There is a quote that is often attributed to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that goes, "Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years." That is definitely true within the technology world. You might not think about it often, but the World Wide Web is now 30 years old. In the last 30 years of the World Wide Web, a tremendous change has occurred. We went from occasionally using a telephone line to connect to the internet to having mostly ubiquitous internet. Also during that time, the speeds have increased orders of magnitude.

If you were not around during that time, it might be hard to fathom how long it would take to download a 1 Megabyte file. If you were on a 14.4 modem, it would take 9 minutes and 56 seconds to download a 1 megabyte file, and that was with ideal speeds. Eventually, this would come down to 2 minutes and 21 seconds. Now, we have operating system updates that can easily be gigabytes in size, and these take mere minutes to download. At the fastest dialup speeds of 56.6 Kbps, it would take 39 hours, 15 minutes to download a single gigabyte, and you would never be able to finish the download.

One thing that is an absolute certainty about technology is that significant shifts do not happen all that often; instead, they tend to happen over time with incremental changes. Yet, when you look back, you can see that all of those little changes did end up becoming a larger and more significant change. One of those significant shifts happened in 2007 with the release of the original iPhone. The iPhone was not the first "smartphone", but it was definitely a game-changer. Some of the earliest smartphones, as we would classify them today, were the Ericsson R380, Kyocera 6035, Nokia 9210 Communicator, and the Handspring Treo 380. It is possible that you might not have heard of these devices, except for maybe the Treo, but you would know it under the Palm brand.

There are many different technologies that ultimately came together to make the iPhone even remotely possible. The technologies were reliable cellular connections, fast enough cellular data, and touch screen technology. These are actually the three primary things needed for the iPhone. Yes, this is an oversimplification, but the iPhone would not have been the iPhone if these did not exist.

I am fully aware that I am not like most people because I do upgrade my iPhone every year. If you compare the same model lines on a year-over-year basis, you might think something along the lines of "this is just an incremental update", and in some cases, this is true. However, the average length of time that people are keeping their cell phones is around 3 years, and a lot can change in just three years. Therefore, when most people upgrade, they are getting significant upgrades. As an example, let us say you are going from an iPhone 12 Pro Max to an iPhone 15 Pro Max, here is what you would get:

1. Titanium, meaning lighter phone
2. Dynamic Island
3. Action Button
4. ProMotion display
5. Always On display
6. Record Spatial Video
7. Photographic Styles
8. 48MP main camera, compared to 12MP Main camera
9. 5x optical zoom
10. Emergency SOS via Satellite
11. Crash Detection
12. Messages via Satellite
13. USB-C with USB 3 speeds
14. Higher peak brightness
15. 3 generation newer processor
16. Apple Intelligence

That is a tremendous list of new features and improvements that occurred in just three years. Of course, the latest Pro Max, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, has its own set of enhancements, which we will cover presently. But before we do that, let us look at some of the features that have come with the previous iPhones.

Previous iPhones

When the original iPhone was released in 2007, it had 2G internet, 4GB or 8GB of storage, and only had a 3.5-inch screen. There was a 2-Megapixel camera, without a flash; it even used a 30-pin Apple-proprietary connector called the Dock connector. When introduced, it was only available on a single carrier, Cingular/AT&T, and was only available in the United States. Things have definitely changed since then. Now, iPhones have 5G internet, up to 1TB of storage, from 4.7-inch screens up to 6.9-inch screens, 48-Megapixel cameras, with multiple flashes (rear flash and the true-tone flash), and use Lightning or USB-C; they come on almost any wireless carrier, and are available across the world.

Almost every release of the iPhone has brought something new to the iPhone. The big changes for each year are:

• 2007: Original iPhone
• 2008: iPhone 3G - 3G data, GPS
• 2009: iPhone 3GS - Significant speed update
• 2010: iPhone 4 - Retina display
• 2011: iPhone 4s - Full HD Video, Siri
• 2012: iPhone 5 - 4-inch screen, LTE, Lightning connector
• 2013: iPhone 5s - Touch ID
• 2014: iPhone 6 / 6 Plus - Two screen sizes, Landscape icons on 6 Plus
• 2015: iPhone 6s / 6s Plus - 3D Touch, improved camera
• 2016: iPhone 7 / 7 Plus - water/dust resistance, 2x Camera on 7 Plus
• 2017: iPhone 8 / 8 Plus/ X - iPhone X, Face ID, Qi charging
• 2018: iPhone Xs / Xs Max - Added Max size, dual sim support
• 2019: iPhone 11 / Pro / Max Triple camera on Pro / Max
• 2020: iPhone 12 - Two model lines just different sizes, 5G, MagSafe
• 2021: iPhone 13 - Pro - ProMotion
• 2022: iPhone 14 - Satellite/Crash Detection, Pro/Pro Max - Dynamic Island
• 2023: iPhone 15 - USB-C, Titanium on the Pro line.

Those are just some of the big features for each year. Before we dive into the latest iPhone, let us take a quick look at my own purchase history of iPhones.

My Cell Phone History

I had a realization not that long ago, and it really hit me. That realization is that it is getting closer to being a quarter of a century since I got my first cell phones. Back then I was not nearly as prolific in upgrading as I am now. Prior to purchasing the original iPhone, I only owned three other cell phones: a Nokia 3310, a Samsung T637, and the Razr V3. If you were around in the 2000s, you would easily recognize the first and last of these. The Nokia 3310 is a classic, so much so that a re-release of an updated model of the 3310 was released in 2017. It was a candy bar-style phone, replete with T9 dialing (kids, ask your parents, or maybe explore the changes in iOS 18, of which T9 dialing is one). The Samsung T637 was also a candybar style phone, but it had a color screen. The Razr V3 was a clamshell phone. I used the Nokia for about four years, the Samsung for approximately two years, and I bought the Razr V3 in 2006. Needless to say, the Razr V3 was the last non-Apple phone I ended up purchasing.

When the iPhone was released on June 29th, 2007, I did not buy one the first day, but I did buy one the next day, on June 30th, 2007. I actually went back and forth and could not decide if I should get one. I can still recall that Saturday morning when I drove to my local Apple Store, waited for about an hour, and ended up being the 4th person in line to buy an iPhone that day. Since then, I have upgraded to a new phone each year. The first few years, it was almost a no-brainer, for two reasons. The first is that it was only a couple hundred dollars. Yes, that is a lot of money, but much cheaper than buying a phone today. The second reason was that the improvements year over year were significant improvements. In 2011, AT&T decided to no longer provide full discounts for upgrades, but they did offer partial discounts. This meant that the price of the iPhone was more expensive. It was still several hundred dollars for each device, but I still upgraded because there was enough reason to do so.

Starting in 2014 I decided that if I was going to buy a new phone each year, that I would pay full price. The reason I opted for this is because I did not want to have to be tied to a particular carrier, if I did not want to be. Furthermore, I did not want to be tied to a contract, so buying a phone outright was the only solution. It has been a decade now that I have been buying a new phone, outright, and once again I have purchased a new iPhone. This time it is the 512GB Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max. Now, let us dive into my pre-order experience.

Pre-Order

Pre-ordering any iPhone for release day delivery is a mad rush, but Apple has made improvements over the years. One of the biggest is that you can pre-select which model you want to purchase and save this for pre-order time. This year I opted to get the 512GB Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max. I chose this model because I do not like the gold/bronze of the Desert Titanium. I am also not a fan of the white titanium. The natural titanium would have been okay as well, but ultimately I chose the Black Titanium.

For the last three years I have gotten a 512GB model of the iPhone. This was needed because my photo library is rather large and I like to keep the originals on my iPhone. This is not strictly necessary, because I do keep the originals on my Mac Studio, as well as on iCloud Photo Library. My MacBook Pro and iPad do not have the originals.

The past few years Apple has been having pre-orders open at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, and this is a more agreeable time for me. The days of having to wake up at 12 a.m. Pacific Time were not the most fun, but I did do it, to make sure I could get a phone on release day. The big unknown for the Apple Store is when it will actually open up. As with previous years, I had four devices up and running. These were my iPhone, my iPad, my MacBook Pro, and my Mac Studio. On the iPhone and iPad I used the Apple Store app, while I had the Apple Store website open on my Macs.

It usually takes a couple of minutes after the actual pre-order time before the store opens, but by 5:02 a.m. it had still not shown up on any of my devices. I switched my iPhone to cellular, and lo and behold, the store popped right up. I had my phone pre-ordered, and the confirmation email in my inbox, by 5:03. I decided to track when the other devices did show up. On my iPad, the Apple Store app came up around 5:10 a.m., and my Macs did not have the store open until about 5:20 a.m.

When I pre-order, I tend to pick it up at my local Apple Store. This is so I can get an early time slot. The reason that I opt for this is because it is unknown when my iPhone would actually get delivered. Sometimes it is early in the afternoon, other times it may not be until 7:00 p.m. The unpredictability means it is easier for me to go and pick my iPhone up.

I did have one hiccup while ordering. The time slot that I chose was filled between the time I selected the time and the time that I checked out, so I had to choose a slightly later time slot. Even with this, the time slot was still early enough in the day that it was not a big deal. A friend of mine experienced the same thing when they ordered their phone for pickup at the same store I go to. I do not think there were that many people ordering phones for pickup at my local Apple Store that all slots would be filled, but you never know.

Overall, the pre-order process was not too bad. It surely beats waiting in line for more than 12 hours to buy a couple of iPhones. I still distinctly remember that day. It was a long one. Part of the issue was that Apple's point of sale (POS) system was under a lot of strain, and transactions were taking a long time, hence the delays. But that all seems to be in the past now. After the pre-order and picking up the device, comes the actual setup. So let us get to that next.

Setup

Having gone through the process of upgrading my phone every year, I am well-versed in how to move from one phone to another. For many years, I did an encrypted backup to my Mac and restored the new phone from there. This process had a couple of advantages. The first was that I could still use my old iPhone while the iPhone was restored. The second is that it was often faster than doing a direct device-to-device transfer.

This year, I opted to do a different approach. I used the new direct USB-C to USB-C connection. I used a 1-meter Thunderbolt 4 cable that I use to perform wired backups of my iPhone to my Mac. I opted for Thunderbolt because this cable can do 40 Gigabits per second, well above the 10 gigabits per second that the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro Max are capable of performing. At least, that was the intention with using the cable.

When I unboxed the iPhone 16 Pro Max, it did the initial synchronization dance where you need to take your old phone and scan the glowing image that appears on your new phone. This is used to pair the two devices together. I performed this step, and then it went through the Appearance and Face ID options. Next came the eSIM transfer. For some reason, it could not activate the eSIM. I tried to initiate the transfer again, but it never showed the eSIM transfer screen. I did not want to erase the new phone and go through the entire setup again, so I just continued the setup.

The next step is to start the actual transfer, but this was not possible because another step was needed. I am a developer and I usually run iOS betas on my iPhone. Normally when the release candidate of the operating system is released, I install it and then disable any beta updates. Most years this is not a problem. But this year Apple did something different. Apple released the first beta of 18.1 in August. This included Apple Intelligence, so naturally, I installed the betas. Since I had the latest iOS 18.1 beta on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, the iPhone 16 Pro Max needed to be updated to the same release. The iOS update took about 15 minutes from start to finish.

After the iPhone 16 Pro Max rebooted, it reconnected to the transfer session. This step took a surprisingly long time, about 10 minutes to finish. Once the transfer started, I thought it would use the cable to perform the transfer. The transfer estimation screen indicated that it would take 2 hours to complete the transfer. At first, I thought that the cable was not being used, but it must have been used because the transfer did seem to go quite quickly. In fact, it took just about 70 minutes to complete.

Even though it took about an hour and 10 minutes, there were instances where it just sat at a certain amount of "remaining time" for quite a while. The transfer sat at "18 minutes" remaining for about 10 minutes. It then proceeded to go down to 5 minutes, then stopped at "2 minutes" remaining for another 15 minutes. It then crept up to 3 minutes for another few minutes. At this point, it finally did finish. Suffice it to say, progress bars and estimated times are not an easy thing to get to be 100% accurate. Ultimately though, it must have used the Thunderbolt cable, because there is no way that it would transfer more than 200GB in an hour if it was not using the cable. This was much faster than the last couple of years. In 2023, it took about 2 1/2 hours, the same for 2022.

Of course, after the data transfer is done, that is not the final step, far from it. After the transfer, the iPhone reboots and then you have to perform the following:

• Log in to your Apple Account
• Set up Apple Pay (can be done later)
• Wait for apps to download
• Wait for any songs to be re-downloaded

There were two things that I noticed during the transfer. The first is that the iPhone 16 Pro Max was being powered by the iPhone 15 Pro Max via the Thunderbolt cable that I was using, which is anticipated. However, it was not being powered before I updated to the iOS 18.1 beta. The second thing that I noticed is that both devices got extremely warm. Sadly, it is not uncommon for my iPhone 15 Pro Max to get a bit warm, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max also got warm. I ended up putting the iPhone 16 Pro Max on a little fan I have to help keep it cool.

After everything was finished, I did notice that there were a number of things that did not transfer properly. These included the aforementioned eSIM transfer, iMessage, and the Apple Watch.

eSIM Activation

As I mentioned, for some reason, the eSIM in my iPhone 16 Pro Max could not be transferred. I did not anticipate this being much of an issue because you can always use Settings to perform the transfer. This is what I ended up doing. This entire process of going through Settings to transfer the eSIM from my iPhone 15 Pro Max to my iPhone 16 Pro Max took about 5 minutes, but this seemed to have other ramifications.

iMessage

After the eSIM was transferred, I wanted to make sure that I could send messages. However, nothing was showing. So I went to Settings to verify that I was signed into iMessage, but it indicated I was not. I attempted to sign in, but I could not sign in. It just kept spinning and spinning. I decided to leave this until after all of my apps and songs finished re-downloading.

