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Journalism of Courage
The Apple event on Tuesday was all about new design and redesign. Apple showcased an all-new iPhone Air model, its thinnest ever at just 5.6mm, a new design that required the innards of the phone to be redesigned to accommodate the lack of space. But that redesign did not mean cutting corners, as the phone packs a decent battery accommodated by dropping the physical SIM slot, as well as the A19 Pro silicon, which is better than what the base iPhone has.
CEO Tim Cook said the new iPhones “raise the bar once again” with a lineup “that’s unlike anything we’ve ever created”. While the iPhone 17 itself was an incremental update, with the Pro models too, Apple has pushed a new design, especially with the rectangular camera plateau and vapour-cooled thermals to keep the phone cool even with its pro-grade exertions.
Underlining the focus on external and internal design, Cook said for Apple, this goes beyond just how something looks or feels. “Design is also how it works. This philosophy guides everything we do”.
While Apple calls the 6.5-inch iPhone Air “paradox you have to hold to believe”, the fact is that a lot of Android brands too have started releasing ultra-thin form factor phones, probably to counter the now jaded foldable form factor.
The iPhone 17 will have a ProMotion display and 3000 nits of brightness while being powered by the 3-nanometer A19 processor. The phone has a 48MP dual fusion camera system, four times the resolution compared to iPhone 16, and a large 18MP square front Centrestage camera sensor that lets you take landscape mode photos without rotating the phone. This feature is common across all the iPhones launched this time.
The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models tout their durability, given the kind of scenarios these phones find themselves ending up in. These phones now come with the equivalent of eight Pro lenses total with digital zoom up to 40x for photos, providing unprecedented creative flexibility from ultra-wide to extreme telephoto shooting. The new 48MP fusion telephoto offers 4x zoom at 100mm and 8x zoom at 200mm, Apple’s longest optical reach ever. This is made possible by a 56% larger sensor than the previous generation, with improved 3D sensor shift stabilization and an updated photonic engine with machine learning integration. The phones also offer ProRes RAW and other cutting edge professional video capabilties.
Apple also upgraded the AirPods Pro, arguably the most ubiquitous earphones in the world, by adding live translation and heartrate sensors into the earphones along with better battery life. Live translation on the AirPods Pro 3, along with an improved audio profile and best-in-class active noise cancellation, is “enabled by advanced computational audio combined with Apple Intelligence models running on the iPhone”.
Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Series 11 comes with a 5G modem and better battery life. The thinner, sturdier model will also have an updated operating system with the liquid glass design. It will also come with a blood pressure monitor that alerts users to hypertension and identifies patterns that signal intervention is necessary. It will also feature a new sleep score using data captured overnight. There is also an improved Apple Watch SE with better battery life and fast charging. The new Apple Watch Ultra 3, meanwhile, comes with satellite connectivity and Emergency SOS as well as 42 hours of battery life.
The starting prices for Apple’s latest lineup are as follows: the iPhone 17 (256 GB) is priced at Rs 82,900, while the ultra-thin iPhone Air (256 GB) starts at Rs 1,19,900. The iPhone 17 Pro (256 GB) is available at Rs 1,34,900, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max (256 GB) tops the range at Rs 1,49,900. In the wearables category, the Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm) is priced at Rs 46,900, the Apple Watch Ultra (49mm) at Rs 89,900, and the Apple Watch SE (40mm) at Rs 25,900. For audio, the AirPods 3 are available at Rs 25,900.
The author is in California on the invitation of Apple
