Apple has today officially announced its popular September Event with the tagline “Far Out” to be held in an online format on September 7th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. The long-awaited event will be hosted in the Steve Jobs Theater, inside the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California where Apple is expected to announce a bunch of new products and software during the event.
We’ve compiled a list of products that could be potentially announced at this event:
iPhone 14:
The iPhone 14 is expected to feature the same design as the iPhone 13, with internal upgrades. It is rumored to be powered by the same chip as the iPhone 13 Pro which is the A15 Bionic chip with a 5-Core GPU and 6GB of RAM instead of the A15 Bionic chip with a 4-Core GPU and 4GB of RAM on the iPhone 13. The Ultra-Wide Camera and Front Camera are expected to receive an upgrade with support for Autofocus and wider apertures. Apple Analyst Kuo says that the Front Camera will ship with a wider Æ’/1.9 aperture. Support for Autofocus and a wider aperture together will allow the iPhone 14 to provide a shallower depth-of-field effect for selfies, especially in portrait mode. Moreover, it will also contribute to a better Video Calling experience with Autofocus. Apple might use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X65 5G chip, the first 10-gigabit 5G modem. As the Apple Event Invite also suggests, Apple might announce new Satellite-based emergency features, allowing iPhone 14 Pro users to send texts through the Satellite but limited to emergencies only and when there’s no cellular coverage. The iPhone 14 will come with a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display while the iPhone 14 Max will come with a larger 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display. Apple will be discontinuing the 5.4-inch mini variant and replacing it with a larger version of the entry-level iPhone. The iPhone 14 is expected to start at $799, which is the same as the iPhone 13, and the iPhone 14 Max is expected to start at $899. Both these models will have a base storage of 128GB. Both these iPhones will be shipped with iOS 16.0 preinstalled.
iPhone 14 Pro:
The iPhone 14 Pro will ship with an upgraded Camera System and is expected to be even larger than the Camera System of the current iPhone 13 Pro. The Camera system will most likely consist of Sony’s 48-megapixel Wide Lens with support for Focus Pixels and Pixel Binning, an Upgraded Ultra-Wide Lens with Autofocus, a 7-Element Telephoto Lens, and a LiDAR Sensor. It is also rumored to support 8K Video recording. The front-facing Camera is expected to receive the same upgrades as the iPhone 14.
The Display will receive a huge upgrade in terms of its power consumption as Apple is likely to switch to an LTPO Display with an Adaptive Refresh Rate ranging from as low as 1Hz to 120Hz. This technology will allow Apple to implement the long-rumored and long-awaited feature – Always on Display with very minimum Battery Consumption, similar to that of the Apple Watch Series 5 or later. The “Notch” will be replaced with a “pill-shaped” cutout for the earpiece speaker and Face ID Sensors. The Display Sizes for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are expected to stay the same as the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max respectively.
Apple will most likely upgrade the chip to the A16 Bionic Chip for the Pro Models and it might ship with up to 8GB RAM, which will be the highest ever on an iPhone. They are also rumored to use a high-end titanium alloy chassis for the iPhone 14 Pro series which is much stronger and more durable than Steel or Aluminium. Just like the iPhone 14, Apple might use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X65 5G chip, the first 10-gigabit 5G modem. As the Apple Event Invite also suggests, Apple might announce new Satellite-based emergency features, allowing iPhone 14 Pro users to send texts through the Satellite but limited to emergencies only and when there’s no cellular coverage.
It has been rumored that Apple will increase the prices of the Pro models by $100 with the iPhone 14 Pro starting at $1,099 and iPhone 14 Pro Max starting at $1,199. On the other hand, the base storage of the iPhone 14 Pro series might start at 256GB instead of 128GB which can justify the “price hike” since Apple will just remove the 128GB variant. For comparison, the iPhone 13 Pro with 256GB of Storage currently costs $1,099 which is rumored to be the same as the iPhone 14 Pro with 256GB of Storage. A new color – Purple might be introduced with the Pro models. Both these iPhones will be shipped with iOS 16.0 preinstalled.
Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Pro & Apple Watch SE:
The Apple Watch Series 8 will be able to check if you have a fever or not as it will include a Temperature Sensor, according to Mark Gurman. It will come with an upgraded S8 Chip with an update to Low Power Mode. It will most likely maintain the same price as the Apple Watch Series 7 which is currently available for $399.