Home app

Another item which did not have anything was the Home app. Nothing was showing, and when I mean nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. There were none of my accessories, none of the controls, nothing was showing. Like iMessage, I left this until later.

Apple Watch

One thing that did not show at all during the transfer was my Apple Watch. Typically, this does transfer without any issue. Much like the eSIM transfer, I needed to complete this step manually. When I opened up the Apple Watch app, I saw this screen:

I attempted to finish the pairing. The first time it just sat there and did nothing. I then forced the Apple Watch app to quit and attempted to finish the pairing again. This time it was just spinning and spinning, much like when I tried to sign into iMessage. I am not sure what it was doing. I initially thought it might have been performing a backup before pairing the watch, but it just sat there, much longer than it should have taken.

Ultimately, I could have just skipped this entirely because I also purchased a new Apple Watch Series 10. It probably would have been more prudent to just set up that instead. But, I preferred to have everything else working before setting up the new Apple Watch, just in case there was an issue and I needed to erase and set up the new iPhone again.

The Fix

Knowing the first rule of any troubleshooting, I decided to reboot my iPhone 16 Pro Max. After it finished rebooting, guess what? iMessage showed all of my addresses, my Home accessories were showing again, and I was able to finish pairing my Series 9 Apple Watch. Thinking about this now, I am guessing there was actually an issue with my Apple Account not fully signing in. It signed in enough to redownload my apps and all of my songs, but obviously not enough to synchronize the remaining iCloud items. Regardless, I finished doing the setup of everything. Now that we have covered the setup, let us look at the actual device now, starting with the color.

Color

Apple's "Pro" and "Pro Max" line of phones generally only have a limited number of colors. In fact, this is only the second year for titanium; Apple has had three standard titanium colors: natural, white, and black. There is a fourth option: last year it was Blue Titanium, and this year it is Desert Titanium.

While I was waiting in line to pick up my iPhone, I had a conversation with the person behind me who was also buying a new iPhone. I had mentioned that the Desert was a bit too "gold" for me, and he agreed. He opted for the Natural because it was better than the White Titanium, and he wanted something different than the Black. I opted for the Black. I am not a fan of anything gold; I cannot articulate the exact reason, but it is just not for me. I thought about getting the Natural Titanium, but ended up getting Black Titanium.

Apple's "Space Gray", "Black," and "Jet Black" are all various shades of gray, with some obviously being darker than others. The Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max is a dark color, much darker than the Blue Titanium on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. It is, of course, not the darkest iPhone color that Apple has had, not by a long shot. The phone that has the honor of being the darkest iPhone still belongs to the Jet Black iPhone 7. Which was a glossy black.

Next, let us look at two other changes, the Screen Size and Dimensions.

Screen Size and Dimensions

Since the introduction of the original iPhone, the size of the screen has steadily gotten larger. The first increase was in 2012, five years after the initial introduction, with the iPhone 5. The screen went from a 3.5-inch screen to a 4-inch screen. The next change was just two years later in 2014 when two new models were released, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. These had screen sizes of 4.7 and 5.5 inches, respectively. In 2017, when the iPhone X was released, it had a 5.85-inch screen. 2018 brought three new models; the iPhone XS with a 5.85-inch screen, the XS Max which had a 6.46-inch screen, and the iPhone XR with a 6.1-inch screen.

In 2020, the iPhone 12 line introduced 4 models. The 12 mini had a 5.4-inch screen, the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro both had a 6.1-inch screen, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max had a 6.7-inch screen. The iPhone 14 line in 2022 replaced the 5.4-inch mini with the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus. So, from 2007 to 2023, there were a total of 9 different screen sizes:

1. 3.5-inch
2. 4-inch
3. 4.7-inch
4. 5.4-inch
5. 5.5-inch
6. 5.85-inch
7. 6.1-inch
8. 6.46-inch
9. 6.7-inch

Now, with the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, we can add two more sizes, the 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Pro and the 6.9-inch iPhone 16 Pro Max. This means that the screen size has increased by 3.3% and 3% respectively. At the same time that the screen has increased, the dimensions of the iPhone 16 Pro Max have increased, but ever so slightly.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max was 159.9mm tall, 76.7mm wide, and had a depth of 8.25mm. Comparatively, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 163.0mm tall, 77.6mm wide, and has a depth of 8.25mm. This means that the overall difference is 1.9% taller and 1.2% wider. This is so very minuscule, but then how does Apple get a 3% bigger screen, with such a small change in physical size? That is simple: the bezels around the screen are even smaller than on the previous iPhone 15 Pro Max. Smaller bezels mean that you will see even more screen, without needing to necessarily increase the physical size.

Even though the screen size has changed, the technology powering it is the same. The 16 Pro Max has a "Super Retina XDR Display" with a 120Hz ProMotion display and an Always-On Display. The iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max also had this same display.

The screen itself is not much different, at least not at first glance. It still has the 120Hz ProMotion display, which many users might not even really notice a difference between the 60Hz and 120Hz displays.

When you first look at the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the 6.9-inch screen is not a significant difference from the 6.7-inch screen on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, I actually ended up using the iPhone 15 Pro Max for a bit after I had gotten accustomed to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and I did notice that the physical size difference is actually noticeable. When I used the iPhone 15 Pro Max again, it did seem a bit smaller in my hands. It was nothing like going from the 4-inch iPhone 5s to the iPhone 6 Plus, but it was still noticeable.

There is one significant change that might be quite useful in low-light situations, and that change is the fact that the minimum brightness for the screen has gone down to 1 nit. This means that you will be able to have less light coming out of your phone's screen, which can not only save battery power but also makes it less likely that you will hurt your eyes if you wake the screen in a dark room. Now that we have seen the changes with the screen, let us move onto another slight difference: the battery and weight.

Battery and Weight

The fact that the size of the device increased, albeit marginally, means that there is more room for a battery. In fact, according to Apple, the battery life in the 16 Pro Max has increased over the 15 Pro Max. The iPhone 15 Pro Max had 29 hours of video playback, 25 hours of video playback when streamed, and 95 hours of audio playback. The iPhone 16 Pro Max increases the numbers by 13%, 16%, and 10% respectively. This results in 35 hours of video playback, 29 hours of streamed video playback, and 105 hours of audio playback.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max had a battery size of 4,422 milli-Amp hours, or mAh. The extra space within the iPhone 16 Pro Max is filled with a battery, which can help lead to longer battery life. According to Tom's Guide, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 4,685 milli-Amp hour battery. This is a modest increase of 5.95%. Even though this is not a huge increase, it is still an increase and any improvement in the battery is a welcome change.

The weight of the iPhone 16 Pro Max has actually increased a bit. Last year with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the weight went down due to the titanium frame. But due to the larger screen and increased dimensions and battery, the overall weight has increased.

• 11 Pro Max: 7.97 ounces (226 grams) - Stainless Steel
• 12 Pro Max: 8.03 ounces (228 grams) - Stainless Steel
• 13 Pro Max: 8.46 ounces (240 grams) - Stainless Steel
• 14 Pro Max: 8.46 ounces (240 grams) - Stainless Steel
• 15 Pro Max: 7.81 ounces (221 grams) - Titanium
• 16 Pro Max: 7.99 ounces (227 grams) - Titanium

This is a good representation of how the different metals make a true difference. Even with an increase of 0.2 inches in the screen, the overall weight is only up 6 grams, or 2.7%. The difference is not really noticeable in day-to-day usage, but if you are explicitly trying to notice the difference, you might be able to.

It is unlikely that you will ever actually experience the optimal battery numbers provided above, but they are still a good comparison so you can expect improved battery life. Some of this battery life is due to the actual battery, but some of it must be attributed to the processor. Let us cover that next.

A18 Pro

Once there were at least two sizes of iPhones available for purchase, one might suspect that there would be some bifurcation between the models, in terms of what is actually powering the device. However, this did not happen, at least not until 2022. When the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro lines were released, only the iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max got a new processor, the A16 Bionic. The regular iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus received the A15 Bionic, the same chip as the year before. With the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro, this happened again. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus received the A16 Bionic that was previously in the 14 Pro/Pro Max. In the case of the 15 Pro and Pro Max, they received an entirely new chip, the A17 Pro. It should not be a surprise that Apple would not have the A17 in both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro lines. The reason for this is that Apple sells nearly 100 million of the latest iPhone models every year, and manufacturing that many A17 Pros was just not possible.

The A17 Pro was a one-off System on a Chip, or SOC. The A17 Pro was the first 3-nanometer chip in an iPhone; however, it was using a process that TSMC called "N3". This process proved to be more expensive and had worse overall viable products (yields) using that process. Apple would not abandon using a 3nm chip; instead, the A18 Pro uses the second-generation 3nm process called N3E.

The N3E process has better yields, and from a technical perspective, is a better process. According to Apple, the Neural Engine of the A18 Pro is capable of 35 trillion operations per second (TOPS). This is the same as the A17 Pro, but the A18 Pro is faster due to increased memory bandwidth. Specifically, there is 17% more memory bandwidth, bringing the iPhone 15 Pro Max to around 479.2 gigabits per second, or 59.90 gigabytes per second. The reason that memory bandwidth is important is because each of the processors within the A18 Pro, the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, all have direct access to the memory, and when one of the processors performs the actions necessary, the next processor can perform its actions. The more memory bandwidth, the faster the process can complete.

Just like the A17 Pro compared to the A16 Bionic, the A18 Pro has some features that are not present in the A18. Most notably, there continues to be USB 3 speeds, of up to 10 gigabits per second, which was really useful when transferring data from my iPhone 15 Pro Max to my iPhone 16 Pro Max.

One of the areas where the improved memory bandwidth might be useful is when you are using the Camera, so let us look at that now.

Camera

I will be the first to admit that I am not a professional photographer, but I still enjoy taking photos. If anybody was to inquire as to why I buy a new iPhone every year, I would say that "I am not buying a new phone, I am buying a new camera and it just happens to have a phone". On the one hand, I am being a bit facetious, because I do use the iPhone for the apps more than the camera. At the same time, though, it is actually true. I do prefer to have the best camera I can get. It is Apple's intent to have the Pro and Pro Max be the same, except for the screen size. Whenever this is technologically feasible, they do this. But when it is not possible, the better camera features end up in the highest-end phone.

In 2014, with the iPhone 6, the best camera possible was on the iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6 Plus had optical image stabilization within the camera. Similarly, in 2016 on the iPhone 7 Plus, you got a second camera, as compared to the single camera on the iPhone 7. With the iPhone 12 Pro Max, you got 2.5x optical zoom, as opposed to 2x on the 12 Pro. Lastly, the 15 Pro Max has a 5x optical zoom, while the 15 Pro only has a 3x optical zoom. This year, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are back to parity in terms of the camera.

One of the new features, which is present on all of the iPhone 16 devices, is the Camera Control button.

Camera Control

It is not often that Apple adds additional physical buttons to the iPhone. Last year with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, Apple replaced the ringer/silent switch for the Action Button. The Action Button is a customizable button that allows you to assign a variety of actions to perform when the button is pressed. These actions could be to toggle ringer/silent, flashlight, opening the camera, toggling an accessibility option, or even running a shortcut, amongst other options.

The Camera Control is the first all-new control on the iPhone that did not replace an existing one. Looking back at the original iPhone, all of the same buttons were present. An on/off button, volume up, volume down, and ringer/silent switch. As mentioned, the ringer/silent button was replaced by the Action button. The Camera Control is a dedicated button, and as the name suggests, specifically designed for the camera.

The Camera Control is a dual-action button. It is both a capacitive button as well as a pressure-sensitive one. The pressure sensitivity means that you can press lightly or heavily, and have different actions occur. The capacitive portion means that you swipe and move between controls.

Selecting a Camera app

Apple's own Camera app is quite capable and is the most used Camera app on the iPhone. However, there are a variety of other camera applications available on iOS. The Camera Control allows you to select which camera app you would prefer to be used when using the button. This can be done by going to Settings -> Camera -> Camera Control.

Once you open the settings page, you can choose which camera app you want to use from the provided list. This list is provided from the apps you already have installed. Some examples might include Camera, Halide, Instagram, Magnifier, and Code Scanner, just to name a few. You can also choose whether to open the camera app using a single click (the default), or a double-click.

Next, let us cover how to use Camera Control.

Using Camera Control

Camera Control provides you with an easy way of being able to open your selected camera app and then control various aspects of the camera's functions. As mentioned above, Camera Control is a dual-featured button. The pressure-sensitive button that allows you to click and the capacitive button allows you to drag your finger along to adjust the current value. The default app for use is Apple's Camera app.

To open the Camera app, simply press the Camera Control button once, or double-click if you modified the setting. The default control to adjust is the zoom. If you swipe your finger across the Camera Control, the current value will be changed. If you swipe left, it will zoom out, and swiping right will zoom in. This is very much like zooming in on the Camera app itself.

You can lightly double-click on the Camera Control button, and you will be able to select the feature to switch to. For Apple's Camera app, you can use from the following:

• Exposure
• Depth
• Zoom
• Cameras
• Photographic Styles
• Tone

To select an item, swipe to your preferred item, and then lightly click once and your selection will be confirmed. You can then use the camera. There is one thing to note. If you press firmly on the Camera Control button, it will become a shutter and it will take a photo with your given parameters. If you continue to press, a video capture session will start.

