Apple Unveils new iPads, Watch Series 7 & a Bunch of New iPhone 13’s
Apple has announced a host of new products including a new entry-level iPad, a redesigned iPad mini, the new Apple Watch Series 7 and new iPhone 13 models, the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
The highly anticipated Apple iPhone event took place on Tuesday with the tech giant expanding on 5G connectivity and showing off faster chips and sharper cameras.
iPad Mini
The new iPad Mini features a larger 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and the brand new A15 Bionic chip, which Apple says delivers up to 80 percent faster performance than the previous generation.
The new devices now boasts a USB-C port which allows faster connectivity, and cellular models with 5G and support for Apple Pencil (2nd generation).
The iPad Mini has updated Ultra-Wide front camera with a new 12MP sensor and a much larger field of view enable Centre Stage, which automatically pans the camera to keep users in view as they move around.
The back camera now features a 12MP sensor with Focus Pixels, a larger aperture and True Tone flash.
A new Smart Folio designed for iPad mini is a slim, lightweight cover and delivers open-to-wake and close-to-sleep functionality.
The Smart Folio now comes in coordinating colours including Black, White, Dark Cherry, English Lavender, and Electric Orange.
The all-new 8.3-inch iPad Mini comes in Pink, Starlight, Purple, and Space Grey.
Pricing starts at $499 (R7,100, excl. VAT and duties) for a 64GB Wi-Fi model. Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $649 (R9,200, excl. VAT and duties).
Orders open in the United States on Tuesday and the devices will be available from next week.
iPad
The new iPad (9th generation) features the powerful A13 Bionic chip while retaining its all-day battery life.
It boasts a 10.2-inch Retina display with True Tone, a 12MP Ultra-Wide front camera with Centre Stage, support for Apple Pencil (1st generation) and Smart Keyboard and twice the storage of the previous generation.
Center Stage is a feature that automatically adjusts the camera frame while video calling or streaming.
A new, upgraded ambient light sensor enables True Tone, which adjusts screen content to the colour temperature of a room. True Tone on the new iPad makes images appear more natural and provides users with a more comfortable viewing experience in all lighting environments.
Available in in silver and space grey finishes, the new 10.1-inch iPad will start at $329 (R4,700, excl. VAT and duties) for a 64GB model with Wi-Fi support. Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $459 (R6,600, excl. VAT and duties)
Apple Watch Series 7
The new Apple Watch Series 7 features a reengineered Always-On Retina display with significantly more screen area and thinner borders, making it the largest display ever.
The Apple Watch 7’s display is up to 20% bigger than the Apple Watch 6’s. With a narrow 1.7mm bezel, the Apple Watch looks larger year, even though the chassis size hasn’t changed.
Apple says the Watch 7’s display is 70% brighter than before and while it has the same “all-day” battery life and according to Apple it charges at 33% faster thanks to a new USB-C cord.
The Apple Watch Series 7 collection unveils five brand new aluminium case colours, including Midnight, Starlight, Green, and a new Blue and (PRODUCT)RED, along with an exciting palette of Apple Watch bands compatible with all models of Apple Watch. Additionally, Apple Watch Series 7 offers backward compatibility with previously released Apple Watch bands.
All Apple Watch Series 7 models will be available later this fall.
Apple Watch Series 7 will start at $399 (R5,700 excl. VAT and duties), Apple Watch SE starts at $279 (R3,900 excl. VAT and duties), and Apple Watch Series 3 starts at $199 (R 2,850 excl. VAT and duties).
Apple Fitness+
Apple Fitness+, the first fitness service built entirely around Apple Watch, will introduce a new body-conditioning workout type with Pilates and a simple way to practice mindfulness anywhere, anytime, with guided Meditation.
Fitness+ is also introducing a new program called Workouts to Get Ready for Snow Season, featuring two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion skier Ted Ligety, along with Fitness+ trainer Anja Garcia. Later this autumn, Fitness+ will introduce Group Workouts with SharePlay, where users can work out with up to 32 people at once to keep each other motivated.
Fitness+ will be expanding to 15 new countries — Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates — where it will be available in English with subtitles in six languages.
iPhone 13 & 13 Mini
Apple says both models feature major innovations, including the most advanced dual-camera system ever on iPhone — with a new Wide camera with bigger pixels and sensor-shift optical image stabilisation (OIS) offering improvements in low-light photos and videos to personalise the camera with Photographic Styles, and Cinematic mode.
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini also boast super-fast performance and power efficiency with A15 Bionic, longer battery life, a brighter Super Retina XDR display, double the entry-level storage at 128GB, IP68 rating for water resistance, and 5G.
