Apple’s Far Out event: every update on new iPhones, Apple Watches, and more

While Apple’s September 7th “Far Out” event brought us the new iPhone 14, it also spelled the end for some earlier models. From now on, Apple will only sell 5G-capable phones: the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 12, and the second-generation iPhone SE (2022).

Following tradition, Apple dropped the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max to make room for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Launched last year, the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max offered 120Hz screens, a new three-camera system, and Apple’s faster A15 chip. But Apple has made a habit of only offering for sale the latest generation of its Pro-series phones.

Today, Apple announced that it was releasing its latest operating system, iOS 16, on September 12th. It first announced the free upgrade last June during its Worldwide Developers Conference 2022 and released a public beta in July. (Unfortunately, the release of iPadOS 16 has been delayed despite the fact that, traditionally, the two operating systems are released together.)

As a result, the plethora of features that will come with the update won’t be much of a surprise. They start with a variety of improvements to the lock screen, including the ability to add widgets and customize its look and a new way of presenting notifications. You will be able to edit and recall sent messages (with some limitations), use the new iCloud Shared Photo Library to share photos with your family, and use the Live Text feature to pull text from videos as well as photos, with new abilities added.

Apple has announced its latest wearable, the Apple Watch Series 8. It includes a new temperature sensor, which Apple says “takes its commitment to women’s health even further.” The Series 8 also includes two new motion sensors to detect if you’ve been in a severe car crash. It’ll be available starting September 16th and will cost $399 for the GPS model and $499 for the cellular model.

The company says it can track temperature changes as slight as 0.1 degrees Celsius and that it checks your temperature every five seconds. The company says that tracking your body temperature overnight can help give you insights into your ovulation cycle, which it can use to enhance the watch’s cycle tracking feature for those who menstruate. The company says that this data is encrypted on the watch itself — an important consideration for anyone tracking their cycles after the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Apple also says that anyone using Cycle Tracking will now get a warning if their period is irregular, which could be a sign of “underlying health conditions.”

Apple has officially announced the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. In the first big display redesign since Apple introduced the iPhone X in 2017, both handsets have a new pill-shaped cutout that replaces the notch and can adjust dynamically. Both devices also have a faster A16 Bionic chip and an always-on display.

Apple CEO Tim Cook calls the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max the “most innovative pro lineup yet.” The iPhone 14 Pro will start at $999, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $1,099. Both will be available for preorder on September 9th and available in stores on September 16th.

Apple has announced the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, preserving much of the iPhone 13’s design — including the previous-gen A15 Bionic chipset. There’s no Mini option this year, so your options are big or bigger. The US models of the iPhone 14 also do away with the physical SIM tray, going all in on eSIM. The standard iPhone 14 model starts at $799, and the 14 Plus starts at $899. Preorders will start September 9th; the standard 14 ships on September 16th, and the 14 Plus arrives later on October 7th.

Both models support Emergency SOS, the much-rumored emergency messaging via communication satellites when you’re out of range of a cell signal. The phone’s antennas can connect to satellite frequencies. Apple says it can take less than 15 seconds to send a message with a clear view of the sky, and the interface guides users to point their phone in the right direction and walks them through the steps to connect with emergency service providers. It’s also possible to use the Find My app to share location without sending a message. It’s free for two years with iPhone 14 models.

The long-awaited refresh of Apple’s AirPods Pro is here. On Wednesday, at its “Far Out” event, the company announced a second-generation pair of the popular noise-canceling earbuds with a new H2 chip that the company promises will offer improved sound quality and noise cancellation.

The H2 chip allows the new earbuds to cancel “up to twice as much noise” over the first generation AirPods Pro, Apple says in a press release. The new buds and the H2 chip also offer an improved Adaptive Transparency mode. And Apple also says the AirPods Pro have a new low-distortion audio driver and custom amplifier for “richer bass” and “crystal-clear sound across a wider range of frequencies.”

Apple Watch Series 8 will give users a better estimate of when they ovulated based on data from new temperature sensors.

Using two sensors on the Apple Watch Series 8, the built-in menstrual cycle tracking app will check users’ temperature at the wrist every five seconds overnight. This should allow for ovulation tracking since body temperature changes over the course of the menstrual cycle and rises in response to ovulation.

After over a year of rumors, Apple has finally announced the Apple Watch Ultra — a rugged, premium smartwatch that now sits atop Apple’s smartwatch lineup. The watch introduces a new design with a bigger display as well as a new design for exploration and outdoor activities.

There’s a new button guard on the side, with a 49mm titanium case, redesigned digital crown, and a new Action button. The Action button can be customized for various purposes, including workouts, Compass Waypoints, and a new Backtrack feature. The display has sapphire crystal as well as 2,000 nits of brightness. The buttons and crowns are also designed to work with gloves, which is a big concern for outdoor athletes. There are three built-in microphones to improve sound quality as well as reduce ambient noise like wind.

It’s time for Apple’s annual September event, and this should be a big one: we’re expecting iPhones, Apple Watches, AirPods, and plenty of models between them. The event, which Apple’s calling “Far Out,” kicks off today, September 7th, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. It’s streaming live for anyone who wants to tune in remotely, but Apple is also holding an in-person component from its campus in Cupertino — and we’ll be there, reporting live.

The event is expected to be headlined by an expansive lineup of new iPhones. The iPhone 14 is likely to get a larger-sized sibling, while the iPhone 14 Pro could see more substantial upgrades, including a long-awaited always-on display. On the Apple Watch side of things, rumors suggest there’ll be an updated Apple Watch SE, a next-generation Apple Watch Series 8, and the introduction of a new high-end model meant for more extreme use cases and serious workouts. Also, the AirPods Pro should get their first update in three years.