As I was using the Camera Control button, I was attempting to figure out why Apple would include a dedicated button specifically for the Camera. I think there are a couple of reasons for this decision. The first is that the Camera is one of the most used features of the iPhone, so having a dedicated button makes sense. If Apple only wanted to provide quick access to open the camera app, this is already covered by the Lock Screen control as well as the Action Button, so I think there is more.

The second reason, and the more likely reason, is that the Camera app can be a bit complicated for some users. All of the features of the Camera app are hidden behind buttons, and having all of the standard options available from a single location may allow users to take even better photos with all of the tools at their fingertips.

The last reason, as I can surmise, is that having the Camera Control button does make the iPhone 16 Pro Max feel a bit more like a standard digital camera. This is enhanced by the fact that the Camera Control button is placed approximately in the same place that someone would place their index finger when using a digital camera. Furthermore, having all of the controls at your fingertips does make it easier to adjust the settings if needed, without needing to look at the full screen.

Being able to change settings for the camera without needing to move your finger can be quite useful when you are framing your photo, and having to change something could be distracting. Now, you can change settings without needing to move your eyes too far.

It should be noted that not every single feature is available within the Camera Control button. For instance, you cannot change the current function. What this means is that if you want to switch from a Photo to a Video, or even a panoramic photo, you will still need to swipe along the screen as you would do previously.

Apple does have a support guide that will show you how to Use the Camera Control on all of the iPhone 16 models. Let us now look at another improvement, which is camera-related, and that is the Ultra Wide Camera.

Ultra Wide Camera

Going all the way back to the original iPhone, each iPhone has had at least one camera. Particularly in the early days, the camera was not of the best quality, but it was there. In fact, from 2007 to 2015, there was only a single rear camera available on all iPhones. The iPhone 7 Plus, introduced in 2016, changed this. The iPhone 7 Plus was the first device to have a dual camera system, while the iPhone 7 kept the single "Main" camera.

At the time, Apple identified the two cameras as the "Main" camera and the "Telephoto" camera. The dual camera system on the iPhone 7 Plus introduced a feature common today: an easy way to switch between multiple lenses just by tapping on a button.

The next big change was in 2019, with the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max. These two devices were the first to introduce the Triple Camera system that has since become common on the Pro and Pro Max phones. The three rear cameras were all 12-megapixel lenses, with various aperture sizes. Apple labeled these as the "Main", "Telephoto", and "Ultra Wide" camera.

The 11, 12, and 13 Pro and Pro Max devices all had the triple camera system. Each of the cameras was 12 megapixels. Over these three devices, the aperture size went from ƒ/2.4 on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the 12 Pro Max had the same aperture, and the 13 Pro Max improved to an aperture size of ƒ/1.8. As a note, the larger the aperture, the more light that can be let in.

Apple's camera system is a combination of both hardware and software. The triple camera system on the Pro and Pro Max has remained unchanged from the iPhone 14 Pro Max to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. THe iPhone 16 Pro Max largely follows this, except for one aspect but more on that presently. The "Main" camera is a 48 megapixel ƒ/1.78 aperture, while the Telephoto is a 12 megapixel ƒ/2.8 aperture lens. The Ultra Wide camera has an aperture of ƒ/2.8.

Starting with the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the main camera became a 48-megapixel camera. This is 4x the number of pixels previously. The 15 Pro Max kept the same configuration as the 14 Pro Max. Comparatively, the ultra-wide cameras have all been 12 megapixels. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has an improved ultra-wide camera; it is now a 48-megapixel sensor.

The 48-megapixel sensor is an improvement in a couple of different ways. The first is that the images are larger; specifically, they have a resolution of 8064 x 6048 pixels. This means that you can get more pixels, which means more information, which means better quality. Therefore, should you compress an image, like creating a JPG, more information will be retained, which should create an overall better image.

The larger ultra-wide does have some additional improvements, specifically with macro photography. This is because the ultra-wide lens is used when taking macro photos, specifically you can have up to 48 megapixel macro photos, which improves the overall quality.

Dolby Vision

There is always something that separates the "Pro" line of phones from the standard line of devices. Some of these include a 120Hz ProMotion display, the Always-On display, Night Mode Portraits, the 5x optical camera lens, LiDAR scanner, and this year, Dolby Vision 4K video at 120 frames per second.

For over a decade, video recording has been a primary feature of the iPhone. In 2015, with the release of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus, Apple added 4K video recording at 25 fps or 30 fps. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus added two more options, 24 fps and 60 fps.

You might initially think "it can't be that much better", but actually, it is. Similar to the ultra-wide camera improvements, having video record at 120 frames per second is a significant improvement. Doubling the number of frames results in smoother video. As you can see from the two items below:

You are able to record at 120 frames per second in a standard video, but you can also do the same in a Slo motion video, which is a nice improvement in quality for those types of videos as well.

As you might suspect, taking video at twice the number of frames per second can increase the size of the video. As an example, the original size of the windmill videos above are substantially different. The iPhone 15 Pro Max 60 fps video is 204.7 MB and the iPhone 16 Pro Max 120 fps is 383.2 MB. Below are two more videos; this one is of a train that was going by. The file size comparison is 209.9MB as compared to 391.3MB. So, they use quite a bit more space.

There is one last camera-related item to cover, and that is Photographic Styles.

Photographic Styles

Photos can be an intensely personal thing. What makes it personal could be the subject of the photo, the location, or even just the feeling that a particular photo evokes. Some photographers prefer full-color photos, while others prefer black and white, and yet some prefer sepia-toned photos. Some may prefer a light bokeh effect, while others prefer more of a bokeh effect. Once you gather all of someone's preferences together, it could be considered someone's own personal style.

Alongside the introduction of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, a new feature was introduced called Photographic Styles. Photographic Styles are a way of being able to automatically apply a standard look to all of your photos, specifically one that you like.

With the iPhone 15 Pro Max, you had five different styles: Standard, Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, and Cool. Each of these had its own setting for Tone and Warmth. You could adjust the value if you so chose, between -100 and 100 for either tone or warmth.

Once you selected a Photographic Style, it would be applied automatically to all of your photos; however, you could choose a different photographic style on a photo-by-photo basis. Yet, there was one thing that was absolutely true. Regardless of whichever style, once you have taken a photo with a photographic style applied, you could not change it. If you wanted to change the photographic style, you would need to retake the photo.

The iPhone 16 line of phones takes Photographic Styles to a whole new level. There are a number of enhancements, the first being a whole new range of styles. The new list of Photographic Styles includes:

1. Standard
2. Cool Rose
3. Neutral
4. Rose Gold
5. Gold
6. Amber
7. Vibrant
8. Natural
9. Luminous
10. Dramatic
11. Quiet
12. Cozy
13. Ethereal
14. Muted B&W
15. Stark B&W

Each of these individual photographic styles has its own values for Tone and Color, again it ranges from -100 to 100 for each.

The second enhancement is that under iOS 18 with the iPhone 16 line of phones, Photographic Styles are now modifiable after you take a photo. This means that you do not need to worry if a photo does not look like you wanted, you can adjust it after the fact. It should be noted that only photos that were taken with the iPhone 16 line of phones can be adjusted. Photos not taken on an iPhone 16 device will use the older Photographic Styles.

What this new approach means is that if you took a photo with a Cool Rose style, but now you want to make it a Muted B&W style, you can do so. You can change the Photographic Style by using the following steps:

1. Open Photos.
2. Locate the photo which you want to adjust the Photographic Style on.
3. Open the photo.
4. Click, or tap, on the Edit button.
5. Click, or tap, the "Styles" button.
6. Select the new style that you wish to apply.

There are a couple of things to mention, and keep in mind is that these newer photographic styles are only available on iPhone 16 devices. Any other devices will use the older photographic styles and cannot be adjusted after the fact. The second thing to keep in mind is that this is completely non-destructive, meaning you can easily change your mind at any point and adjust the photo as necessary.

These new photographic styles are a great improvement over the previous photographic styles. The improved selection means that you can more easily find the right photographic style for any of the photos taken with an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Now, there is one last item to discuss. Let us talk about power, specifically MagSafe charging.

MagSafe Charging

As has been the case since the iPhone 12, all new iPhones support MagSafe charging. MagSafe is Apple's take on the Qi charging standard. MagSafe expands upon the standard by including magnets to ensure the iPhone is properly aligned. The iPhone 16 Pro Max supports MagSafe charging and Qi charging. The iPhone 16 Pro Max also supports faster charging via the updated MagSafe charging puck, provided you have a 30-watt or higher power brick connected. The faster charging allows you to charge up to 50% within 30 minutes. This is a 33% improvement in speed over the previous charging puck, which would charge to 50% in 45 minutes.

I bought one of the new MagSafe pucks, and it has a couple of changes. The first is that the cable is braided, which has become the standard for all of Apple's new cables. This does improve the feel should you need to plug or unplug the MagSafe puck. The other change is a very subtle one: the size. The actual size of the charging puck has gotten smaller, not by a lot, but it is absolutely smaller. The reason that I know this is that I have a Twelve South Forte stand that I purchased when Apple announced StandBy mode in June of 2023. The Forte stand is designed to put the MagSafe puck into a specially designed receptacle, which you can then connect your iPhone to the MagSafe puck. The issue comes with the fit. The new MagSafe charging puck more easily falls out of the stand when you attempt to take the iPhone off the puck.

What I have determined is that if you lift up the iPhone and lean it towards the top of the stand, it does not fall out. However, if you try to pull your phone down, it will pull the MagSafe puck out of the receptacle. I hope Twelve South creates an insert that will work for the newer MagSafe puck, and if they do, I will have no problem paying for the new insert. I am not sure if they are going to put forth the effort to do create one or not.

Ultimately, this is not a problem in most situations because it is not likely that you will be using that specific stand, but it is an issue for me. Therefore, it is something to be cognizant about if you plan on purchasing one of the new MagSafe charging pucks.

Obligatory Benchmarks

I have been doing reviews on my website for quite a while now, and when it comes to devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, I always end up putting in some benchmarks. These are designed to provide a comparison to comparable devices. The devices that I compare within these reviews are ones that I have on hand at the time of the review. This review is no exception. These benchmarks have been done using the Geekbench 6 on each of the platforms below.

When looking at all of these benchmarks, they all make sense. The M4 is the device that has the highest results, and it is the most powerful device. Next is the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The remainder are all in order according to when they were released.

One of the latest benchmarking utilities is a tool called Geekbench AI, formerly Geekbench ML. According to Geekbench AI developer Primate Labs, Inc.:

Geekbench AI is a cross-platform AI benchmark that uses real-world machine learning tasks to evaluate AI workload performance. Geekbench AI measures your CPU, GPU, and NPU to determine whether your device is ready for today's and tomorrow's cutting-edge machine learning applications.

So, here are those benchmarks. I did not do the CPU calculations on these devices because while AI can run on the CPU, quite often it is handled by the GPU or Neural Engine.

As is the case with the CPU and GPU benchmarks, the Geekbench AI benchmarks follow the same order, with the M4 iPad having the highest results. When you compare the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, there is a substantial improvement. The Neural Engine's single-precision result is 17% better, while the half and quantized are around 37% each. Similarly, the GPU results are 18%, 21%, and 19% respectively. This is a decent year-over-year improvement.

A good comparison is actually to compare the original M1 with the A18 Pro. When you compare these, the improvements made in just four years are not too bad either. For the GPU, single precision is 40.93%, half precision is 17.1%, and quantized is a 41.2% improvement. Now, the biggest gains are with the Neural Engine. The Neural Engine's single-precision result has improved 40.2% over the M1, which is a good change. The half and quantized are an even larger improvement. These are 236.2% and 322.2%. These two are incredible improvements, and just in four years.

Closing Thoughts

The iPhone 16 Pro Max may initially seem like an incremental update over the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and in some aspects, it is. However, there are a number of improvements. Some of these are hardware, and some are software. In terms of hardware, the iPhone 16 Pro Max now sports a 6.9-inch screen. This is a 0.2-inch increase, but the physical size of the device has also had a modest increase to accommodate the new screen size. The device could have been bigger, but Apple reduced the bezels even further to help minimize the size change. The battery life of the iPhone 16 Pro Max has increased to 33 hours for video, 29 hours for streamed video, and up to 105 hours for audio playback. Part of the battery life increase is due to the nearly 6% larger battery, but that is not the only reason.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is powered by the A18 Pro. This brings the iPhone 16 line back into having the same general line of processors. The A18 Pro has 17% more memory bandwidth than the A17 Pro. While this increased bandwidth may require incrementally more battery, the increased bandwidth means that tasks can be accomplished even faster, which ultimately reduces battery usage. Beyond this, the A18 Pro uses the new "N3E" manufacturing process, which is TSMC's latest 3-nanometer process. This process results in 32% less power for the same speeds.

The A18 Pro has enabled a whole new camera system, the Fusion Camera system. This system allows you to take a variety of photos, and the best camera will be used. There are a bunch of camera-related changes with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The first is the new Camera Control. This new button is more than just a shutter button, although it can be used as such, the Camera Control is used to select various features of the camera. This includes the specific camera to use, the zoom, exposure, depth, Photographic Style, or tone. The Camera Control is not just a standard button; it is also capacitive, meaning you can slide your finger to adjust values. Camera Control is not limited to Apple's camera app, you can use any supported third-party app as your default.