The iPhone 13 Mini and Standard also boast a 23% brighter screen with a peak of 1,200 nits.
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini represent a massive leap in camera design with advancements in hardware and computational photography. The new Wide camera, with 1.7 µm pixels, comes with the biggest sensor ever in an iPhone dual-camera system and is capable of gathering 47 percent more light for less noise and brighter results. Sensor-shift OIS — a technology introduced in iPhone 12 Pro Max and also comes to the Wide camera, even in the more compact iPhone 13 mini.
It stabilises the sensor instead of the lens so shots are more steady, while the custom-designed Ultra-Wide camera with a new sensor captures images with more detail in the dark areas of photos and videos with less noise.
Both models pack the new 5nm-based A15 Bionic chip with a 6-core CPU, which Apple says will offer smoother and more efficient performance.
Both the dual camera on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini, and the triple camera on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro offer a host of improvements which includes the addition of Cinematic Video — a video version of Portrait Mode — and recording in Dolby Vision HDR on all models.
Battery capacity has also been increased with the iPhone 13 Mini lasting 1.5 hours longer than iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 13 lasting 2 hours longer than iPhone 12.
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini will be available in Pink, Blue, Midnight, Starlight, and (PRODUCT)RED,1 with pre-orders beginning Friday, September 17, and availability beginning Friday, September 24.
Pricing for the iPhone 13 Mini (128GB) starts at $699 while the iPhone 13 (128GB) starts $799
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
Apple says the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a smartphone.
Redesigned inside and out, both models introduce an all-new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion featuring an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, making the touch experience faster and more responsive.
The pro camera system gets its biggest advancement ever with new Ultra-Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras, powered by the A15 Bionic chip.
Apple says these technologies enable impressive new photo capabilities never before possible on iPhone, like macro photography on the new Ultra-Wide camera and up to 2.2x improved low-light performance on the new Wide camera.
The all-new Wide camera has a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, the largest ever on iPhone, for less noise and faster shutter speeds needed across lighting conditions, producing even more detailed photos. Coupled with the larger ƒ/1.5 aperture, the Wide camera on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a massive improvement in low-light situations, up to 2.2x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro, and nearly 1.5x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro Max. Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation (OIS) is available on both models, stabilising the sensor instead of the lens,
The new Ultra-Wide camera features a much wider ƒ/1.8 aperture and a new autofocus system, bringing a 92 percent improvement for low-light environments, producing images that are brighter and sharper. The new lens design, autofocus capability for the first time in the Ultra-Wide on iPhone, and unlock something never before possible on iPhone: macro photography.
Users can capture sharp, stunning images where objects appear larger than life, magnifying subjects with a minimum focus distance of 2 centimetres. Macro also extends to video including Slo-mo and Time-lapse. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also boast a new 77 mm Telephoto camera, allowing users to get closer to their subjects while recording video and achieve even more classically framed portraits, offering 3x optical zoom for a total 6x optical zoom range on the camera system.
New computational photography features like Photographic Styles personalise the look of images in the Camera app, and both models now include Night mode on all cameras. Video takes a huge leap forward with Cinematic mode for beautiful depth-of-field transitions, macro video, Time-lapse and Slo-mo, and even better low-light performance.
In addition, they will be able to record up to 4K at 30fps in the high-quality ProRes codec within the Camera app.
Both models also offer end-to-end pro workflows in Dolby Vision, and for the first time, ProRes, only available on iPhone.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also include 5G with more bands for better coverage, big improvements to battery life for the best battery life ever on iPhone with iPhone 13 Pro Max, new storage capacity of 1TB, and the Ceramic Shield front cover.
Battery capacity has also been increased with the iPhone 13 Pro lasting 1.5 hours longer than iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max lasting 2.5 hours longer than iPhone 12 Pro Max
Apple says iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are designed to minimise their impact on the environment, including the use of 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in magnets like those used in MagSafe, 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board and, for the first time, in the solder of the battery management unit.
Both models also introduce 100 percent recycled gold on the plating of the main logic board and the wire in the front camera and rear cameras. Redesigned packaging eliminates the outer plastic wrap, avoiding 600 metric tons of plastic and bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available in four finishes, including Graphite, Gold, Silver, and the all-new Sierra Blue. Pre-orders begin Friday, September 17, with availability beginning Friday, September 24.
Pricing for the iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999 for (128GB) and $1,099 for the iPhone 13 Pro Max (128GB)