The Apple Watch “Pro” is expected to feature a larger two-inch Display along with a metal casing along with a rugged design and will be mainly aimed at athletes and the like. With a larger battery, it will allow for longer workout times. The naming remains to be a mystery. It might be named “Pro”, “Extreme”, or “Sport”. Along with these, Apple might also announce an upgraded Apple Watch SE along with watchOS 8.
AirPods Pro (2nd Generation):Â
The long-awaited refresh to the AirPods Pro seems to be right around the corner. This will be a huge upgrade from the original AirPods Pro launched in October 2019. It is expected to feature a significantly upgraded H2 Chip which could potentially bring in improvements to latency and sound quality with support for Lossless Audio. Apple introduced Lossless Music and Spatial Audio on Apple Music in June last year and users will finally be able to take advantage of the higher audio quality wirelessly with these new AirPods Pros. It may include certain sensors which could help users track their fitness. It will also feature a longer battery life, along with the case of having speakers emit a sound when looking for it on the Find My App. We hope that this long-awaited pair of headphones ship soon after they are announced, similar to when Apple announced the first AirPods Pro which became available two days post the press release. The pricing is expected to remain the same, i.e. $249.
iPad (10th Generation):
The tenth-generation entry-level iPad is rumored to have a complete redesign with a larger 10.5-inch Display, a USB-C Port, 5G Connectivity for Cellular Models (without mmWave), and a faster A14 Bionic Chip. The FaceTime HD Camera might be placed in the Landscape Orientation instead of the Portrait Orientation. This iPad could potentially be inspired by the design of the new iPad Pro and the new iPad Air with the Touch ID Sensor implemented within the power button. However, it is still unclear whether this iPad will have a Home Button – so we’ll have to wait to find out! It has also been reported that the company might remove the headphone jack from the base iPad. Apple has said in a statement to TechCrunch that they will release iPadOS 16.1 after iOS 16, later this fall – meaning that iPadOS 16.0 will be skipped and users will directly receive iPadOS 16.1 as an update potentially in October along with macOS 13 Ventura. Moreover, Apple also released the first beta of iPadOS 16.1 to developers recently. Keeping history in mind, this entry-level iPad could get announced in the September event and start becoming available after iPadOS 16.1 is released to the public.
My Thoughts:
I think that Apple will expand its mmWave Variant of the iPhone 14 Series to more countries this year as more and more countries start rolling out super-fast 5G services.
In my opinion, the iPhone 12 mini might be discontinued or may have an unusual price tag after the launch of the iPhone 14 Series. Here’s why: The iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 while the iPhone 13 starts at $799. When the iPhone 14 comes out, it’ll start at $799, while discontinuing the mini variant. So that’ll bring down the price of the iPhone 13 to $699, and the iPhone 13 mini to $599. Now let’s talk about the iPhone 12 series. Currently starting at $599 for the mini and $699 for the regular 12, the prices are expected to go down by $100 ”” which would be $499 and $599 respectively. Now, the iPhone SE (3rd Generation) starts at $429 which would be $70 cheaper than the iPhone 12 mini after the iPhone14 is out. Yes, Apple didn’t stop selling the iPhone 11, currently at $499 as there are obvious benefits of both over each other. The iPhone SE has 5G and a faster chip and the iPhone 11 has a larger display and a better battery. After the iPhone 14 is out, the iPhone SE (3rd Gen) and the iPhone 12 mini would sit $70 apart with the 12 mini just one generation behind in terms of the processor. The iPhone 12 mini offers so much more than the iPhone SE. It simply makes more sense to spend $70 more and get a better iPhone. Moreover, in the U.S. variants, the iPhone 12 mini features a mmWave antenna, offering higher 5G Speeds if your carrier supports that band along with Gigabit-class LTE, while the iPhone SE only supports LTE Advanced. All these factors alone could potentially kill the sales of the iPhone SE (3rd Generation). In terms of form factor, the iPhone 12 mini is smaller than the iPhone SE (3rd Generation) and is more comfortable to hold. It would make sense for Apple business-wise to keep the price of the iPhone 12 mini at $529 or discontinue the model.
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