When you do use it on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, you will likely see some significant enhancements, particularly with the Ultra-Wide camera. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 48 Megapixel sensor, this is 4x the previous 12 Megapixel camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This will improve not only our RAW photos but also all photos that you take with the Ultra-Wide camera. In particular, macro photos are improved because they can now be 48 Megapixels because taking a macro photo will use the Ultra-Wide camera.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is capable of using the Photographic Styles. For photos taken with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, you can take a photo with a Photographic Style already applied, or you can apply one, or even choose a different one, after the fact. This can be done on both iOS 18, iPadOS 18, as well as on macOS Sequoia. Only the photos taken with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, or any other iPhone 16 device, can use these Photographic Styles, but being able to change them after the fact is a great upgrade.

Beyond the new Ultra-Wide camera, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is capable of recording in 4K Dolby Vision at 120 frames per second. This is double the previous frame rate of 60 frames per second. Additionally, slow-motion videos can also be recorded at 120 frames per second.

There are a few smaller changes to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, including Wi-Fi 7, the first Apple device to support the latest Wi-Fi standard. The second is that you can record in SpatialAudio due to the new microphone array, which has wind noise reductions applied. You can also take Spatial Photos.

If you have an iPhone 13 or older, you cannot go wrong with any of the iPhone 16 line of devices. The iPhone 16 Pro Max continues to have the largest screen, and supports the best camera system that Apple has offered to date. The iPhone 16 Pro Max will support Apple Intelligence, which has not yet been released, but will be over the course of the year. While the iPhone 16 Pro Max may be a less substantial update, as compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it is a fantastic update for anybody using an older iPhone.

It might be hard to believe, but it has been just over a decade ago since the Apple Watch was announced. I have owned an Apple Watch since May 1st of 2015. In the almost 9.5 years of owning an Apple Watch, I have seen it go from being an "iPhone Replacement" to primarily being used as a Health and Fitness device. It can be argued that the original Apple Watch was released a bit too early. The original Apple Watch was a bit slow, relying too heavily on the iPhone. Even today, the Apple Watch still requires an iPhone to even begin to be paired, but once paired, the Apple Watch is able to do a lot more on its own.

I am not a typical user when it comes to some of my devices. What I mean by this is that I upgrade my iPhone and Apple Watch each year. Given that I have owned an Apple Watch not long after it was released, it means that I have owned 9 different Apple Watches to date. I have purchased the aluminum version of each Apple Watch, in the largest screen size available.

In 2022, when the Apple Watch Ultra was announced, I thought about getting that version, but decided to stick with the aluminum model. Last year when Apple announced the Apple Watch Ultra 2, I again thought about getting it, but there was no dark version. Apple did finally announce the Black Apple Watch Ultra 2, and not the Ultra 3. Besides new bands and the new color, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 still has the S9 System in Processor (SIP), so I opted not to buy the Ultra 2. Therefore, once again, I have gotten the latest Aluminum Apple Watch. This time the Apple Watch Series 10.

You might think that it is somewhat straightforward to compare a device to its immediate predecessor, and sometimes it is, and sometimes it is not. It depends on what new features there are on the Apple Watch. This year I will be reviewing the Apple Watch Series 10 and comparing it to the Series 9, when appropriate. With that, let us get started on the review of the Series 10, starting with the color.

Color

The Apple Watch has come in a wide variety of colors over the years, including Space Black, Silver, Rose Gold, and PRODUCT(RED), just to name a few examples. Much like the "Pro" and "Pro Max" iPhones, the Apple Watch has come in a unique color since 2019, with the release of the Series 6. For the Series 6, it was Gold; Series 7 was Green; Series 8 was PRODUCT(RED); Series 9 was Pink; and now the Series 10 has its own color set. The available colors are Silver, Gold, and Jet Black.

I am not one to have a bright watch, so for me, I prefer more subtle colors. For all Apple Watches from the original to the Series 6, I opted for Space Gray; for the Series 7, 8, and 9, I chose Midnight. For the Series 10, I have opted for Jet Black. As was the case in past years, I opted for the darker color. I do not like the color Gold, so that one was out. Silver is a good choice because it is an entirely neutral option, but it is a bit too bright for my personal liking, so that meant Jet Black.

If you remember the iPhone 7, you may remember that there was also a Jet Black option for that phone, which was a darker color than the standard Black that was offered. The Jet Black Apple Watch Series 10 takes some of its cues from the Jet Black iPhone. Of course, the first is the name and the fact that both are a black color. The second aspect is the glossy nature of the Apple Watch Series 10.

All Apple Watches will reflect some light from the device, but the previous aluminum Apple Watches have all had more of a matte finish. Not the Jet Black Apple Watch Series 10, nope, it is very glossy, and more light will be noticeable.

Overall, having a glossy black Apple Watch has not been a problem. I have not really noticed the glossy aspects, unless I happen to be really looking for a reflection. Having the darker color means that it might go with more clothing than previous models.

Physical Characteristics

The Apple Watch is primarily a screen, a battery, and a system-on-a-chip. Yes, there are health sensors and buttons, but the primary interaction method is the screen, the digital crown, and the side button. Each version of the Apple Watch does make its own enhancements and tradeoffs in order to provide the best experience for users. The Apple Watch Series 10 has its own set of physical changes. Let us look at each, starting with the size.

Physical Size

The original 2015 Apple Watch came in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm. There was no functional difference between the two models, just a size difference. Three years later in 2018, the Apple Watch Series 4 increased the size of the screen options to 40mm and 44mm, about a 5% increase. In 2021, the Apple Watch Series 7 increased the size again, this time to 41mm and 45mm, this time it was approximately a 2.5% increase. This made the Series 7 approximately 7.8% larger than the original Apple Watch.

Again, three years after the last size change, there is another one. The Apple Watch Series 10 has increased to 42mm and 46mm.

Each screen size increase has been noticeable, but none of them have been jarring. The same can be said going from 45mm to 46mm. The absolute increase is merely a 2.22 percent increase. This is a minor increase over the 45mm. However, the 45mm was only a small increase over the 44mm. Even with the modest increase, the Series 7 provided a new option, a full keyboard. The increase to 46mm actually allows for some enhancements. This includes one additional line of text in apps like Mail and Messages, which may not seem like a lot, but it can actually provide more screen space.

Just like the increase from 44mm to 45mm being a minor increase, if you look at the comparison of the 46mm to the original 42mm, it is a more substantial increase. The difference is approximately a 9.52% increase in size, which is a substantial increase. The smaller Apple Watch model has received a similar size increase over the last ten years, specifically it has been 10.5%.

One of the items that is directly related to the size is the weight of the Apple Watch. So let us look at this next.

Weight

Each Apple Watch is an opportunity for Apple to adjust the internals. One of the benefits of increasing the physical size of the screen is that it provides a bit more area for housing components of the Apple Watch. If you have more area, you can possibly spread out components.

Even with the increase in size of the screen of the Apple Watch over the years, the depth of the Apple Watch has remained largely the same. The original Apple Watch was 10.5mm in depth, the Series 2 and 3 increased to 11.4mm in depth, and the Series 4 to Series 9 all went back down to 10.7mm in depth. The Apple Watch Series 10 changes this dramatically. In fact, the Series 10 is the thinnest Apple Watch that Apple has created. In fact, it is 9.4% smaller on your wrist than previous models. The Apple Watch Series 10 is 9.7mm in depth, and this is absolutely noticeable.

You might think that this could be an optical illusion. In order to indicate that it is indeed a difference, here is a screenshot of the same photo, with the level indicator:

With the decrease in depth, the weight of the Series 10 has also decreased. The Series 10 has gone down to 36.4 grams, which is down from 38.7 grams on the Series 9. This is a modest savings in terms of weight, and you may not notice the difference on a day-to-day basis, but any reduction in weight is a welcome change nonetheless. Let us now look at the screen on the Apple Watch Series 10.

Screen

The Apple Watch has maintained the same pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. This has been the pixel density since the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018. This remains true for the Series 10. One of the bigger changes is the type of technology behind the screen. The Apple Watch Series 4 introduced a new technology, a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide, or LTPO, screen. The Series 4 did not utilize all of the features of this technology.

The benefit of the LTPO screen is that it can reduce the amount of power used, which is made possible by adjusting the refresh rate. This screen technology is what makes the Always-On feature plausible. Specifically with the ability to have refresh rates down to 10Hz. The Series 10 includes an LTPO3 display, which is the third generation of the LTPO display. The change with this version is that it can go down to 1Hz, which can reduce battery consumption even further, particularly useful for a watch that has an Always-On display. The screen technology is not the only change.

If you are wearing your Apple Watch, you might not consciously think about it, but there are many times throughout the day when you actually end up looking at your watch, at some sort of angle. This could be when you are typing and you want to catch the current time, or it could be glancing at a notification that just came in. It could also be while you are exercising and want to see the current heart rate or split time. The Apple Watch Series 10 has been designed to allow you to see the screen while viewing it at an angle.

The Apple Watch Series 10 has what Apple is calling a "Wide‑angle OLED" display. This does not necessarily mean that according to Apple, the viewable angle of the Series 10 is the same, but the screen should be 40% brighter when viewing the Series 10 at an angle. This means that it should be easier to see when you are not directly looking at it.

When I first started using the Apple Watch Series 10, I did not think that there was a big difference when viewing the Apple Watch at an angle. However, while I was working on this review, I did end up noticing that the screen is indeed brighter when viewing the Apple Watch at an off angle. It might not seem like it is all that useful, but I can see how it might be helpful for those instances when you really do need it.

On the topic of features that you might not use that often, there is another one, the speaker.

Speaker

The Apple Watch has always had a speaker; however, you have only been capable of using it in limited situations. The speaker can be used for notification sounds, making noise while ejecting water through the speakers, and you can even use it for phone calls. With the Series 10, there is another usage: listening to music.

Typically, you would not want to listen to any sustained audio on a speaker unless that is the intended use case of the device, like the Beats Pill. The reason you want to avoid doing so is because when you use the speaker on the Apple Watch or on the iPhone for that matter, it requires a lot more energy to play audio through the speaker. This makes sense because it takes a lot of power to move the speaker, which transmits the audio.

I went looking for the actual speaker on the Series 10 and went to compare it to the Series 9, and I was a bit surprised by what I saw. On the Series 10, the speakers look just like a standard set of speakers, being a series of holes that are placed to produce the best sound. What was more interesting is the Series 9. Instead of having speaker holes, there is a slot.

If you shine a light on the slot, you will see there is a grate, but I find it intriguing that it was actually a slot. It is not that I did not know it was a slot, but I do not typically pay much attention to the speaker because I do not use it much at all since I always have my Apple Watch set to be silent.

Playing music from the Apple Watch

The manner in which you actually play music may not be the most intuitive. In order to play a song on the Series 10, use the following steps:

1. Open the Music app on your Apple Watch.
2. Tap on the "…" icon in the upper right corner.
3. Tap on the "AirPlay" button.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the list.
5. Tap on "Control Other Speakers & TV".
6. Tap on "Apple Watch".
7. Tap on the "Play" button to begin playing music.

As mentioned, the steps for being able to play music through the speaker can be a bit obscure, but it does indeed work. Now, let us talk about the actual experience.

Speaker Experience

I tested the speaker by playing a song that I synchronized to my watch. That song is "Good Luck, Babe" by Chapell Roan. As you might have guessed, it was not the most bass-heavy result. You cannot expect a lot of bass out of such a small speaker, but even without the bass, any music that you do play is actually listenable.

I have been trying to come up with a plausible use case for this, and it finally occurred to me that this could be useful if you would like to listen to music while going to sleep but you do not want to use your phone.

It is not likely that many will use the speaker for playing music, but when you need it, it can be a useful thing to have. Do not forget to be considerate of others while in public; not everybody may want to listen to the same music. As mentioned above, it takes a lot of power to play music through the speaker. If you do happen to use the music playing option often, you may find yourself needing to charge your Apple Watch more. On the topic of the battery, let us cover that next.

Battery

Given the physical size and the various features of the Apple Watch, it is not expected to have multi-day battery life. For most, they end up charging every day. There are some users who will partially charge their Apple Watch multiple times per day. Even with all that the Apple Watch does, Apple states that it does get "All-day battery". Specifically, according to their claims, the Apple Watch gets 18 hours of battery life. In fact, every single Apple Watch has indicated it gets 18 hours of battery life.

Given that I am close to an Apple Watch charger most of the time, I typically charge my watch a couple of times a day. Normally, for my Apple Watch reviews, I do not change my charging habits. However, I decided to test Apple's claims of battery life. Since I use the Sleep Tracking features overnight, I end up charging just before going to bed.

I charged my watch and I removed it from the charger at 7:57 p.m. At that point, it was at 96%. I went through my day as normal, exercised once, and about 23 hours later, the battery level was still at 22%. This is well beyond the 18-hour battery claims, which is definitely a good thing.

There are ways of extending your battery life, like turning off the Always-On display and putting your Apple Watch into "Theatre Mode", just to name a couple. However, the options that you have are limited, and these will not stop the Apple Watch from performing actions in the background.

Last year, with the introduction of the Series 9, Apple introduced a whole new feature, Low Power Mode. When you put your Apple Watch into Low Power Mode, background tasks will be reduced so that your battery will last even longer. This can be particularly useful if you are not able to charge right away but want to still use your Apple Watch. I did not test Low Power mode, so I do not know if Apple's claims of 36 hours of battery life are accurate, but even if it is not 36 hours, it is likely close to it.

