Apple Far Out Event: Apple announces iPhone 14 Pro with 48MP main camera
posted Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 2:30 PM EDT
Today, Apple hosted its annual iPhone event. The event, dubbed Far Out, saw the unveiling of the iPhone 14 series of smartphones, new AirPods and a new Apple Watch.
Apple Watch
Apple Watch Series 8 includes a large always-on screen with narrow bezels. Apple promises a brighter display that's easier to read, even in bright light.
Series 8 adds new features for health, safety and connectivity. It includes a new temperature sensor that Apple says is important for women's health in particular. The temperature sensors are located under the back of the watch and there's a second one under the Watch's display. The sensors can detect changes in temperature as minimal as 0.1 degrees Celsius. Tracking temperature changes is important for many aspects of health for everyone.
The new Watch includes better velocity detection, which allows the Watch to detect when you're in a car accident. These new technologies allow the Watch to alert authorities if the Watch detects that the wearer is in an automobile collision. This joins the Watch's existing capabilities to detect different health emergencies. Apple Watch has saved lives, and Apple hopes that Series 8 will be even more helpful to its users.
Apple Watch Series 8 has all-day battery life. A new low power battery life mode allows up to 36 hours of battery life. Low power mode includes many key features of Apple Watch but disables some to save battery life. The low power mode is available on Watch Series 4 and later.
Apple Watch Series 8 comes in new colors and will be offered with new bands. Apple Watch Series 8 will be available on September 16.
Apple has also announced a new Apple Watch SE. It has a nylon composite back, which is redesigned and comes in three case finishes. The SE display is 30% larger than Apple Watch Series 3 and is 20% faster than the previous SE version. Apple Watch SE starts at $249 and will be available on September 16.
Apple has also announced a brand-new Apple Watch Series designed for explorers and extreme athletes. It's been years in the making. The rugged-looking Apple Watch Ultra has a completely new design and offers new capabilities.
It's the most rugged, capable Apple Watch ever. It's built using titanium and includes the biggest, brightest Apple Watch display. It includes a new button, the action button. There's a larger dial with coarser grooves, so the Watch is easier to use when wearing gloves. It also includes a second speaker for increased volume. There are three mics and improved software to improve voice clarity in windy conditions. The Apple Watch Ultra comes standard with cellular and includes the largest battery in an Apple Watch yet. The Apple Watch Ultra includes a new GPS that's more accurate, even in challenging situations. It has 36-hour battery life or 60-hour battery life, with a new battery optimization setting coming later this fall. It also has a new, more technical Watch face that has a compass dial that can be customized for different outdoor excursions. It has multiple new bands designed for different types of sports.
Apple Watch Ultra is designed to push boundaries and includes a higher price to match. Apple Watch Ultra is available to order ahead of a September 23 release starting at $799.
AirPods Pro
New AirPods have been rumored for a long time, and Apple has finally announced a new AirPods Pro model. The new headphones include a new H2 chip to improve audio quality. Sound quality is improved thanks to a new low-distortion audio driver and a custom amplifier. The earphones also include spatial audio, which is customized to each listener since we all listen slightly differently. Active noise cancellation is improved as well. The popular Transparency mode is back and better than ever, with improved adaptivity and more calculations per second.
To control your AirPods Pro, there's a new capacitive touch sensor on the device. Battery life is improved by 33%, and the charging case will promise up to 30 hours of total listening time, a six-hour increase. The case has a new speaker array and a lanyard.
