New Apple Watch and technologically advanced iPhone 15 Pro.
September 12, Apple held a big presentation and introduced new devices – smart watches and smartphones of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro line. Below – about the devices in detail.
Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2
The first new product was the Apple Watch Series 9, including in pink and gold colors. The devices run on an improved S9 processor, which includes 5.6 billion transistors (60% more than the S8 chip). There is an increase of 30% in GPU power, and up to 50% in overall performance.
A second, additional ultra wideband chip was added to the watch, and the display was taught to glow up to 2000 nits (in other words, the screen became twice as bright when compared with that in the Watch Series 8). At the same time, when used at night, the brightness is reduced to 1 nit so that the panel does not “hit” the eyes.
Watch Series 9 has a new gesture – Double Tap (or “double tap”). This is a movement of the fingers with a clenched fist, which allows you to use additional functions. For example, pause the timer, turn music on and off, answer calls, turn pages (and more).
The company's top managers also paid attention to FineWoven – a kind of replacement for leather straps made from “new generation eco-materials”.
The next important gadget is the Watch Ultra 2. This smartwatch also received the S9 chip (along with the double tap function), and also a display capable of glowing at levels of up to 3000 nits. Apple claims this is the brightest screen they've ever made. In normal mode, Watch Ultra 2 works for up to 36 hours without recharging, in charge-saving mode – up to 72 hours.
The start of sales of all new products is scheduled for September 22. Watch Series 9 starts at $399 (in the US), and Watch Ultra 2 at $799.
iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
Next, we moved on to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. The devices, as expected, were equipped with a “Dynamic Island” in the panels, as in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro. The new products include Super Retina display screens on OLED matrices (6.1 and 6.7 inches) with a brightness of up to 2000 nits. But it is important to understand: there is no variable refresh rate, you will have to be content with the standard 60 Hz.
The backs of the phones are now slightly rounded. In addition, the “backs” will become matte.
The main photo sensor is now 48 MP (f/1.6). Artificial intelligence algorithms and portrait mode have also been improved; they talk about double zoom with almost no loss of detail quality (crop from the main matrix). The latter also works when shooting video. Finally, they promise improved quality photos when shooting at night, when there is little light around. This became possible, among other things, thanks to Smart-HDR. The additional camera has not undergone noticeable changes and remains 12-megapixel.
As expected, the basis for both smartphones is the A16 Bionic chip – the same SoC used in the iPhone 14 Pro. According to the company, the iPhone 15 Plus will be able to last even longer on a single charge. However, for how long exactly, they did not specify, limiting themselves to the phrase “up to 26 hours when watching a video.”
Confirmed: iPhone 15 has been converted to USB-C, as has the AirPods Pro (2nd generation) wireless headset case. Wireless MagSafe has not been abandoned either. Its speeds, however, have not been updated.
Prices are now as follows: iPhone 15 – from $799, iPhone 15 Plus – from $899. Sales start – September 22. Both smartphones are available in black, blue, green, yellow and pink.
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
The main attention was paid to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max – no “Ultra” appeared in the name of the latter. The devices are made of titanium, the “classic” silent mode switch has been abandoned – now there is a customizable button (more on that later). The display sizes remain the same: 6.1 and 6.7 inches. Brightness (up to 2000 nits) and an increased frequency of up to 120 Hz are in place.
The company especially emphasized that the bodies of the new products are made of the same material as the Martian all-terrain vehicles (although the phones are still aluminum inside). Apple representatives add that now there should be even fewer scratches on the matte edges.
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max now have an Action Button, replacing the silent mode switch. It has its own vibration, and pressing can be used to assign additional functions – from a flashlight to launching a camera, an application, or your own Shortcut.
The processor is the new A17 Pro (3nm process technology). The chip includes 19 billion transistors, and consists of a 6-core GPU, as well as two powerful CPU cores and four energy-efficient ones. Components have been added to the processor to both speed up the processing of media files and reduce power consumption. Finally, both smartphones are at least 20% faster in games compared to the iPhone 14 Pro – and the chip also supports ray tracing.
Capcom will even release Resident Evil: Village for Proshek, and Ubisoft will release a new part of Assassin's Creed, which is preparing for release on “big” consoles. In addition, the data transfer speed over the wire reaches 10 Gbps with the transition to USB-C.
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have an improved camera – also 48 megapixels, but the sensor is larger. They mentioned shooting at 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm equivalent focal lengths. In addition, the camera has learned to better interact with the LiDAR sensor. The latter should have a positive effect on night shots. “Shirik” is the usual one, 12 megapixels.
The new telephoto lens supports 5x optical zoom at 120mm on the 15 ProMax, and 3x on the simple Pro. The telephoto, according to the manufacturer, offers “the most advanced stabilization system from Apple today.” Additionally, the phones will be able to shoot 3D videos for the Vision Pro augmented reality headset.
And one more thing: iPhone 15 Pro (128 GB) starts at $999, iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199, but immediately with 256 GB of memory. Sales start – September 22. The gadgets are available in black, white, blue, and titanium.