I was thinking about the fact that I still had 22% battery power remaining after 23 hours of usage, but I wonder if my battery level would have been lower if one of the apps was still available. More on that a bit later. Let us look at another battery-related item: charging.

Charging

When the Apple Watch was introduced, Apple indicated that the Apple Watch had magnetic charging. The physical size of the Apple Watch has meant that it might not be plausible to use standard chargers, like a Qi charging puck. Therefore, a special charger was needed. The inability to use a standard charging puck can be particularly true depending on the type of band that you have on your Apple Watch. As an example, if you have a Solo Loop attached to your Apple Watch, it is not possible to get the Apple Watch around a standard Qi charging puck.

Instead, you would need a way of charging. For these situations, you need a way of being able to charge while keeping the band connected. Therefore, Apple opted to create a custom charging puck, one that fit perfectly on the bottom of the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Charger originally had a USB-A connection, but it has since been converted to USB-C.

The charging puck had one significant benefit: it is magnetic. In fact, Apple's MagSafe charging for the iPhone was likely influenced by the Apple Watch magnet, as well as MagSafe introduced on the MacBooks back in 2006. Having a magnetic charger makes it much easier to be assured that your Apple Watch will be charged when you need it. However, if your Apple Watch battery is low, it may take some time to get a sufficient charge. Starting with the Apple Watch Series 7 in 2021, Apple offered an additional option: fast charging.

According to Apple's statistics, fast charging on the Series 7, 8, and 9 can charge from 0% to 80% in 45 minutes. This is not a bad amount of time at all. Being able to get a sufficient charge in 45 minutes is probably plenty of time for most people. Yet, there is room for improvement.

The Apple Watch Series 10 improves on this by allowing fast charging to occur from 0% to 80% in 30 minutes. This is a significant 33% faster charge time, but there is a caveat. In order to get the 30-minute fast charging, you will need a 20-watt power adapter, or higher, in order to be able to get the maximum fast charging with the Series 10. While it may not always be needed, fast charging to 80% within 30 minutes can be useful when you really do need to charge your Apple Watch quickly.

One of the reasons that you might need to make sure that you have sufficient charge on your Apple Watch is so you can do some sleep tracking, and there is a new feature to look at: Sleep Apnea.

Sleep Apnea

Even though the Apple Watch was originally intended to be an "iPhone replacement", complete with all sorts of apps, it has not turned out that way; and that is a good thing. Instead, the Apple Watch is best used for notifications, health, and fitness tracking. Over the years, new health features have been added including the Blood Oxygen sensor, ECG app, and Sleep Tracking, just to name a few. Well, another item can be added to that list, Sleep Apnea.

If you have an Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, or an Apple Watch Series 10, you can get some information regarding whether or not you possibly experience Sleep Apnea. According to the Mayo Clinic, "Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.". Apple has some information about Sleep Apnea as well. According to Apple:

Sleep apnea is a common and treatable disorder that negatively impacts people's health and quality of life. Despite advances in public awareness about the importance of sleep, most cases of sleep apnea remain undiagnosed. Apple Watch can track Breathing Disturbances during sleep and provide notifications of possible sleep apnea if Breathing Disturbances values reach a level associated with moderate to severe sleep apnea.

There are actually two components to the Sleep Apnea feature. The first is a measurement for "Breathing Disturbances". This is the main aspect of the Sleep Apnea feature. The second portion is the actual notification. With iOS 18, you may possibly get a notification indicating that you might be experiencing Sleep Apnea, but only if the number of disturbances can be classified as "Elevated" over the course of 30 days. As is the case with most of the Apple Watch health features, the data will appear in the Health app on your iPhone.

You might suspect that the Sleep Apnea feature might be powered by the Blood Oxygen sensor, but it is not. In fact, Apple has developed an accelerometer-based algorithm. The algorithm detects the number of breathing disturbances that occur during the evening. It takes into account all three axes of movement of the accelerometer and uses these to determine how many disturbances you have experienced over the course of the evening.

It will take some time before the data can be collected, but it will be collected. It should be mentioned that "…neither component is intended or cleared for use by people who are already diagnosed with sleep apnea." Therefore, if you already have Sleep Apnea, this feature may not be worth enabling. If you do want to set up Sleep Apnea, you can use the following steps:

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on your Avatar in the upper corner.
3. Locate "Sleep Apnea Notifications".
4. Tap on "Set Up".

Here you will be able to follow the steps to enable Sleep Apnea notifications. You can read a lot more about the methodologies and research in the Sleep Apnea Notifications on Apple Watch PDF on the Apple Health website. While on the topic of health, let us talk about a missing feature, the Blood Oxygen Sensor.

Blood Oxygen Sensor

In 2020, medical device company Masimo sued Apple for infringing patents related to the Blood Oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch. The final outcome came in December of 2023, when the International Trade Commission ordered to cease imports of the Series 9 Apple Watch, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2. When the order was made, sales for these devices ceased. Apple appealed and was able to begin selling the devices again, but not until United States Customs and Border Protection was able to determine the changes made by Apple were sufficient. Ultimately, they were. When the devices went back on sale, there was a change: the blood oxygen sensor app was no longer functional.

It has now been more than 9 months after that change was made, and the blood oxygen sensor is still banned in the United States. What does this mean for the Apple Watch Series 10? Apple Watch Series 10 devices are subject to the same restriction, which means that the Blood Oxygen Sensor app is non-functional. As far as anyone can tell, the hardware remains in the device, so if there is a resolution, the app can be re-enabled, but as of this writing, the Blood Oxygen Sensor app is still not enabled.

The fact that there has been no resolution in 9 months is absolutely a failure on Apple's part. That is not to imply that Apple is the party at fault in the dispute, but Apple is the one who controls the design and functionality of the Apple Watch. Many may see the Blood Oxygen Sensor as unnecessary, but removing a previously functional feature is a downgrade. As Apple's own Vice President of Johnny Srouji stated in an interview with Geekerwan "Our goal is to build the best product delivering the absolute best user experience".

The interview is about the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, but it is not a stretch to say that it applies to the Apple Watch as well. Therefore, not having the Blood Oxygen Sensor, in my opinion, does not make it the best product that Apple could make, at least not in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, you are not affected by this ban. In order for Apple to be able to claim that the Apple Watch Series 10 is the best product, it should include the full capabilities of the Blood Oxygen Sensor.

Closing Thoughts

If you are wearing an Apple Watch Series 7, or older, the Apple Watch Series 10 is a great upgrade. The larger screen size may hardly be noticeable, but any increase that allows for more information to be shown on the screen is a welcome one. When you are using the Apple Watch Series 10, you may notice that you can see better when your Apple Watch is at an angle. This is due to the new Wide-angle OLED display on the Series 10.

If you are like me, and prefer a darker Apple Watch, you cannot go wrong with the Jet Black Series 10. This is a darker color than the Series 9 Midnight, and the Jet Black even has a gloss finish to it. While you are looking at the glossy Jet Black, and if you look closely, you may notice that the speaker arrangement is different and this is because the speaker can be used to listen to music. It may not be useful all of the time, but there may be those times when it can come in handy.

Should you find yourself in a situation where you are pressed for time and your Apple Watch is low on battery, you may be in luck. You can now charge from 0 to 80% in about 30 minutes, this is an improvement from the 45 minutes it previously took to get this amount of charge.

If you live in the United States, the decision to upgrade may be a tough one. If you are upgrading from a Series 4 or Series 5, you absolutely should upgrade, not only because of the larger screen, but you will instantly notice the speed increase. Since the Series 4 and 5 did not have a Blood Oxygen sensor, you will not notice any difference. But, if you are upgrading from a Series 6 or newer, and if the Blood Oxygen Sensor is important, you will need to decide if losing the Blood Oxygen sensor is worth the trade-off.

There are numerous occasions throughout a day when you might want to consume some sort of media. This could be a song, a podcast, audiobook, or even a movie. If you are perusing social media, you may come across a video that was shared by someone you follow. If you are in a place where it would not disturb others, you might be able to listen using the speakers on your device. However, that is not likely the case. Quite often there are others about and unless they are watching the content on your screen at the same time, you may want to use headphones.

There are a variety of different headphones types, in ear, on ear, and over the ear. The model of headphones ultimately determines the type of headphone. For me, a vast majority of the time I use a pair of Beats Studio Pros to listen to most of my audio content. I use these at home and at work. The Beats Studio Pros are over the ear headphones, so they are a bit bulky, which is fine at home and work, but does not work while I am out and about. Instead, in those instances, like when I am out grocery shopping, or going out for a walk, I use a pair of AirPods.

It is quite possible that you are aware, but in case you are not, Apple has been in the headphone game for a long time. In fact, they created the "iconic" white headphones that many identify as Apple, back in 2001 when they introduced the original iPod. In the intervening 23 years, they have produced a wide variety of different headphones.

From 2001 to 2014, each new version of the headphones released by Apple, excluding the iPhone Bluetooth headset, connected to devices via a wire. For a majority of the time, Apple utilized a standard 3.5mm, or 1/8-inch, headphone jack. In 2016, Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. You could use a pair of Lightning EarPods, which were just Apple's EarPods but with a lightning cable. There was another option, called AirPods.

AirPods History

In 2016, at the same event that Apple introduced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple introduced a new set of headphones, this time without wires, and they called them AirPods. AirPods are bluetooth headphones that work with any bluetooth-enabled device, but when they are paired with an Apple device they get a few extras. The original AirPods took the shape of the Apple EarPods and basically cut off the wires.

The AirPods offer an easy way to pair the AirPods, which was a tremendous improvement. The pairing was as simple as "Open the Case" and then hit the "Connect" button. Seriously, that was all it took. This was a vast improvement over standard Bluetooth pairing, which may not work that well.

One of the extra features is the fact that your AirPods will appear on ALL of your devices, meaning there is no need to pair your AirPods with each device you wanted to use. Furthermore, you could easily switch between devices by simply using Control Center and selecting the AirPods.

Apple sold the original AirPods until 2019, when they introduced the 2nd generation AirPods. These improved on the previous model by including Siri announcements, provided additional talk time, and even included a wireless charging case that could be purchased.

At the same time that Apple introduced the 2nd generation AirPods, they also introduced a new set of AirPods, the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro introduced a new shape, one that went in ear but also created a seal. The reason for this seal was needed was for a new feature, called Active Noise Cancellation.

A mere two years later, in October of 2021, Apple introduced the 3rd generation AirPods. These took inspiration from the AirPods Pro in shape, but did not have active noise cancellation.

In September of 2022, Apple introduced an updated pair of AirPods Pro, the AirPods Pro 2. These had improved battery life, Bluetooth 5.3, and even included a USB-C charging case.

Now, Apple has released a new set of AirPods, the AirPods 4. I bought a pair of AirPods 4 with Noise Cancellation in hopes of having them fit a bit better than the 3rd generation ones. As a note, I will use AirPods 4 with ANC throughout this post, as a shortened form of the official name, "AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation". Let us now get into the actual device, starting with the pairing experience.

Pairing

As is the case with all of Apple's AirPods. pairing your AirPods to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, is extremely straightforward process. You can simply perform the following steps:

1. Open the case.
2. Watch the popup appear on your iPhone/iPad/Mac.
3. Tap, or Click, on the "Connect" button.

That is it, you are done. Apple has developed all AirPods to make it very very easy to pair your devices. This has always been a nice touch and is so much easier than traditional Bluetooth headphones. It is good to see that the out of box experience for the AirPods has remained the same, because it really is quite elegant. Now, let us move onto the case.

The Case

All AirPods cases have the same general look: a flip top to gain access to the actual AirPods, a charging port at the bottom, a pairing button on the back, and an LED light, on the front or inside, to indicate whether the AirPods are charging. The AirPods 4 with ANC have the same; however, the actual case is a bit smaller, most noticeably in the width. The 3rd generation AirPods case is 2.14 inches (54.40mm) wide. The AirPods 4 with ANC case is 1.97 inches (50.1mm) wide. The height and depth of the two models are very close as well. The 3rd generation AirPods are 1.83 inches tall (46.40mm), and have a depth of 0.84 inches (21.38mm). Comparatively, the AirPods 4 with ANC is 1.82 inches (46.2mm) tall, and has a depth of 0.83 inches (21.2mm). These two are very similar in weight as well. The 3rd generation AirPods case is 1.34 ounces (37.91 grams), and the AirPods 4 with ANC is 1.22 ounces (34.7 grams). This is an 8.5% reduction in weight, which should be somewhat noticeable.

One of the big changes made with the 3rd generation AirPods is the fact that there were two case options. One that allowed you to charge only via a Lightning cable, and another that also offered charging via MagSafe, in addition to Lightning. The MagSafe charging can actually use either any Qi-compatible charger, or you can even use the Apple Watch charger.

The 3rd Generation AirPods that I purchased was a Lightning connection, but it also had the option of charging via MagSafe. However, I almost exclusively used an Apple Lightning Dock for charging. The reason I used this is twofold. First, I already purchased the Lightning Dock, and it was just sitting there. Secondly, I prefer to charge my AirPods overnight, and since I charge my iPhone using a MagSafe adapter, I used the dock for my AirPods.

The AirPods 4 with ANC modify the charging case a tad bit. The first is that you can use a USB-C cable, instead of the previous Lightning cable. The second change is that the MagSafe now supports charging via the Apple Watch Charger. Overall, this is a most welcome change, but it does have one particular downside.