Tech reporters are descending on Cupertino, California, today for Apple’s product launch event, where they’re expecting a first look at new iPhones and Apple Watches. They’ll also be hot — really hot. There’s a suffocating heatwave across the whole state, including in the Bay Area, where temperatures hit all-time highs.

These sorts of extreme heat events are becoming more common because of climate change. The odds of record-breaking heatwaves are far greater now than they were a few decades ago. They’ll be even higher in the next few decades. They’re dangerous, particularly for the elderly, the very young, and people with health conditions like high blood pressure or asthma. They’re even more dangerous when they’re paired with aging power grids like California’s that struggle under the demand for air conditioning, risking blackouts that leave people stuck in the heat.

The iPhone is still Apple’s most important product, and it’s not remotely close. Don’t get distracted by all the people pining for a car, wondering what Apple’s AR headset might look like, claiming the iPad is the computer of the future, or wishing Apple would go ahead and build a TV already. The iPhone still accounts for most of Apple’s revenue, and iPhone users — who also pay for iCloud and Apple TV Plus and buy cases and cables and headphones and smartwatches — account for even more. Apple has been The iPhone Company for more than a decade, and that’s not changing anytime soon.

But the iPhone might not be the star of the show on Wednesday, when Apple holds its annual fall product showcase. We’re expecting new iPhones, yes — an iPhone 14, an iPhone 14 Pro, and an iPhone 14 Pro Max — but they look likely to be the latest in a long line of slightly better iPhones. The iPhone is a terrific but thoroughly mature product, and its most whiz-bang innovations may have already happened. 

Apple’s next event is just around the corner, and die-hard fans have been scouring the latest invitation for clues about what new products and features may be in the cards. It’s a long-held belief that Apple hides things inside its event invitations, but we wondered whether this search for secrets ever bore any fruit (sorry) — and if it did, what sort of hints there are.

To find out, we scoured every invitation over the past 21 years and compared them against the various products subsequently announced at each event. And it turns out, again and again, Apple buries clues in plain sight. But discerning their meaning is not so simple. Apple appears to use several frequently varied approaches to leaving hints that are often difficult to decipher ahead of time. In order to get anything out of the invites, we have to learn how to follow the trail of breadcrumbs in the first place.

Apple’s iPhone 14 launch event is just days away, and it’s expected to showcase a range of new devices — not just a new iPhone. We’re also on the lookout for three (yes, we said three) new Apple Watch models and even a refreshed pair of AirPods Pro earbuds.

Apple’s holding a small in-person event at its Apple Park campus and will stream the show online, similar to what it did with WWDC in June. Here’s what we might see at Apple’s hardware-heavy event, which is slated for September 7th, 2022, at 1PM ET.

Apple’s next big product event is set for September 7th. It’s the company’s third live event of the year, and we’re expecting to see quite a few big announcements, from the iPhone 14 lineup to a new “Pro” Apple Watch model to the next generation of AirPods Pro — plus a bunch more.

The event is being held in person for select members of the media, but it’s also going to be streaming online for everyone else. Here are the details for you to watch the event from wherever you are.

If you own an iPhone, I invite you to check out the Brooklyn Bridge in Apple Maps. In the 3D view, you can see just how it stretches across the East River, hovering over the highway on the edge of Manhattan and towering over its namesake park at the tip of Brooklyn. Flip on Apple’s Flyover tour, and the camera will slowly hover around the bridge in a satellite view on a bright, sunny day, letting you peek into the surrounding pavilion, over at the trees on Liberty Island, and across the East River.

Sure, the bridge might look a little blocky from a few angles, but it’s distinctly the Brooklyn Bridge — a far cry from when Apple Maps first launched and the bridge appeared to be melting into the ground.

In September 2012, Apple introduced the iPhone 5 — it was bigger, faster, and more powerful than its predecessor, but perhaps the most revolutionary change was how you charged it. Onstage to introduce the new phone, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller announced that the company was switching from the 30-pin connector that had been on every iPhone to date over to a small new port called Lightning. Lightning seemed to be everything its predecessor and competitors were not: reversible, compact, and robust. Schiller called it “a modern connector for the next decade.”

Fast forward to 2022, and the connector has lasted the decade Schiller promised. Every iPhone still comes with a Lightning cable, and the cable remains a reliable method for charging devices and connecting to accessories and cars. But as Lightning approaches its 10th birthday, I, and many others, are ready for Apple to close the book on this connector and introduce a sea change in how we charge our phones. It’s not because Lightning’s technically outdated; it’s because another port has outdone it in one key area — ubiquity.

2022 is a big year for smartwatches. Samsung just refreshed its Galaxy Watch lineup with a new “Pro” model, Google is finally releasing a Pixel Watch, Qualcomm launched a new wearable chip, and some Wear OS 2 watches will finally get the upgrade to Wear OS 3. And over in Apple’s camp, the Apple Watch lineup is about to see its biggest overhaul in years. This year, we’re expecting to see not one, not two, but potentially three new Apple Watch models. A new Series 8, a new SE, and a never-before-seen rugged “Pro” model — a new high-end option that could potentially shake things up in the smartwatch world.

That’s because an Apple Watch Pro would mean Apple’s entering a whole new wearable category: multisport fitness watches. This is a category with passionate users who demand a specific list of fitness and navigation features to fuel their athletic adventures, potentially putting the Apple Watch up to challenges it hasn’t faced before.