Apple Event Roundup: The new iPhone 15 costs around ₦615,000 ($799)

The much-anticipated Apple event is finally over. Apple held its annual launch event at Apple Park and as usual, there were lots of new hardware and software unveiled. Some of which had been rumoured over the last months.

The tech giant is not backing down from its fleet of iPhones as it is introducing the iPhone 15 series among other cool gadgets.

So, in case you missed the live or do not have the energy to watch the over 1-hour event recording, that’s okay. We have summed up the most important parts of the event below.

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Introducing the iPhone 15 Series

This is not a surprise as the whole world was expecting the iPhone 15 series. It is a tradition for the tech company to release a higher series almost every year. But this year, we saw some really unique features including impressive lines of pastel colors (Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black).

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus

Apart from its beautiful pastel colour that enhances its natural beauty, the display quality is excellent. The Retina XDR display on iPhone 15 reaches 1600 nits (with a peak brightness of 2000 nits), at daytime. Also, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have access to Dynamic Island.

In terms of size, the iPhone 15 has a 6.1-inch display, while the 15 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. They have smaller bezels too. For visual quality, the main camera lens captures in at 48 megapixels. You can choose between 48MP images for pictures (primary camera sensor) or 4k recording to make videos.

The high megapixel count means the inner 12MP of the lens can be used to spoof a 2x optical zoom. Portrait modes have also been upgraded with “auto portrait mode”. In terms of software, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will most likely use the 2022 A16 Bionic processor, but the iPhone 15 has the new Ultra Wideband chip.

The iPhone 15 also has a machine learning feature that provides voice isolation, and connects users through satellite transmission with “Roadside Assistance”. With this, you do not need a signal at all and you can get access to these satellites for free for two years.

The price of Apple iPhone 15 will start from $799. Pre-orders will be available on September 15th and the phones will officially be released on September 22.

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max

Apple has dubbed the iPhone 15 Pros as the “most Pro iPhone” they’ve ever created. The new devices come in white, black, blue, and “natural” colours. It is built of Titanium. This new phone series comes without the mute switch button but with an “Action” button instead. This allows users to choose a different number of shortcuts by pressing the action button.

For visual quality, the iPhone 15 Pro photonic Engine enhances low-light photography, providing more detailed photos. The phone is equipped with multiple lenses, offering users the equivalent of seven camera lenses and 48 megapixels. It also has a periscope zoom lens with a 5x optical zoom.

While the iPhone 15 Pro Max has similar features for its visual quality, a unique feature is that it has a 120mm-equivalent lens, a larger sensor, and a 5x telephoto lens. The Pros can even video shoot directly to an external drive through the USB-C port (as long as you have the right cable).

In terms of software, its processing power is the Apple A17 Pro and according to reports, the industry’s first ever 3 nanometer chip. It is equipped with two high-performance cores, a six-core GPU, and four high-efficiency cores, while the neural engine has 16 cores.

It is also a powerful mobile gaming platform thanks to its hardware-based ray tracing and A17 Pro processor. We might be seeing some new games including Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Village, Assassin’s Creed Mirage etc. The 15 Pro is the first phone with 10Gbps transfer speeds.

One unique feature of the iPhone Pros is the ability to create spatial video. With its main and wide-angle lenses, it can create a 3D-like video which can be viewed on the Apple Vision Pro. It also has its new StandBy mode in iOS 17.

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro with 128GB of storage starts from $999, while Pro Max is at $1,199 with 256GB of storage. Also, pre-orders start September 15, but it will officially be released on September 22.

Apple Watches are getting a new ‘facelift’

Apple continues to innovate with the Apple Watch series. At the event, it announced the launch of the latest Apple Watch Series 9, its first-ever carbon-neutral product.

Apple Watch Series 9

The new Apple Watch Series 9 will be powered by the S9 processor chip, the long-rumored CPU based on the same architecture as the A15 Bionic. Apple claims its GPU is 30% faster and the overall experience is 60% faster than the S8.

With the new Apple Watch S9, users now have access to interesting features like Siri integration for health data access. Also, users can now interact with their Apple Watch without touching the screen, thanks to heart sensors, gyroscopes, and machine learning.

This new series using ultra-wideband tech can allow you to find your iPhone and even Apple Homepod. It has doubled brightness i.e. the display brightens to 2000 nits and drops to 1 nit for dark rooms.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is already available for pre-order as it will be released on September 22, with a starting price of $399 (GPS) and $499 (GPS + Cellular).

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Alongside the Series 9, Apple also unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra 2. This model benefits from the S9 chip’s power, along with features like the Double Tap and on-device Siri. The Modular Ultra also allows for a personalized watch face.

The Apple Watch Ultra has an impressive outdoor display architecture that can hit 3000 nits and the Night mode uses an ambient light sensor to switch automatically. Apple also claims it can last up to 36 hours on the regular and 72 hours in low-power mode.

A new twist is the materials used to make these watches. It is made from 95% recycled material and with a recycled band. Apple’s transition from leather to eco-friendly materials is evident with new bands and colours that incorporate recycled materials. The company plans to have a net zero-carbon product by 2030.

For Ultra 2, the price starts from $799 and pre-orders are available. Although, it will officially be released on the same day as the S9 i.e. September 22.

USB-C connector cable

 It seems as though Apple has realized that USB-C might just be a better option. Although, it is not a relatively new idea that sprung up during the event alone. In 2018, the iPad Pro models switched to USB-C. Following that, the iPad Air and the 10th generation iPad followed suit.

But this is the first time in the history of iPhones that Apple is making a shift from the lightning connector cable to the USB-C Charger. This will be the new charging link for the iPhone 15 series. It will be used for charging, syncing data or connecting to accessories.

It will also be used for Airpods i.e. the 2nd generation AirPods Pro including the Pro 2 will also be available with USB-C compatibility and connectivity port. For the wired EarPods, Apple offers them with a USB-C connector so they can work with iPhone 15 series, It is priced at an affordable $19.

iCloud+ Expansion

The Apple iCloud also got an upgrade although, there was just very little information offered. Apple, however, announced that it will be adding a 6 terabyte (TB) and 12 terabyte (TB) option for customers who need extensive data storage.

Before now, the highest iCloud storage a user could have was 4TB overall and this is just after the user subscribes to Apple One Premier, gets 2TB and buys an additional 2TB for $9.99.

Details of pricing were not shared for this new iCloud space yet but in the coming days, we are expecting to see its price tier soon.

iOS 17: The Next Operating System

Alongside the hardware announcements, Apple confirmed the release of iOS 17 as a free software update on September 18.

Even if you’re not upgrading to a new iPhone, you can still enjoy new features and enhancements.