The changes needed to allow the Apple Watch charger to work have made it so that the case for the AirPods 4 with ANC no longer stays in place when you use Apple's MagSafe charging puck. When placed in a horizontal configuration, the AirPods will indeed charge. However, if I put the charging puck vertically, the case does not stay put. This did work with the 3rd generation AirPods.

The fact that the AirPods 4 with ANC supports charging with an Apple Watch charger means that, for me, I will likely be using this method, because for me it is an overall better option. I use the Sleep Tracking features on my Apple Watch, so I do not need the Apple Watch charger overnight; therefore, I should be able to use the Apple Watch Charger instead of needing to plug in the AirPods.

The last feature of the case is the speaker. This is an absolute necessity if you often misplace your AirPods. The reason is that you no longer need to really listen for the sounds when you request that a sound is played within the Find My app. The sound is quite loud and should make it a lot easier to find a pair of missing AirPods. Let us switch gears to look at the actual design of the AirPods themselves.

AirPod Design Changes

When you open up the AirPods 4, you will notice that they look very similar to the 3rd generation AirPods, yet they are subtly different. In fact, they are a mix of the AirPods 2nd Generation and the 3rd generation AirPods. The shape is a bit smaller, but it does still resemble the 3rd generation AirPods.

Another change is the sensor that is used to detect whether the AirPods are in your ears or not. With the 3rd generation AirPods, there was a skin detector. This changes with the AirPods 4 with ANC so that it is now an optical detector. I am sure there are some technical differences between the two, but for all practical purposes, they function the exact same. Therefore, the technology used does not matter all that much.

There are some other changes, like the vents. Instead of being on the back side of the AirPod, as they were on the 3rd generation AirPods, now with the AirPods 4 with ANC, the vents are on the portion of the AirPods that go in your ear, but they do not actually go inside of your ear canal.

These changes are needed because the entire audio system was reworked. Apple's AirPods site states:

Enjoy every note, beat, and vibe. The entirely new acoustic architecture uses an Apple-designed low-distortion driver powered by a custom high dynamic range amplifier. Put simply, you hear music in exceptional detail, with deeper bass and crystal-clear highs.

I can attest that the bass is definitely improved with the new AirPods 4 with ANC. The way that I tested this was by connecting the left AirPod of the AirPods 4 with ANC to my iPhone 16 Pro Max and connecting the right AirPod from my 3rd generation AirPods to my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I then chose a few different songs and listened to them all the way through, completely in sync. The three songs that I chose were:

• "Army" by Lew
• "Ego" by Halsey
• "Midnight City" by M83

In order to make sure everything was the same, I did not use Spatial Audio. I had the audio mode on the AirPods 4 with ANC set to "Off". I could easily hear the new AirPods 4 with ANC more clearly at lower volumes than I could with the 3rd generation AirPods.

Ultimately, the new design really does make an improvement. I also think there was an additional item coming into play with why the AirPods 4 with ANC sounded better, and that is the fit. Let us get a sense of that now.

AirPod Fit

When Apple introduced the 3rd generation AirPods, they mentioned that they took thousands of scans of various ear shapes to be able to create a single shape that fits as many people's ears as possible. All of those scans resulted in the shape seen for the 3rd Generation AirPods.

The 3rd Generation AirPods had a different shape that was designed to have sound go directly into the ear canal. The new shape was designed to fit in more people's ears, but it was not the best fit for everyone. Myself being a prime example. Within my review of the 3rd generation AirPods I stated:

Even though the 3rd generation AirPods do indeed fit in my ears, they do not sit as comfortably as the 2nd generation. The 2nd generation AirPods seem to just have an overall better fit where they rest easily on my ears. Meanwhile, the 3rd generation AirPods tend to stick out a bit more. The 3rd generation still fit in my ears, just not as well. As a tip, be sure to twist them forward after you have put them in your ears; this should help them fit a bit better.

I have been trying to use the 3rd generation AirPods lately, and I will admit that I kept forgetting about the last line in the quote above: "As a tip, be sure to twist them forward after you have put them in your ears; this should help them fit a bit better.". I have been forgetting that you need to twist them forward after you have placed them in your ears. Here is a graphic of what I mean:

Get the right fit with AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro

Now, the AirPods 4 have refined the shape of the AirPods, yet again. If you look at a side-by-side comparison of the 3rd generation AirPods and the AirPods 4 with ANC, you will see that the AirPods 4 have a slightly more narrow shape. Here are the two directly next to each other.

Overall, for me, the AirPods 4 with ANC have a much better fit. If the 3rd generation AirPods did not fit that well for you, it may be worth checking out the AirPods 4 with ANC. Now, let us move to another feature, Siri Announcements.

Siri Announcements

One of the features introduced with the 2nd Generation AirPods was the ability for Siri to announce messages and phone calls. When the feature was introduced, there was no way to indicate what action to take, if any, but now, that changes.

Let us say that you are in a public place and your hands are full and you receive a phone call. Siri will make an announcement saying "Phone call from Johnny Appleseed. Answer it?". When this happens, you have a couple of options. One is to verbally say "No". The second option is to just let it ring and go to voicemail. While you could just let it go to voicemail, this is not the optimal solution. Now, there is another option.

Back in June at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference 24, they announced a new feature coming to the AirPods Pro 2. That feature is the ability to handle a Siri Announcement without looking at your phone, saying anything, or even tapping on your AirPods. You can now make a selection by simply nodding or shaking your head.

When you nod your head, it answers "Yes", similarly, if you shake your head, it means "No". This is made possible through the movement of the accelerometer within the AirPods 4 with ANC. This feature requires an H2 chip, which the AirPods 4 with ANC do indeed have. The AirPods Pro 2 also have this option, and they have an H2 chip.

I do not get that many phone calls, so it is unlikely that I will use this feature often, but for those that do receive a lot of phone calls, this could become an invaluable feature. Let us now hear a bit about the available Audio Modes on the AirPods 4 with ANC.

Audio Modes

Many of Apple's headphones have various types of audio modes that you can use, depending on the audio being played. You can either use Noise Cancellation Mode, Transparency Mode, or even have all audio modes off. There are use cases for each audio mode, so let us hear about each in turn, starting with Active Noise Cancellation.

Active Noise Cancellation

There are many situations where you may want to reduce a lot of background noise in order to hear your audio better. This could be because you are in an office with others, or you may be on an airplane and you want to mask the engine noise, or it could just be that you are out in public and there is a lot of ambient noise. Whatever the reason for wanting to do so, it is there. Many headphones have the ability to block out this noise using a feature called Active Noise Cancellation.

Typically, in order to get Active Noise Cancellation, you need to be able to make a seal with your ear, at least of a seal of some sort. With the Beats Solo Pros and the Beats Studio Pros, a seal can easily be created because these are over-the-ear headphones. The same applies with the AirPods Pro, but because AirPods Pro are in-ear headphones, they are designed to provide you with a good seal. This is done by using the Ear Tip Fit Test, which will help you select the proper tips for your ears so you can get the best seal possible.

Something that you do not generally see is Active Noise Cancellation in an "open-ear" headphone. The AirPods are an open-ear headphone. However, Apple has made this a reality. The way that Active Noise Cancellation functions is by listening to the noise that is outside of your headphones, calculating the exact opposite wavelengths, and then blending both your audio and the cancelled wave into what you are listening to. By doing this, a significant amount of background noise is removed.

The AirPods 4 with ANC are not my first headphones with Noise Cancellation. In fact, they are the third set I have owned. The first two sets were the Beats Solo Pros and the Beats Studio Pros, both of which are "over-the-ear" headphones. The difference with the AirPods 4 with ANC is that they are the first in-ear headphones that I have owned with Noise Cancellation.

One of the issues that I have had with ANC is that when it is enabled, it feels like my head is pressurized. This is quite an uneasy feeling for me, and I cannot handle the sensation for too long. Another issue that I have experienced is that there is a significant hiss when attempting to use ANC. I have experienced the hiss on both of my Beats headphones that have this feature. This may just be an issue with the Beats, because I do not think this is normal behavior. There is one particular time that I actually do enable Noise Cancellation, and that is when I am vacuuming.

When I am vacuuming, I am almost always listening to a podcast or audiobook, but also sometimes music, and the noise from the vacuum can be quite loud. So in order to protect my hearing, I enable noise cancellation. I deal with the pressure issues and the background hiss because it is only for a short time, and I would rather deal with that and protect my hearing than not do so.

I tested out the Noise Cancellation of the AirPods 4 with ANC by vacuuming, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. The Noise Cancellation on the AirPods 4 with ANC works quite well. The Active Noise Cancellation did block out a vast majority of the noise from the vacuum, very much like when I use my Beats Studio Pros for vacuuming.

Noise Cancellation mode is not the only mode; there is another mode to cover, Transparency Mode.

Transparency Mode

There are those instances when you really do need to be able to hear everything in your surroundings. In fact, you may even want the sound amplified. This is where "Transparency Mode" can be useful. With Transparency Mode, the noise in your surroundings is amplified so you can hear even more noise.

Transparency Mode was not available on my 3rd Generation AirPods, but the feature is available on the Beats headphones that I have owned, so it is not a new feature, but new in the AirPods 4 with ANC. I rarely use Transparency Mode, because there are not that many instances when I need to hear even more around me. Should there ever be an instance when I want to use it, it will be good to have the ability to do so.

While Transparency Mode is not something I will use that often, I can see it being useful for those that do. But, there is another feature that I can say is quite useful, that feature is called Adaptive Audio.

Adaptive Audio

It is quite likely that you have had to adjust the volume of the audio multiple times in a short amount of time. The reason that you may need to adjust the volume is likely due to the ambient noise that is going on around you. What would be great is if your headphones could automatically adjust the audio for you. Guess what, the AirPods 4 with ANC can absolutely do this with a feature called Adaptive Audio.

Adaptive Audio is a feature that you can selectively enable. The way that you enable Adaptive Audio is configured depends on the system. Let us look at the ways to enable it, starting with iPhone or iPad:

iPhone / iPad

1. Connect your AirPods 4 with ANC to your iPhone or iPad
2. Open Settings.
3. Directly beneath your Apple Account, tap on your AirPods 4 with ANC.
4. Tap on the "Adaptive" option to enable Adaptive Audio.

macOS

1. Connect your AirPods 4 with ANC to your Mac.
2. Open System Settings.
3. Scroll down to the bottom and select your AirPods 4 with ANC.
4. Click on the "Noise Control" dropdown.
5. Select the "Adaptive" option to enable Adaptive Audio.

It is entirely understandable that you might be skeptical about just how well Adaptive Audio works, but from my experience, it does work extremely well. As an example, I went out for a walk with my AirPods 4 with ANC, and unbeknownst to me, there was a train going by, but there was. I was not immediately aware of this because I did not hear the train due to the Adaptive Audio removing the noise from the train. It should be noted that it did not remove all noise; if you listened super closely, I was able to hear it. In order to verify that it was working, I slightly pulled out one of my AirPods so I could easily hear the train. I did not remove the AirPod entirely but pulled it just enough to verify that it was working. Now, Active Noise Cancellation could accomplish the same thing.

Later during my walk, I experienced exactly how well adaptive audio was working. I live in a suburban area, so there are constantly cars driving by. When the cars were driving by, the volume of my audio would adjust ever so slightly, and the noise cancellation would kick in to block out most of the sound from the cars. Adaptive Audio does not only function outside your home; it can also work inside your home. As an example, if one of your appliances is loud, say your dishwasher or even your washing machine, you can use Adaptive Audio to filter out that audio and still hear your audio.

I am not sure if I will end up using Adaptive Audio when I am at home because, as previously mentioned, I typically use my Beats Studio Pros, but I will definitely be using Adaptive Audio when I am out and about. There is another feature to discuss. This one is called Conversation Awareness.

Conversation Awareness

There may be situations where you want to be able to interact with others without needing to manually adjust the volume on your AirPods. Now, with Conversational Awareness, this can be done automatically on your behalf. The way that this functions is by recognizing when you are talking to someone, and the audio that you are listening to will automatically duck or be reduced so that you can communicate with the individual, and then your audio will return back to its previous volume.

I do not have many opportunities to test this feature, given that I us ually remove my AirPods when I talk to someone, but you can test its functionality by simply talking out loud. The feature does function as expected. One thing to note is that it will take approximately 5 seconds for the audio to return back to its previous volume. It is a good feature, and should I ever be in a situation where it will be needed, it will be a useful feature to have.

Closing Thoughts

The AirPods 4 with ANC blends features of the AirPods 3rd generation with the features of the AirPods Pro. The AirPods 4 with ANC include noise cancellation, which is the first time that the feature has been available in an open-ear headphone from Apple. The Active Noise Cancellation will not be nearly as good as the AirPods Pro, but that is to be expected, since truly excellent Active Noise Cancellation requires a good seal with your ear, and you cannot get that with the AirPods 4 with ANC. Even without a solid seal, the Active Noise Cancellation on the AirPods 4 with ANC is still really good and will be sufficient for most people in many situations.

Beyond the Active Noise Cancellation, the new Adaptive Audio feature works tremendously well. Adaptive Audio will automatically adjust the level of noise cancellation depending on the external noise for where you are. This is done automatically for you, and you do not even need to adjust the volume of the audio, because that will be handled as well, if it is needed.

