Apple Event 2023: 5 Notable Announcements Including the Release of the iPhone 15

Following a period of eager anticipation, the Apple event has concluded, leaving us with the iPhone 15 series, along with the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The event was filled with excitement as never-before-seen features and components were unveiled, confirming the theme of ‘Wonderlust’. CEO Tim Cook captivated the audience for 90 minutes, introducing new products, discussing innovative features, and emphasizing the company’s dedication to carbon neutrality. If you were unable to attend the event, here are the top 5 announcements you should know about.

The 5 biggest announcements from the Apple event

1. Apple Watch Series 9 gets S9 SiP and Double Tap gesture: The first big announcement of the evening came from the Apple Watch Series 9. The new generation Apple Watch is equipped with the all-new Apple S9 SiP, which the company claims is the most powerful watch chip ever. The chipset allows the Apple Watch to process machine learning tasks twice as fast through the Neural Engine and improves the device’s efficiency and battery life.

But more importantly, it enables a neat new gesture control for the Apple Watch Series 9 called Double Tap. This allows users to easily control the smartwatch with one hand and without touching the screen. Users can tap their index finger and thumb together twice to quickly and conveniently perform many of the most common Apple Watch Series 9 functions. Price starts at $399.

The company stated in a press release: “A double-tap controls the app’s primary button, so it can be used to stop the timer, play and pause music, or snooze an alarm. The gesture lets you answer and end a call, and even take a photo with Apple Watch’s Camera Remote. A double-tap also opens the Smart Stack from the watch face , and another double-tap scrolls through the stacked widgets.

2. Apple Watch Ultra 2 Revealed: A year after the first Apple Watch Ultra was released, its successor is here. The company claimed that the smartwatch retains all the unique features of its predecessor, made better and faster by using the same S9 SiP that powers the Series 9. This means that the Double Tap feature is also coming to the Ultra 2. The smartwatch also gets a peak brightness of 3000 nits, the brightest screen ever designed by Apple. A new watch face called Modular Ultra has also been added to it. It also gets built-in Siri, making it the first Apple Watch with this feature. The price for the GPS + cellular version is $799.

3. Big Updates for iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus: The standard iPhone missed out on all the major updates last year, but Apple made up for it by adding some big features this year. Both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus get Dynamic Island, a feature that was reserved only for the Pro models of the iPhone 14 lineup. Users can take advantage of checking live activities, important alerts and directions on maps and control music through it.

Additionally, both the smartphones also feature a larger 48-megapixel rear camera with a quad-pixel sensor, elevating them to the Pro models. The hardware and software features allow users to click 2x optical quality zoom level photos. The iPhone 15 standard models also get HDR peak brightness at 1600 nits and peak brightness at 2000 nits. Next, the A16 Bionic chipset also increases the performance and efficiency of the device. And finally, USB-C connection ports for charging and data transfer have also been added to the devices, allowing you to charge an iPhone, Mac, iPad and the updated AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with the same cable. The iPhone 15 starts at $799, while the iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899.

4. A17 Pro chipset: iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature A17 Pro, the industry’s first 3-nanometer chip. The A17 Pro brings improvements across the chip, including the biggest GPU overhaul in Apple’s history, according to the company. Apple also claims that the processor is now 10 percent faster and the Neural Engine is now up to 2x faster, and it works with iOS 17 features like AutoCorrect and Personal Voice.

The new GPU is up to 20 percent faster, the company says, and features a new 6-core architecture that enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing — which is 4 times faster than software-based ray tracing. The iPhone 15 Pro models offer smoother graphics and more immersive AR applications and gaming experiences. iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999.

5. 120mm Telephoto Lens for iPhone 15 Pro Max: The iPhone 15 Pro Max gets the longest optical zoom ever on an iPhone, offering 5X optical zoom with a 120mm lens. Apple said the new telephoto camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a tetraprism design to suit the device’s longer focal length. According to the company, it is Apple’s most advanced stabilization system, combining optical image stabilization and autofocus with a 3D sensor transfer module. The iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199 for the 256GB version. It will be the only iPhone without a 128GB storage variant.