The much-anticipated Apple Wonderlust 2023 event wrapped up, and boy it was a big one. The event’s run was filled with upgrades to technologies to Carbon Neutral and recycling promises and beyond. And yes, how can we forget the surprising skit starring Tim Cook and Mother Nature aka Octavia Spencer (of Hidden Figures fame)?
Apple introduced the USB-C ports on the iPhones, a dual setup for Pro’s primary cam using computational photography, Dynamic Island on all four, 60% more transistors (that translates to better performance) on Watch 9 than its predecessor and beyond. Of course, we have broken it down for you in this wrapped-up that get you up to speed with the Apple Wonderlust 2023 event.
Apple Watch Series 9
The event kickstarted with the Apple Watch Series 9 that brings along a new S9 system in package (SiP). It has 60% more transistors translating to improved CPU performance along with 30% faster GPU.
The all-new 4-core NPU is now tasked with processing Siri requests on-device which makes it faster than before. Voice dictations have improved by 25% in accuracy. Double Tap has been improved by a tonne giving many of the functions at your fingertip (literally). The series is available in 41mm and 45mm sizes across cellular and Bluetooth trims.
The display tech has been improved as well bringing the lowest brightness to 1nit while the highest is 2000 nits – twice that of the Series 8. Next up, we have a new UWB chip on board that makes precision locating tracking more ‘precise’.
The Apple Watch Series 9 is available in Graphite, Gold, Silver (Stainless); Silver, Midnight, Pink, and (Product)RED on the aluminium trim starting at $399. Pre-orders have already begun and sales kick-starts on September 22 for the first phase of the countries. Click here to learn more about the Apple Watch Series 9.
Apple Watch Ultra 2
The next edition Apple Watch Ultra 2 brings the same S9 SiP as that of Series 9. The watch uses a 49mm casing along with a 1.92” LTPO OLED panel that lights up at up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness leaving Series 9 far behind. There’s the new UWB chip built-in for location tracking among others. The watch is tested to last up to 36 hours on regular and 72 hours on low-power mode.
There’s WatchOS 10 taking the helm as the software behind both Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Series 9. The Ultra 2 retails at $799 with pre-orders starting soon after the event wrapped up followed by open sales on September 22. Click here to learn more about the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Apple iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus
The much-anticipated iPhone 15 series was the center of attraction at the Apple’s Wonderlust 2023 event. Presenting iPhone 15 and 15 Plus,, with impressive specs sheet and performance cadre. Both the phones have USB-C ports now following the EU’s mandate. Plus, we have Dynamic Island that powers all four models.
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have a 6.1” and 6.7” Super Retina XDR display (respectively) lighting up at a whopping 2,000 nits of peak brightness. Both the non-Pro models have arrived with a textured matte finish, an aluminium frame with contoured edges, and new colorways. The phones are powered by last year’s A16 Bionic chipset that pits it against the iPhone 14 Pro.
Both devices use a 48MP primary camera with 2x telephoto capabilities with optical zoom. Apple is hailing its prowess in computational photography for better images with optical zoom using techniques like pixel binning. There’s all-day battery life, 5G, Emergency SOS, a second-gen UWB chip for precision finding, USB-C port, and the batteries are made up of 100% recycled cobalt.
The Apple iPhone 15 retails at $799 for its base variant while the iPhone 15 Plus is pegged at $899 for the 128GB version. The pre-orders for both commences on September 15 followed by an open sale on September 22. Check out our take on the iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus announcement right here.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro & iPhone 15 Pro Max
It goes without saying, Apple has upped its game with the iPhone 15 Pro series. Both the models have seen a significant upgrade thanks to USB-C ports, USB 3.0 with up to 10Gbps of speeds, and the ability to use MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Galaxy charging too.
The phones have replaced stainless or aluminum frames with sturdy titanium frames that gives the phones enhanced durability. The titanium used in the frame is grade 5 alloy, the same as the Mars rover paired with aluminium encasing that provides superior thermal dissipation.
A 6.1” Super Retina XDR OLED 120Hz ProMotion HDR10 display sits on top of the iPhone 15 Pro while the Pro Max takes it to 6.7” using the same tech aforementioned. The camera setup has seen an upgrade thanks to a 48MP primary cam with 2nd gen sensor-shift stabilisation, and digital zoom with a larger sensor size of 28mm and 35mm modes. There’s also a 3x zoom on iPhone 15 Pro just like last year’s.
Check Out: iPhone 16 Pro to launch with a larger display: Ross Young
iPhone 15 Pro Max (the finest of all) uses a periscope lens, the first on any iPhone, with 3x and up to 5x optical zoom with a focal length equivalent of 120mm.
The breakthrough is the use of the A17 Pro chip fabbed on 3nm processes. It is 10% faster than the A16 Bionic chipset and 20% faster in GPU. The GPU uses Ray Tracing based on hardware which is reportedly four times faster than software implementation. Finally, we have a 16-core Neural Engine that takes advantage of machine learning models and processes twice as fast as the A16 chip.
Both iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will be available for pre-order next week on Friday – September 22. The pricing for the base model is $999 for iPhone 15 Pro 128GB and $1,199 for iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB. Check out our take on the iPhone 15 Pro & iPhone 15 Pro Max announcement right here.