For many, the 2nd generation AirPods were a fantastic fit in their ears, while the 3rd generation AirPods did not fit well at all. The AirPods 4 with ANC might fit in your ears a bit better. For me, they are not as good as the 2nd generation AirPods, but they are definitely an improvement on the 3rd generation. If you fall into this group, then definitely give the AirPods 4 with ANC a look, because they could be what you are looking for. This shape is made possible because the AirPods 4 with ANC has a new shape, one that blends the shape of the AirPods 2 with that of the 3rd generation AirPods, but in a more svelte shape. This means that the actual portion of the AirPod is a bit smaller and should fit in even more people's ears than the 3rd generation did.

The AirPods themselves are not the only change; the case has received a solid update as well. One of the big changes is the addition of a speaker to the case. Now you can more easily find your AirPods 4 with ANC because the speaker magnifies the sound, and it is very clear and easy to hear. The other changes with the case include USB-C, instead of Lightning. If you prefer to charge your AirPods via MagSafe, the case now also supports charging via both MagSafe as well as by using an Apple Watch charger, which can make it more convenient.

Overall, the AirPods 4 with ANC are just about the perfect mix of the standard AirPods and the AirPods Pro. You get Noise Cancellation in an open-ear design. The new shape improves the bass and overall sound of the AirPods 4. They are a solid choice if you want to upgrade your AirPods, or if you want to purchase AirPods for the first time.

With the release of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 today my latest book, "macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 for Users" is now available for purchase.

The book is available in three formats, ePub (Apple Books), Black and White paperback (Amazon), and Color Hardcover (Amazon).

Here is a description of the book:

Each year Apple releases new versions of its operating systems. This year’s releases of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 are full of features including customization options, a new way to manage passwords, and some changes for messages.

On iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 there are new customization options for your Home Screens, including placing apps wherever you would like, a new dark mode for icons, and you even have the ability to tint all of your icons. Within Messages you can add some effects to your text, including adding bold, italics, underline, or strikethrough. But that is not all. You can also add motion effects that will give even more animation to your text. For those that communicate with those on another platform, RCS is now supported as well.

watchOS 11 adds some new features, like time and location-based widgets appearing on the Smart Stack. Along with this, there is now a Vitals app that you can use to get a quick glance at some overnight metrics like heart rate, blood oxygen, and sleep duration. Fitness is an import aspect of the Apple Watch, you can now pause your rings and maintain your streaks. This is a good addition for those times when life gets in the way and you want to keep your streaks going.

Apple has introduced their take on artificial intelligence and this can help you create your own emoji, rewrite text, and even generate images. For anything that needs to be sent to the cloud, it will go to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute platform.

These are just some of the topics covered in macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 for Users. There is bound to something for everyone, no matter what your level of expertise.

Today Apple held their "It's Glowtime" event. Today's announcement was just about 100 minutes long and it was full of a lot of information. As expected Apple introduced new iPhones, new Apple Watches, and AirPods. Let us start with the AirPods.

AirPods

Apple has long been in the headphones game and they have had a number of various headphones available for purchase over the years. In 2016 Apple released their first set of wireless headphones, called the AirPods. Over the last 8 years they have released a variety of new models. Today, there are two new various of the AirPods 4. The AirPods 4 take their cues from the 3rd Generation AirPods and the AirPods Pro, but there are in fact two distinct models, the AirPods 4 and the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.

AirPods 4

The AirPods 4 are meant to replace the AirPods 2, but have a shape similar to that of the AirPods 3rd generation. The H2 chip that powers the AirPods 4 enables a number of features including Voice Isolation. Voice Isolation will remove background noise and will allow you to sound clearer on calls.

The second new feature is head tracking, so that you will be able to track shaking or nodding your head to be able to respond to Siri announcements.

The case of the AirPods 4 are USB-C, which is a change from the AirPods 2nd generation and the AirPods 3rd generation, which were both charged Lighting. However, the AirPods Pro 2 do have a USB-C case. AirPods 4 are available for pre-order today and will cost $129. They will be available on September 20th.

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have all of the same features as the AirPods 4, but have even more features. As the name implies, the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, like the AirPods Pro 2, does support Active Noise Cancellation. When you have Active Noise Cancellation enabled background noise will be reduced so that the sound that is coming out of your AirPods will be clearer. This will reduce the instances where you need to adjust the volume up just to drown out the background noise.

There are those instances when you may want to switch between Active Noise Cancellation and just standard listening. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also have Adaptive Audio. Adaptive Audio automatically blends Transparency Mode and Active Noise Cancellation and it does this dynamically as external noise changes. This is a plus if you do not want to have to keep adjusting not only the listening mode, but also the volume.

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have a USB-C case, but they also supports Qi-2 charging. This means that you can use the Apple Watch charger or any other Qi or Qi-2 compatible charger to charge your AirPods 4.

If you need to use Find My on your AirPods, the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also have a speaker that will allow you to more easily find your AirPods.

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation are available to pre-order today for $179 and they will be available starting on September 20th. Next, let us look at the iPhone.

iPhone

The big draw for Apple's September event is the iPhone. Today Apple unveiled four new iPhones, the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. All of these support Apple Intelligence, meaning that they have 8GB of RAM. The two models have a number of common features, let us look at those.

Common Features

There are a number of features coming to both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lines. The biggest change is called "Camera Control". Camera Control is a new button on all of the phone models that will allow you to control various aspects of the camera using certain gestures. You can press and easily swipe between five different functions: Exposure, Depth, Zoom, Cameras, Styles, and Tone. This will make it easier to quickly switch between functions.

One of the features that was introduced in 2017 with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X was the addition of wireless charging, using the Qi charging standard. This has been a standard for all iPhones since then. MagSafe is great for charging without cables, but it can be a bit slower; but no more.

Starting with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro you can charge using MagSafe for up to 25 watts provided you have a 30-watt power adapter, or higher. This is an improvement over the maximum 15 watts provided with the previous adapter. You will need to purchase a new adapter to have this work properly.

The display on both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are Retina OLED displays. They still have the same brightness values of 1000 nits during typical use, 1600 nits when looking at HDR content, and 2000 nits max brightness when outdoors. However, the big change is that the minimum brightness can now go down to 1 nit. This is great for dark rooms, because the brightness can go even lower.

The iPhone has a cellular modem and the 5G modem is in the 16 and 16 Pro, but what has changed is the Wireless standard. The new iPhones support Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be). These are the first Apple devices to support Wi-Fi 7. Many will not need it now, but it will be great a few years down the road when Wi-Fi 7 is more ubiquitous.

Now, let us look at specific features for each of the models.

iPhone 16

The iPhone 16 often gets features that were previously only available on the Pro line. In the past this has included the Dynamic Island, but this year the iPhone 16 gets the Action Button. The Action Button is a customizable button that will allow users to choose what action to perform. This could be opening the camera, handling the ringer, or even running a shortcut depending on time of day.

The big change with the iPhone 16 is the new camera system. This includes a 48 Megapixel Fusion camera with a 2x Telephoto lens. This is done on the same lens. Similarly, the Ultra Wide camera enables Macro photography, which is new for the iPhone 16.

One of the features that was only available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max was the ability to record Spatial videos. Now that comes to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, and you can record up to 1080p at 30 frames per second.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are powered by the A18 processor, which is an improvement over the A16 on the previous iPhone 15. The A18 is up to 20% faster than previous models and up to 2x faster than the A16 Bionic chip, when it comes to Machine Learning operations. Beyond being faster, the A18 is able to perform the same workload with 30% less power, which means that the battery should last even longer.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have the same screen sizes as the iPhone 15 line. This means that the iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen and both models come in five colors, Black, White, Pink, Teal, and Ultramarine and it comes in three storage sizes, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. The iPhone 16 is $799, $899, and $1099 for each size. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 Plus is $899, $999, and $1199 for the same sizes.

You can pre-order the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus this Friday, September 13th, beginning at 7 a.m. Pacific time.

iPhone 16 Pro

The iPhone Pro line is where the latest and greatest features. One of the most used features is the camera, and the new 48 Megapixel camera system. Then new camera system allows for recording video at 4K at 120 frames per second with Dolby Vision. This is an increase from 4K for 60 frames per second, so this is a huge improvement. Along with this, you can even adjust the speed later in the Photos app. The Ultra Wide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is now a 48 Megapixel camera. This is an increase from the previous 12MP. An even better improvement is a zero-lag shutter. This results in photos being taken even faster, and this is all made These new camera system is made possible with the A18 Pro.

The A18 Pro is even more powerful than the A17 Pro. The A18 Pro has 17% faster memory bandwidth. This bandwidth increase means that the CPU can be up to 20% faster and hardware acceleration can provide ray tracing up to 2x as fast. Because these are faster, they should result in less battery usage. The A18 Pro enables even faster USB 3 speeds and it has new video encoders, which also enables the 4K at 120 Frames per second.

The sizes of the iPhone 16 Pro has changed slightly, by 0.2-inches. This means that the iPhone 16 Pro is now 6.3-inches and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch screen. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max comes in four colors, Natural Titanium, Black Titanium, White Titanium, and Desert Titanium. The "Desert" color replaces the Blue with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.

Just like with the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16 Pro comes in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB models. The prices are for these are $999, $1099, $1299, and $1499 respectively. The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB options. These are $1199, $1399, and $1599 respectively.

These devices all have the A18 Pro processor. Pre-order start this Friday, September 13th and 7am Pacific Time with delivery starting next Friday, September 20th.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch has gotten some updates as well. The Apple Watch Series 10 is another Apple Watch model that has some significant changes, including a new design. The Apple Watch Series 10 has a slightly in screen size, from 41mm and 45mm on the Series 9 to 42mm and 46mm on the Series 10. This is a slight increase, but not the only change with the screen.

The Apple Watch has always had an OLED display, in order to save battery. The Series 4 introduced the LTPO OLED Retina screen. The Series 5 introduced the Always On display and this remains on the Series 10. However, The Series 10 now has an LTPO3 screen that is an "Wide-angle OLED". This means that the screen will be able to be seen more clearly when viewing at an angle. While you might not think about it, there are many situations where you might look at your Apple Watch at an angle, including sitting, typing, or even using your iPhone. In fact, when viewing your Series 10 at an angle it should be up to 40% brighter, making it that much easier to see the information.

The Apple Watch Series 10 comes in two finishes, Aluminum and Titanium. The Aluminum some new colors including Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver. The prices for the Apple Watch Series 10 remain the same at $399 for the 42mm and $429 for the 46mm. The cellular models are $100 more at $499 and $529 respectively.

The Titanium replaces the previous Ceramic version and comes in three colors, Slate, Gold, and Natural finishes. The Titanium version comes in the same two sizes, 42mm and 46mm and like the previous Ceramic models, are GPS + Cellular versions. The 42mm starts at $699 and the 46mm starts at $749.

All Series 10 Apple Watches can be pre-ordered today and will be available starting on September 20th.

Other Changes

The AirPods Max got a slight update with some new colors and USB-C, but no other significant changes. The new colors available are Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight, and Orange. These still cost $549, can be pre-ordered today, and will be available on September 20th.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 also got a small update, specifically there s a new Black Titanium color. To go with the new Black Titanium color there are new matching Milanese loop bands for both the Black and Natural Titanium. There are also some new Alpine Loop, Trail Loop, and Ocean Band for the Ultra 2.

OS Releases

The last item to cover is the operating systems that will run these new devices. iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, and macOS Sequoia will all be released on Monday, September 16th.

Closing Thoughts

If you are in the market for a new Apple Watch or AirPods, you can pre-order them today and they will be available on September 20th. If you want to purchase a new iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, or 16 Pro Max you will be able to pre-order them at 5am Pacific Time on Friday, September 13th, 2024. You can get your pre-order ready now, so it will be a faster checkout at pre-order time.

The AirPods 4, Apple Watch Series 10, updated Apple Watch Ultra 2, and AirPods Max can all be pre-ordered today.

All of the products announced will be available on September 20th and the new operating systems will be available on Monday, September 16th.

You can watch the "It's Glowtime" event on the Apple Events website, on YouTube, or even via Apple's Podcasts app.

Sources:

Apple Newsroom: iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
Apple Newsroom: iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple Newsroom: AirPods 4 and AirPods Max
Apple Newsroom: Apple Watch Series 10

It is September and that means, barring unforeseen consequences like in 2020, that Apple is going to hold an event. This event is titled "It's Glowtime” and will be held on Monday, September 9th at 10am Pacific Time.. Apple's September event is typically the event where they introduce new iPhones. The last few years I have been posting the list of things that I hope to see from Apple's event. I will be doing the same for the "It's Glowtime" event.

iPhone

Each year Apple releases a new set of iPhones. I suspect that we will get new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models. I am guessing that we will see four new phones, the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

I expect them all to support Apple Intelligence, meaning that they will have at least 8GB of memory in them. I also suspect that they will have A18 chips in the iPhone 16 models and A18 Pro chips in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max.

With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max Apple introduced the Action button. Reportedly, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will have a new capture button. This could be useful for being able to take pictures, and even adjust focus, like a traditional camera.

Reportedly, the Ultra Wide camera will become a 48 Megapixel camera, which could be interesting, but I would much prefer that the Telephoto lens would become a 48 Megapixel camera, as I use that one WAY more often than the Ultra Wide lens. However, any improvement to the cameras is welcome.

Apple Watch

2024 marks the 10th release of the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch was announced in September of 2014 and released in April of 2015. The initial introduction had two sizes, 38mm and 42mm and while it did work, the original Apple Watch was woefully underpowered. In 2018 with the release of the Series 4, Apple increased the screen sizes to 40mm and 44mm. This remained the size until the Series 7 in 2021 when they were increased to 41mm and 45mm. The current rumors indicate that the screen size of the Apple Watch will increase again. This time to 45mm and 49mm. It would make sense since it has been 3 years since the last screen size change.

