Apple introduced the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with 3D Touch that responds to the pressure of your touch to ‘glance’ through apps so you don’t have to launch them, when you want basic use. With 3D Touch you also now can “push” on a photo and it turns “live” or into a short video. That’s because the photos now capture 1.5 seconds on either side of the photo in default mode.
The new phones, in the same form factors as the original 6, are available for pre-order September 12 with delivery in September 25 starting at $199 for a 16GB 6S and $299 for the 6S Plus. Now users can also buy the phones starting at $32 a month at Apple stores for different carriers, including Apple Care, so you can upgrade phones every year.
Siri is now always on so you can say “Hey Siri,” to launch it at any time. You can shoot 4K videos that show 8 million pixels in every frame.
The phones use a new A9, 64 bit chip that is “console class.” It’s 70 percent faster than the previous A8 processor and 90 percent faster running graphics.
The camera goes up to 12MP (50 percent more pixels than before) with faster and more accurate auto focus. The front camera is now 5MP HD with a Retina flash that lights up 3X brighter.
LTE is now twice as fast with up to 23 bands, more than any other smartphone. WiFi is also twice as fast.
A new app allows Android users to bring all their Android info into a new iOS phone if they want to defect to the iPhone.
Apple also introduced Wednesday, a new iPad Pro, its largest iPad to date, measuring 12.9 inches diagonally that now delivers desktop level performance, said CEO Tim Cook.
The screen has more than 5.6 million pixels—more than on a 15-inch MacBook Pro. It comes with a new smart keyboard and new Apple Pencil that affords full stylus and ‘paint brush’ capability.
The new iPad is faster than 80 percent of portable PCs introduced in the past year, as it uses a new A9X processor (1.8 times faster than the former A8X), said Apple.
It also gets, for the first time, 4 speakers that are acoustically dynamic so that as you move the iPad’s position, the sound stage of the speakers auto adjust. It also runs a new Microsoft Office program.
Battery life for the iPad Pro is 10 hours. Thickness is 6.9mm (iPad Air is 6.1mm).
It will be available in November, starting at $799 for 32GB model. The new Apple Pencil will be $99, and the keyboard $169.
Also, a new iPad Mini 2 was announced, which is basically an iPad Air in a smaller form factor.
Regarding the Apple Watch, Cook said Facebook Messenger and GoPro apps will be available. With GoPro, the Watch is turned into a monitor for the camera. Also the Watch gets a new OS 2 starting September 16.
10,000 apps are already available for the Watch, which Apple says has 97 percent customer satisfaction. Starting today, the Watch is also offered in new metallic finishes, with new watchbands. And luxury designer Hermes is making its own version of the watch.
Some of the new apps for the Watch include medical apps that allow doctors to see patient’s live ECGs compared to earlier ones.
As expected, Apple also introduced a new Apple TV set top box and with a remote control bearing a glass top layer for easy swiping and Bluetooth 4.0 so you don’t have to point the remote at the TV. It also works with Siri, and you can now search for a show within different apps (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime and more) so you don’t have to open and search through each one.
You can ask Siri questions like, “Show me funny TV shows” or “Show me anything with Jason Bateman.” If you missed what someone said in a movie, it easily skips back 15 seconds and temporarily shows you captions.
Through Siri, you can filter searches by director, cast and other advanced categories. While a movie is playing you can ask Siri questions, say about how your sports team did yesterday, and it will show up on the bottom of the screen.
But Apple stressed that it believes apps will be the future of TV. It created a new tvOS to allow its 11 million developers to create new apps for the TV, which will include Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Guitar Hero, Airbnb and more.
TV hasn’t changed much in years and “today we are going to do something about that,” said Cook. “We believe the future of television is apps.”
The new Apple TV uses a 64 bit A8 chip. Its remote controls volume so you don’t need another remote and it charges via a Lightning connector. Apple TV will be available in October in 32GB for $149 or 64GB for $199.
