Though there was no performance or album announcement from U2 this year, Apple’s now signature fall event in San Francisco still managed to make plenty of waves.
There was a slew of product announcements from the tech giant, including the unveiling of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, the iPad Pro and a revamped version of the Apple TV.
Boasting that the 6S and the 6S Plus were “the most advanced iPhones ever,” Apple CEO Tim Cook let Phillip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, describe the new phone’s features.
Both phones feature new glass that is “incredibly durable,” says Schiller. In addition, the two phones contain a new feature entitled 3D Touch. 3D Touch is a new, pressure-sensitive system designed to read a user’s outputs based on how hard or softly they press the screen.
The two phones also feature an A9 chip, which, according to Schiller, is 70 percent faster at computer processing tasks, and 90 percent faster for graphics processing. They also feature a 12-megapixel camera, and can both support shooting video with 4K definition.
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will start at $199 and $299 respectively, according to Schiller, while the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will start at $99 and $199.
The other major product unveiling of the evening was the announcement of the iPad Pro.
The iPad Pro features a 12.9 inch screen with 2732 by 2048 resolution, or 5.6 million pixels. “This is the most advanced display we’ve ever built,” said Schiller. “It is a beautiful display.”
The new iPad will feature an A9X chip, which is 1.8 times faster than the previous chip, with graphics processing that is twice as fast, according to Schiller.
The iPad Pro is as thin as the iPad Air 2, and boasts a four-speaker audio system – a first for an Apple product – and 10 hours of battery life, says Schiller.
For the drawing and illustration functions on the iPad Pro, Apple introduced a stylus called the Apple Pencil. The Pencil will work on apps in iOS like Notes, and will feature a Lightning connector to plug into the iPad Pro and charge.
Not to be outdone by the introduction of the Apple Pencil, the Apple Watch was also presented in an upgraded form.
Apps such as Facebook Messenger, iTranslate – which translates vocal commands into more than 90 languages – and GoPro are now available for the Watch.
Finally, Apple introduced an upgrade for the Apple TV. The device now features iOS 9 software, a redesigned Siri-equipped touchpad remote, and tvOS, an Apple TV-based variation on the iOS software. The edition with 32GB of flash storage is priced at $149, while the edition with 64GB of flash storage starts at $199.
Jackson Maxwell can be reached at [email protected].