I would not be surprised if there are actually 3 screen sizes for the aluminum models, 41mm, 45mm, and 49mm. The reason that I think this is possible is because it would provide an even wider range of sizes, at relatively affordable prices. Right now, if you want the largest screen on the Apple Watch you need to purchase the Apple Watch Ultra, which starts at $799. By offering three sizes, I think Apple could change up the pricing to be $369 for the 41mm, $399 for the 45mm, and $429 for the 49mm version. The pricing is entirely a guess on my part, and would not be surprised if Apple had increments of $50 instead, meaning $349, $399, and $449.

I would like to get a larger Apple Watch, but definitely do not need the features of the Apple Watch Ultra. I hope to see a 49mm watch, at a price close to the current 45mm price of $429.

Apple Watch Ultra

The Apple Watch Ultra was originally introduced in 2022 as a larger 49mm model. The Apple Watch Ultra is designed to work in extreme conditions, offers multi-day battery life, and includes cellular. The Apple Watch Ultra is a bit more expensive at $799.

I expect that we will see the Apple Watch Ultra 3 with an improved System in Package (SIP). I do not expect a lot to be changed except for maybe it finally coming in a dark titanium color, instead of the natural titanium. It is also possible that it will come in even more colors, maybe even those that match the iPhone 16 Pro Max colors, but that is highly unlikely.

iPad

It is not unheard of for Apple to announce new iPad models at their September event. Given how many eyes are on this event, to some extent it makes sense to announce them. I expect that will see a new iPad mini and 12th generation iPad announced.

iPad mini

The current 6th generation iPad mini was announced in 2021. At the time it had an A15 chip, which was the newest one at the time. I think Apple will announce the 7th generation and that this one will have an M2 chip in it. I suspect that the colors will be updated, and support for the Apple Pencil Pro will also be added. However, I do not expect much else to change. It is possible that there might be a slight screen size increase, due to smaller bezels, but we will see.

iPad (11th Generation)

Apple announced the 10th generation iPad in October of 2022. This was a radical change from the previous iPads as it used USB-C instead of Lightning, removed the home button in favor of Touch ID in the power button, and that meant a larger screen, of 10.9 inches.

Earlier this year, Apple removed the 9th generation iPad from sale and dropped the price of the 10th generation iPad by $100 to $349 for the Wi-Fi model and $499 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model..

I think we will see a new 11th Generation iPad. I do not expect a lot to be changed, except for maybe an M1 processor. As much as Apple might want to bifurcate the iPad line, I think Apple Intelligence is too important to not have all of their new devices support Apple Intelligence. For this, it needs an M1 and 8GB of memory. It is possible that the screen size may increase to 11 inches to stay inline with the other iPad models.

If Apple is all-in on the Apple Intelligence and each new device will support it, then I could see Apple no longer selling the 10th generation and having the price of the 11th generation be $349.

Accessories

The September event is not just for iPhones and iPads, but it is often used to announce new accessories that can be used with the iPhone. This can include things like a battery pack, adapters, and even headphones, specifically the AirPods.

AirPods

Apple sells a variety of headphones, some wired, some wireless, and some that can be both. Apple's first wireless headphones were the AirPods. The AirPods were announced in September of 2016 and released in December of the same year. While many ridiculed their look at the time, they have become significantly more popular and now nobody thinks twice about them.

The 2nd generation AirPods were released in March of 2019 and were the same shape as the 1st generation, but had improved internals which supported "Hey Siri”, Bluetooth 5, and 50% more talk time. In 2017 a wireless charging case was announced and became an option when purchasing AirPods.

In 2019 Apple unveiled a new model of the AirPods, the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro included additional features, like noise cancellation. The 2nd Generation models were introduced in 2022 and included improved sound quality, and longer battery life. Along with this, you can replace the tips on the AirPods Pro

The 3rd generation AirPods were released in October of 2021 and had a different shape that was more akin to the AirPods Pro. Another adaptation from the AirPods Pro was the addition of touch controls on the stems. The 3rd generation AirPods support Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. Even when these were introduced, the 2nd generation AirPods had a price reduction to keep them around for those who were a bit more price conscious.

In September of 2022 Apple introduced the AirPods Pro (2nd generation). These had improved dust resistance, a USB-C charging port and can even use personalized audio. The 2nd generation AirPods Pro can also be used to nod or shake your head in response to Siri, provided you are using iOS 18.

AirPods

It is possible that Apple will introduce new models of the AirPods and AirPods Pro. The current rumor is that the 2nd generation AirPods will be discontinued and there will be two models of the 4th generation AirPods. One that supports noise cancellation and one that does not.

From a personal perspective, I hope that there are two variants of the 4th generation AirPods, one with the older shape from the 2nd generation AirPods. For me, the 3rd generation AirPods do not fit in my ears, while the 2nd generation AirPods do fit. If the 4th generation AirPods have a slightly smaller shape, that may be enough for me, but I suspect that the shape will follow the 3rd generation.

There is one more model, the AirPods Max.

AirPods Max

In 2014, Apple acquired Beats Electronics for a substantial sum of $8 billion. Following this acquisition, one of the long-standing rumors emerged that Apple was actively developing a line of over-ear headphones bearing the Apple brand. This rumor was finally substantiated when Apple unveiled the AirPods Max in December 2020.

It is plausible that Apple may announce a second generation of AirPods Max. While this iteration would likely be incremental, featuring USB-C connectivity, it is reasonable to anticipate that Apple will release these products through a press release rather later this year.

Closing Thoughts

It appears that the "It's Glowtime” event will be a busy one. With the introduction of new iPhones, new Apple Watches, possible iPads, and possibly even AirPods. At a minimum I expect iPhones and Apple Watches to be announced. I also do expect iPads to be announced, but outside of that, anything else is possible.

As always, I will have a post re-capping what is announced sometime after the event.

You can watch the event via the Apple Events page on Monday, September 9th, 2024 at 10:00 am pacific time.

Apple has made an announcement about a change to their Leadership that will be happening at the end of the year. Apple’s current Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, will be stepping down as Chief Financial Officer effective January 1st, 2025. He will remain at the company but in a new role. This new role will be in charge of the Corporate Services teams, which includes information systems and technology, information security, and real estate and development. Maestri will still report to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Apple's press release has this to say about Luca Maestri:

During his time as CFO, Maestri enabled essential investments and practiced robust financial discipline, which together helped the company more than double its revenue, with services revenue growing more than five times.

The press release by Apple provided a statement from Maestri about this change:

It is the greatest privilege of my professional life to serve the world’s most innovative and admired company, and to work side by side with a leader as inspirational as Tim Cook," said Maestri. "I’m looking forward to the next stage of my time at Apple…

Luca Maestri’s tenure as Apple’s Chief Financial Officer will be just over a decade. Luca Maestri became Apple’s Chief Financial Officer in September of 2014 when the previous Chief Financial Officer, Peter Oppenheimer retired.

Replacing Maestri is Apple’s current Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, Kevan Parekh. According to Apple’s press release announcing the transition:

Parekh has been at Apple for 11 years and currently leads Financial Planning and Analysis, G&A and Benefits Finance, Investor Relations, and Market Research. Prior to this role, Parekh led Worldwide Sales, Retail, and Marketing Finance. He began his tenure leading the financial support of Apple’s Product Marketing, Internet Sales and Services, and Engineering teams.

Source: Apple Newsroom

Today Apple sent out invitations to their September event entitled "It’s Glowtime". The "It’s Glowtime" event is scheduled for Monday, September 9th, 2024 at 10:00am Pacific Time.

Apple’s September event is typically where they announces new iPhones and it is expected that Apple will announce the iPhone 16 line at this event. Beyond this, Apple typically also uses this time to unveil a new Apple Watch, which is again, expected. It is also possible that Apple might announce some new products that work with the iPhone at this event.

Members of the press will be able to attend a screening at the Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park. For everyone else you can watch via the Apple TV app, or by going to the Apple Events page and watching it there.

Prior to the event I will have a post about what I suspect Apple might announce, so be on the look out for that.

Source: 9to5Mac.

It is well known that Apple has been trying to diversify their revenue. If you look back over the last 7 years, the percentage that Services made up of Apple's overall revenue has ranged from 9.15% in Q1 of 2017 to 28.23% in Q3 of 2024. At the same time, the percentage of revenue that was generated by the iPhone went from 69.40% in Q1 of 2017 to 45.81% in Q3 of 2024.

It should be noted that it has not been a steady decline, the revenue for each product category does differ each quarter. As an example, there are typically more sales in Q1 of a fiscal year, because this covers October through December, when iPhone sales are their highest.

In order to stave off any possible decline in iPhone sales, Apple has needed a means of increasing revenue. There are two ways of doing this, increase overall sales, and increasing the amount you get from each user. If you are just entering a market, the former may be possible, but in a situation where the market is matured, like the iPhone, you need to use the latter method. The way that they have been trying to do this is through subscriptions, and in particular services.

It should be mentioned that a bulk of Apple's yearly income comes from an agreement with Google, where Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on the iPhone. It is estimated that this agreement is valued up to $20 Billion per year, which is approximately 25% of all of Apple's services revenue.

The remaining 75% of Apple's services revenue comes from purchases, from the App Store, TV Shows, Movies, and Music. Much more of the services revenue comes from subscriptions like Apple Music Apple TV+, iCloud, Apple One, Apple Care+, and of course, app subscriptions and in-app purchases.

Within the last couple of months Apple has released a couple of new methods for expanding their services, web apps.

Recent Web apps

Apple has now released two brand new web apps in the last month, Maps in July and podcasts just this past Monday. The addition of these means that there are now four services that are available via the web. The other two items are Music and TV.

When Apple Music was announced in 2015, it was only available in iTunes and the Music app on iOS and macOS. It was not until June of 2019 when Apple Music was made available on the web. The rollout of Apple TV+ was slightly different. Apple TV+ was announced in March of 2019 and made available to the public in November of the same year. When Apple TV+ launched, it included a corresponding web version. This allowed users to watch Apple TV+ wherever they were, provided they had access a web browser. This also made it so the service could be made available to non-Apple device users, expanding the base for those who may want to watch Apple TV content.

I have been wondering why Apple is just now releasing web versions of Podcasts and Maps. These releases come many years after they these services have been available via an app. Ultimately, I think it is to help bolster their services revenue. Each of the services that are available on the web, excluding Maps, can generate income, specifically subscriptions. Some of the services will generate more revenue than others, but they all have a potential to create income.

I think that some groups within Apple have finally realized that only a certain percentage of Apple's existing customers who have purchased Apple hardware will subscribe. In order to help subscriptions they have turned to the "Sweet Solution", known as the web, can help generate revenue.

In case you are not aware, at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in 2007 Apple provided a means of creating apps, and that "Sweet Solution" was to write web apps. Below is a video of that segment from WWDC 2007.

Having a web app can allow those who are not entirely ensconced in the Apple ecosystem to subscribe to Apple's services. As some have postulated, it could also be a way of easily enabling API endpoints for Apple's services for areas where Apple does not control the platform, possibly within cars, or any other internet connected device.

As an example, they could easily make apps that are effectively just wrappers for web pages. Taking this approach would absolutely minimize development costs. Furthermore, it could allow Apple to more easily create country-specific, or even area specific, app, and control it entirely on the server-side.

Lastly, it would also allow Apple to have feature parity for all platforms, because the web is available on a vast majority of new devices.

Closing Thoughts

Apple releasing web versions of their services makes complete sense from a financial standpoint. Being able to provide services to more users, particularly non-Apple users, only extends their possible revenue streams. Even if the services does not make direct revenue, in the case of Maps, it is still worthwhile to provide the service so others can use it, even if it's just within a web app.

With the recent release of both Maps and Podcasts, I would not be surprised to see additional services, like Weather, come to the web at some point in the not too distant future.

Earlier this week Apple made available the Apple Podcast service available via a web browser. You can access it by going to podcasts.apple.com. This will only work on a desktop. If you attempt to open the site on an iPhone or iPad, you will be prompted to open the Podcast app. Similarly, if you click on a link on macOS, the Podcasts app will open. However, you can type in the URL, or copy and paste it, and it should show.

Apple Podcasts on the web allows you to listen to any podcast within the Apple Podcasts directory. If you know the name of a podcast, you can search, but you can also browse a variety of categories like "New and Noteworthy", "Bingeworthy" ,"All-Time Favorites", "Daily News", "Comedy", "True Crime", and "Kids and Family", just to name a few.

Sometimes though, you want to see what’s popular, and this is where "Top Charts" can come in handy. Here you will see the Top Shows overall, "Top Episodes", "Top Subscribed", and "Top Subscriber Channels". You can also choose from any of the categories by click on the dropdown in the upper right corner.

What would be better is if you could easily listen to the podcasts you follow, and you can do this by signing on. Once you have signed in, you will see all of the podcasts you follow, just like on iOS, iPadOS, or macOS. At the same time your listen history and playback position will be saved.

While listening to a podcast, you can view episodes notes, see your queue, and adjust the volume, all while browsing the podcasts directory.

One limitation to the web version is that you cannot listen at faster than 1x speed, therefore if you are accustomed to listening at faster than 1x, you might be disappointed. Similarly, chapters are not supported with Apple Podcasts on the web.

This is a good addition for those users who may use an iPhone and a windows laptop, or just would like to be able to use a web version of podcasts.

Source: 9to5Mac.