The new AirPods Pro are available for $249. Orders begin on September 9, ahead of a September 23 launch.
iPhone 14
Apple is going "big" with iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. iPhone 14 Plus has a larger 6.7-inch display. Both models include OLED displays with 1200-nit brightness and retina resolution. They each include a ceramic shield and use aerospace-grade aluminum.
iPhone 14 delivers all-day battery life. The iPhone 14 Plus has the best battery life ever in an iPhone. As for performance, the new phones include the A15 Bionic that was featured in the iPhone 13 Pro, including the same 5-core GPU and 6-core CPU. It also includes Apple's Neural Engine for machine learning.
iPhone 14 includes an "amazing new camera system." Smartphone photography is critically important. iPhone 14 includes an improved image signal processor and a new 12MP main camera with a larger sensor and faster F1.9 lens. The camera is 49% better in low-light situations, and night mode exposure is twice as fast. The ultra-wide camera is seemingly unchanged. iPhone 14 has a new TrueDepth camera on the front with an F1.9 lens. The new front camera has autofocus for the first time.
A new Photonic Engine delivers better low-light performance across all cameras. There are also new video improvements. iPhone 14 promises improved stabilization.
The new phones include eSIM and 5G connectivity. There's also new satellite connectivity that underlies Apple's new Emergency SOS via satellite feature. You can use this feature to connect to emergency services, even where cell service is unavailable. Apple developed the technology alongside emergency responders.
iPhone 14 starts at $799 and iPhone 14 Plus starts at $899. Preorder starts on September 9. iPhone 14 Plus will be available on September 16, and iPhone 14 Plus will be available on October 7.
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro is Apple's "most innovative Pro lineup yet." The notch is gone, for starters, or at least changed. It's more of a cut-out design that's built into iOS. There's some technology behind the display for the first time. iPhone 14 Pro comes in four colors, a new black, a new purple, silver and gold.
The cutout section is integrated into how you interact with iPhone 14 Pro. It's called Dynamic Island, and the new space is adaptive. It changes into different shapes using animations. The Dynamic Island expands to show notifications, and because it's an OLED display, the black background is a natural extension of the physical cutout. It also shows ongoing background activity.
iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max come with 6.1" and 6.7" displays. The displays have narrower bezels and are brighter, with 1600-nit max brightness. HDR content will look better than ever. You can get the display even brighter (2,000 nits) with a special daytime brightness mode. The phones also include an Always-On Display to show essential information. The display can refresh at just 1Hz, and intelligent dims to increase efficiency, allowing for the Always-on Display. It's Apple's most advanced display ever in a smartphone.
The Pro phones are powered by A16 Bionic. It's a new and improved chip that's been designed for more efficiency, better speed, and better image quality. The chip has 16 billion transistors and is built on a 4nm process. It's the fastest chip ever in a smartphone. The chip allows for Apple's most powerful Pro camera system ever.
iPhone 14 Pro "ushers in a new era for iPhone photography." The brand-new camera system includes a 48MP camera with a quad-pixel sensor. It's Apple's largest sensor yet and is 65% larger than the main camera on iPhone 13 Pro. It also features a new 24mm focal length. The Quad Pixel sensor enables a flexible approach. When light-gathering is critical, four sensors combine into one to deliver 12MP photos with better image quality, especially in low light situations.
The sensor allows for a new 2x focal length option since the phone uses the middle 12MP portion of the 48MP main camera sensor. The new sensor also allows for better resolving power and image quality when using Apple ProRaw.
48MP resolution is possible using ProRaw, using every pixel of the new main camera image sensor. A new machine learning model is built around the exact design of the image sensor, leveraging the full power of the A16 Bionic chip and the new image sensor design.
The Ultra Wide camera has a larger 12MP image sensor. It's up to three times better in low-light situations. The camera has a new lens that's sharper, promising improved image quality, especially in macro shooting.
The flash is redesigned, too. It adapts to the focal length of the photo, and its nine LEDs deliver up to twice the brightness and better uniformity.
It's Apple's most powerful Pro camera system ever.
Video has been improved, too, unsurprisingly. iPhone 14 Pro still shoots in ProRes and supports Dolby Vision. Stabilization is improved, and Cinematic mode promises better performance.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max promise all-day battery life. Apple iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max will be available to order starting on September 9 starting at $999 and $1,099, respectively. Storage options range up to 1TB. Availability begins September 16.