s looking at, branded Visual Intelligence — later this year.
There’s now a 48-megapixel main camera, which can produce a 24-megapixel photo after pixel binning and a 2x telephoto via sensor crop. A new 12-megapixel, 13mm ultrawide camera has autofocus and better light sensitivity, plus support for macro. The new side-by-side camera design now lets you capture spatial photos and videos.
On the inside, it gets the A18 chip, with the 16-core neural engine, two P cores and four E cores in the CPU, and a five-core GPU, plus more memory bandwidth; it uses second-gen 3-nanometer tech to fit it all in. Apple says it uses less power overall. AI features are rolling out next month in beta. For gaming, there’s a new thermal design and support for ray tracing — plus a new mobile game, Honor of Kings World, coming next year.
They start at $799 (£799, AU$1,399) and $899 (£899, AU$1,599), and are available to preorder now.
More from the Apple event
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max expand pro video
At 6.3 inches for the Pro and 6.9 inches for the Pro Max, the new flagship iPhones are more durable than the aluminum iPhone 16 (they’re made of titanium) with a new texture. There are new colors, too: darker black, brighter silver, rose-goldy pink and silver. It dissipates heat better, has a larger battery and better power optimization.
Building on the features available on the lower-end models, these run on a new A18 Pro chip which enables features unique to these iPhones. On top of the tech in the A18, it has larger caches and the new advanced display engine for faster encode/decode and more. Camera control for these adds a two-stage shutter for things like exposure lock.
Watch this: Apple iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max Get 4K 120 FPS Video
They have a new 48-megapixel camera with a faster sensor readout. They also include a 5x, 12-megapixel telephoto lens with on-pixel focus. For video, there’s now 4K 120fps slow-mo, more pro color grading control and HDR editing, selectable speed preview playback, camera control button grid framing and more.
New quad mics have better capture quality, plus there’s spatial audio capture; Audio Mix separates vocals from all other voices and lets you layer them separately.
Apple’s own MagSafe cases support Qi 2 and, of course, the camera control button. Wireless charging is faster.
iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 (£999, AU$1,799) and the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 (£1,199, AU$2,149). Preorders start Friday.
Apple Watch Series 10 and Watch Ultra 2: Only one gets a redesign
The Watch has been completely redesigned, with a bigger display and thinner profile (7mm). It’s bigger than the Ultra’s, accommodating an extra line of text. A wider aspect ratio and rounded corners, plus a wider angle OLED display; it’s brighter when viewed off-angle, and more power efficient, but still can update once per second for a second hand. Flux is the new watch face, designed for a bigger display. New colors include jet black, rose gold and silver.
The speaker system is smaller. It’s more water resistant and charges faster (80% battery charge in 30 minutes).
Titanium joins the lineup, as its new carbon neutral mode, replacing stainless steel, so it’s lighter, in natural, gold and slate gray, with a matching band and face to match.
Watch this: Apple Debuts Apple Watch Series 10
Inside, there’s a new S10 chip with a four-core neural chiplet to accelerate all its AI-driven features, like sound enhancement and fall detection, real-time translation and health features. The latter includes sleep apnea tracking; a new sensor that monitors sleeping disturbances and provides notifications. Clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration is pending — “very soon.” Notifications will be coming to Series 9 and Ultra 2 as well. There are new snorkeling-related updates too, and new bands are coming from Nike and Hermes.
Watch this: New Black Apple Watch Ultra 2 Revealed
It starts at $399 (£399, AU$649), or $499 with cellular, preorders start today and it ships on Sept. 20.
The Ultra mainly gets the updates that come with WatchOS, but there’s also a new color: Satin Black with matching bands made from corrosion-resistant titanium. The Watch is more durable and scratchproof. Preorders start today and it ships Sept. 20.
Apple AirPods 4, Max and Pro 2: Better sound and more
The design has been refined and includes a new acoustic architecture and spatial audio support. They also introduce the H2 chip. It supports head gestures. The new charging case has a USB-C port. Upgraded mics, computational audio and more bring active noise cancellation to them as well, plus there’s wireless charging for the case.
Watch this: Apple Announces AirPods 4 and New AirPods Max
They start at $129 (£129, AU$219) for the base model and $179 (£179, AU$299) for the models with noise cancellation.
AirPods Max comes in new colors and gains USB-C support, but keeps the same $549 (£549, AU$899) price tag.
The AirPods Pro 2 get new ear tips and hearing protection, testing and assistance features. The latter is a “professional-grade” hearing aid feature. The hearing aid and hearing test will come later this year. Preorders start today.
