NFL
By Rick O’Donnell
Every September (or October), Apple gets together to launch its newest lineup of smart devices. With most of the focus being on the latest iPhones, Apple Watches, and sometimes AirPods each year, their announcements are met with both praise and criticism. So what’s new with this year’s lineup, and will it bring people back to the brand?
What’s New With Apple Watch
Apple announced the Apple Watches with SE, Series 11, and Watch Ultra 3. Gone are the days of the device just being a second screen for your iPhone, as Apple has fully committed to the smart device being a hub for health. This year’s upgrade is no different, with the focus yet again on heart health and sleep. The newest watch can detect hypertension in regard to your blood pressure.
By keeping track of your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen, your Apple Watch can help alert you at times you may need to take it easy throughout your day. Speaking of taking it easy, the new Apple Watch can also help give better metrics while you sleep by tracking your “sleep score.” Apple Watch can now put together a series of data that scores each stage of sleep throughout the night, sleep patterns, and breathing to help rate the quality of your sleep.
In no way should these be a replacement for an actual doctor, but having metrics on some of the more troubled health areas for people will make it easy for people to talk to their doctors about their health.
iPhone(s)
Ah, yes, the last device to adopt the air moniker. We’ve seen the MacBook Air, the iPad Air, and now we have the iPhone Air. A slimmed-down version of their cellular device, Apple is releasing this model, stating it is as powerful as a Pro, but won’t be as expensive. Of course, that says a lo,t as obviously they didn’t give it everything a Pro has, or it wouldn’t make sense to sell both.
However, the new device has better cameras on both the front and back. Their new “Center Stage” camera is said to eliminate the need for tilting your phone to get a panoramic-style photo. No matter who joins in your selfie, the iPhone will adjust and take the best picture possible at the correct angle.
But what about the Pro and Pro Max? Weirdly, Apple didn’t have much in the way of the Pro Max this year. Maybe they’re resting on their laurels again, and the Pro Max is just a bigger version with more storage. However, the Pro does get an upgrade in terms of battery, better cameras, and much better zoom capabilities. The results are yet another incremental upgrade and a slight appearance change for their flagship product.
AirPods Pro
Apple has been hitting homers with this one, as almost everyone you see with an iPhone uses AirPods as their preferred listening device. Not much has changed on this, except for a few key design changes to help the pods fit in your ear better. The one cool thing they did add is live translations. Whenever you have your AirPods Pro in, they’ll be able to translate if someone is speaking a language you aren’t familiar with. They’re also said to work seamlessly when the other person in the conversation is using them as well. This will open dialogue between two people without the pesky language barriers.
Look. If you’re missing the days when Apple made these huge design changes to their devices with features galore, keep dreaming. Technology has hit its stride way too quickly with smart devices and has now hit a wall. That’s not just Apple. Most tech companies are in that boat. Why do you think everyone is reverting to flip phones for appeal? With that being said, if you have old devices, now may be the perfect time to upgrade. Do you need a new device? No? Then maybe sit this cycle out.
