Publish date: 10 September, 2024“The new generation iPhone is built for Apple Intelligence from the ground up” – with these words Tim Cook introduced Apple’s new smartphone, and then repeated them repeatedly during the It’s Glowtime event, with which the company announced that artificial intelligence (AI) is officially “rising” in its devices.
After the past few years of Apple not giving users many good reasons to replace their old smartphones with the newer models, it has now offered more features and tools that make it worth considering.
From its headquarters in California, Apple’s CEO announced the new watch, headphone and iPhone 16 models amid expectations of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) integration in all of them. And although the devices go on sale on September 20, in all likelihood the Apple Intelligence system will not yet be available by then.
During the presentation, which has already been viewed by nearly 20 million people on YouTube, the company avoided using the word AI and replaced it with ones such as “intelligent,” “smart,” and “generative model.” And there’s probably a reason for that – for example, a study published earlier this year showed that directly promoting AI as part of a product’s capabilities lowers the likelihood that a consumer will buy it.
The smarter smartphone will wait a little longer
After striking a deal with OpenAI this year, Arple announced the creation of the Apple Intelligence system, which brings together all of the tech giant’s AI integrations. With this, the company is trying to catch up with its rivals who are also advancing in the field of artificial intelligence.
“Apple Intelligence will transform so many things you do with your iPhone, and it will be available as a free software update. The first tools will become available in beta next month,” said Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering at Apple.
With that, it became clear that users will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on the new features, even more so if they don’t live in the US where they will become available first.
And those include:
Siri with more capabilities. Through Apple Intelligence, the iPhone assistant will be able to answer more complex questions, summarize and narrate the contents of documents, and create reminders based on text messages users receive. It will also be able to understand more complex commands, such as, “Send Erica the photos from the barbecue party I went to on Saturday.”
Emojis ad infinitum. Each user will be able to enter a text description of the emoji they want to see, and then within seconds it will be generated and can be used.
Summing it all up. Through Apple Intelligence, users will be able to get summarized versions of the emails they receive as well as the notifications on the home screen. In some cases, the AI will be able to convey the information in just one sentence.
Transcribe every conversation. New smartphones will be able to record and transcribe phone conversations in real time.
Tools for more literate writing. Again using AI, the new iPhone will be able to summarize, rewrite, and error-check text in Notes and other apps, as well as in emails.
In addition, the Action button, which until now could only activate silent mode, will also be used to quickly open apps like Shazam, Translate and Voice Memos. It will also be able to turn on the flashlight.
On the other hand, the camera now has its own button that allows faster photo taking, easy access to zoom and other features in the camera app. Moreover, the so-called Visual Intelligence allows users to point the camera at objects in a real environment (e.g. restaurant, animals, etc.) and get all the information about them. There is also an option to quickly remove objects from photos.
In addition, the iPhone 16 Pro again features an additional third camera and better zoom. There are also more microphones and an Audio Mix function that allows sound processing, suitable when shooting professional videos, for example. The screen on the Max version is 6.7 inches, making it the largest on an iPhone so far.
“The iPhone continues to have a profound impact on our lives. Its power and capabilities allow us to do so much, so quickly and so easily. Like connecting with family and friends, being productive and capturing special moments. Apple Intelligence will only highlight these experiences and more,” commented CEO Tim Cook.
The thinnest Apple Watch with the largest screen
The tenth generation of the watch has a screen about 30% larger than that of its predecessors and will for the first time allow users to play music and podcasts directly on the device.
Additionally, the Apple Watch Series 10 will be able to detect sleep apnea. The disease is dangerous because of the risk of breathing stopping during sleep. Later this month, the feature should become available in nearly 150 countries, but first a green light is expected from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Both the Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 also introduce water sports-related improvements – for example, snorkelling and diving enthusiasts will now be able to use the watch to detect the temperature of the water as well as track the depth they are at.
The new device charges faster than any previous model (at 80% in about half an hour), and the battery lasts nearly 18 hours. The Apple Watch Ultra 2, in turn, can last more than a day on a single charge.
Apple also launched a new version of the watch’s operating system, watchOS11.
Explore more
The new AirPods Pro will do the hearing test
While the AirPods Max got a slight refresh (new colors and a USB-C charger), the other headphone models have a number of innovations, mostly health-related.
The AirPods 4 case is the smallest the company has created and has 30 hours of battery life. The headphones have a new design that Apple claims fits the ear better. Additionally, by shaking the head, users will be able to communicate with Siri as needed. There’s also an option for so-called Transparency mode, as well as Active Noise Cancellation, which limits extraneous noise when using the headphones.
Previously, some of these features were only available in the Pro version. And it, in turn, also has key improvements. Owners of the headphones will be able to go through a 5-minute test during which they will hear different tones and frequencies.
“The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1.5 billion people are living with hearing loss,” commented Sumball Desai, VP Health at Apple, while introducing the new headphones.
The data will then be analysed and if necessary, the Hearing Aid feature can be activated to assist the hearing of those with identified problems. However, this has not yet been approved by US regulators.
The full Apple event is available to watch here:
Did you like this post? Would you add anything? Email us at gabriela@dev.bg!
