Apple Far Out event highlights – September 2022

Introduction

Last night at Apple Park, Apple announced an array of exciting updates to their products – both in terms of hardware lineup and software capabilities.

We saw updates to three of Apple’s product lines which have, as Tim Cook said, “become essential in our lives”. These updates are new introductions to iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods.

iPhone 14

Apple introduced us to the new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, jettisoning the ‘mini’ line seen on iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, and demonstrated these products with the new features coming in iOS 16, such as personalisation and improved in-app functionalities. 

Both iPhone 14 and 14 Plus will arrive in five different colours and will run on the A15 Bionic chip (seen in iPhone 13 Pro). Both will be available with the same displays and physical resistances we have seen in previous generations, as well as a slightly-improved battery performance and Photonic engine powered camera system.

The iPhone 14 models introduce two new safety features to customers. The first of these is crash detection on iPhone, a new feature which utilises a high dynamic range gyroscope and a dual-core accelerometer to identify car accidents. This feature then contacts emergency services and emergency contacts automatically when triggered. Alongside this, Apple showed us emergency SOS via satellite, which allows users to get emergency aid and track location via Find My with ease, even when they don’t have a cellular connection.

Apple also announced that all iPhone 14 models sold in the U.S. will no longer have a physical SIM tray and will rely entirely on eSIM technology.

iPhone 14 Pro

Apple described iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max as new innovations which, in the words of Alan Dye, “truly blur the line between hardware and software”. 

Most strikingly, this is the new dynamic island (replacing the infamous ‘notch’ introduced with iPhone X in 2017) which fluidly adapts to the iPhone’s notifications. It can be used to interact with whatever the device is being used for at the time, even if it is a background activity such as monitoring a delivery or playing music.

iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will be available in four colours (including a new Deep Purple) and will be the first iPhone models to also feature an always-on display, which dims and refreshes intelligently according to use. Powered by a new A16 Bionic chip, these iPhones run more efficiently and offer improvements in battery performance. They also boast a significantly improved camera system, as the 48-megapixel camera far surpasses the 12-megapixels of iPhone 13 Pro.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch lineup saw a significant expansion at the Far Out event, starting with the announcement of the Apple Watch Series 8, which brings many new features to Apple customers. 

These include the addition of a temperature sensor to provide benefits in monitoring menstrual cycles and women’s health, as well as the car crash detection feature also introduced on iPhone 14.  Additionally, it comes with enhanced fitness and sleep tracking, all performed within the same 18-hour battery life as Apple Watch Series 7. However, this can be doubled to up to 36 hours when using Low Power Mode, as introduced with watchOS 9.

We were also introduced to the Apple Watch Ultra (not named Apple Watch Pro, as many had predicted), an innovative next step in the product which was described by Jeff Williams as “designed for exploration, adventure and endurance”. Apple Watch Ultra’s reimagined, larger hardware focuses on physical resilience against impact, corrosion and more.  There are also impressive improvements in the audio system (such as the enhanced speakers being able to produce an 86-decibel emergency siren) and enhanced GPS tracking for industry-leading precision. Not only this, Apple Watch Ultra features up to 36 hours of battery life on a single charge, with 60 hours of battery life on lower power settings (coming later this autumn).

Finally, Apple announced a second-generation Apple Watch SE, which comes with improvements such as cosmetic updates, a 30 per cent larger display, the inclusion of the Series 8’s car crash detection feature and a 20 per cent improvement in speed and performance over the previous generation Apple Watch SE.

AirPods

Lastly, Apple unveiled the second generation AirPods Pro. This upgrade introduces improvements in connectivity, further-refined sound quality, doubly-effective noise cancellation and adaptive transparency to filter out harsh sounds while preserving the noise of the world around you. In addition to this, the new AirPods Pro features sliding volume controls, six-hour listening time (one and a half hours more than the previous generation) and the ability for the charging case to play a sound via the Find My app – a long-desired feature for AirPods users who may misplace their AirPods.

Summary

These are some of our highlights from Apple’s Far Out event. 
To watch the event in full and find even more information on these announcements (as well as previous events and keynotes too), please see Apple’s events site.