One seemingly small new feature that could change everything
Apple has recently been accused of having lost its way and no longer innovating.
Hell, even I wrote a piece not that long ago saying that the leadership was past it and we needed new, fresh blood.
Well, I am glad to say that I’ve been proven well and truly wrong – and I couldn’t be happier!
Apple sure took a beating last year, but they have come back hard and to my mind, they are almost back to their best. The Renaissance started in the summer at Apple’s WWDC event when they showcased iOS 26. It looked great, but having been bitten by Apple last year, a lot of us wondered if it would once again be guilty of over-promising and under-delivering.
Well, having been using iPadOS 26 and iOS 26 for a few months, I can happily tell you hand on heart that this year they delivered – by the bucket load!
But now we can see that was just the start of the tricks they had up their fruity sleeves. This week at Apple’s Awe Dropping event, they plonked the cherry on top of the cake they started to bake a few months ago.
Now we have some exciting new hardware to match the all-new OS they showed off this summer.
And the best bit about it is they are back innovating!
Apple is back Awe Dropping
One of the best bits of this week’s event was that it was tight, short and fact-packed. Their ego was left at the door, and there were none of those pointless skits.
We got product after product, and save for the Jony Ive’esque designer type voice-overs, there were precious fillers. As much as I’d love to see these events back live, possibly that ship has forever sailed, but I hope this is now the template of what we can come to expect from Apple in the coming years.
Not only were there meaningful and small improvements to products across the range, but Apple gave us a redesigned iPhone Pro and and brand new iPhone category.
In short, they spoiled us!
And as if all that wasn’t enough, they made one seemingly small tweak to a teeny-tiny sensor that may change the way smartphones are made & used forever.
Not bad for a 70-minute event from a company whose glory days have passed them by, right?
As the dust settles after this week’s bun-fight, I just wanted to take a moment to jot down my thoughts about the highlights of what Apple showcased this week, starting with that new phone – the iPhone Air
It’s not a 17 Air!
The all-new super-thin phone we knew was coming ended up being simply called the iPhone Air – not as we had assumed, the iPhone 17 Air, which again makes you wonder if leakers are to be trusted. None of them got that right.
The first question that naming raised in my suspicious mind was, does this mean it’s a one-and-done phone? With it not being part of the iPhone 17 lineup, Apple could simply make it vanish and next year wheel in its obvious successor, the first foldable iPhone.
I mean, go on, you try to tell me that the iPhone Air isn’t the precursor to Apple’s foldable iPhone.
It’s interestingly and fairly competitively priced at £999 for the entry model, which is only £100 more than the iPhone 16+ that it replaces. And it’s not just a pretty, thin phone either – the specs are decent.
It boasts a 6.5-inch, 3000 nit OLED, ProMotion display and ceramic glass front and back. It’s the only phone in the lineup now with a titanium body and is the most Apple silicon of all the phones this year.
Not only is it packing Apple’s A19 Pro Chip, but also the C1X modem and Apple’s brand new connectivity N1 chip.
We had heard that the 3149mAh battery would be woeful, but that may not be the case. Apple is quoting 27 hours of video playback, which puts it on a par with last year’s 16 Pro. It’s only the fact that Apple already has a MagSafe battery pack on sale that makes me wonder if they know something we don’t. Time will tell, I guess.
My only real concerns for it are that the iPhone Air only has a single speaker and that it’s an eSIM-only phone. The speaker, I guess, is not a huge issue as we all tend to use AirPods with our phones, but the eSIM is a pain – or is it?
I’ve never used one, so I guess it’s the unknown I don’t like. I’ve heard it varies greatly depending upon carrier and country. I know eSIMs are supposed to be safer as they can’t be stolen if your phone is taken, but I still quite like the idea of a physical SIM card.
Yes, the iPhone Air only has a single 48MP Fusion camera, but the point is it’s an Apple camera. They still arguably make the best cameras of any manufacturer, and sometimes it’s not about the numbers. Quality beats quantity, and I’d rather have one proven camera than three lesser cameras.
Apple’s game changer
During the event, Apple casually mentioned that all its front-facing, 18MP selfie cameras would now have a square sensor.
Initially, that didn’t resonate as to how impactful that was, but it could very well be an industry-changing moment that defines how selfies are taken. Mark my words, others will quickly be following in Apple’s footsteps.
I’m sure you’ll have heard by now that the square sensor means that you’ll no longer have to bother changing the orientation of your phone to either shoot landscape or portrait selfies – your new iPhone and its square sensor will do it all for you.
And although I’ve never been a fan of Centre Stage and how it behaves on Macs, on the iPhone, I can see how it makes sense. As is so often the case, all the dots join up in the end with Apple.
Apparently, around 500 billion selfies are taken every year, so this one ‘little’ change is actually huge! And couple that with the dual-action recording, meaning you can record both what you are looking at and your reaction to it, and the changes that Apple brought to their front-facing cameras across the entire range of phones this year are huge.
More goodness
But Apple had more toys to show us – and the next one was AirPods Pro 3.
I’ve had both the original AirPods Pro & AirPods Pro 2, so I guess you could call me a fan. I mentioned on my podcast, Minus Sixteen, a few weeks ago and wrote about it here too, that Apple seems to have big plans for AirPods.
The rumours had us believe that these new AirPods would look different and come in a smaller, newly designed case, none of which panned out. In fact, AirPods Pro 3 will still have the H2 chip in them, so I assume that improvements to audio and ANC will be iterative.
But Apple seems to see AirPods more as an almost 24/7 wearable now than they do merely an audio device. In many ways, they are now becoming an extension of the Apple Watch.
You can already carry out a hearing test with them and use them as hearing protection too in loud, noisy environments. Well, as of this week, you can now add to that list that AirPods Pro 3 can measure your heart rate and even measure burned calories as well.
And if you use Apple Workouts as I do most mornings, then they’ll even display some of your health metrics and vitals on your TV as you work out. If you really wanted to, there is even an argument to say that you could get away without an Apple Watch if what you were after was some baseline metrics.
But Apple wasn’t finished with AirPods Pro 3 – they also gave us Live Translation. Admittedly, this will be a case of finding out how well it works in the real world, but if it works anywhere near as well as they showed us, then this’ll be another indication of how Apple want us to be wearing their AirPods all day every day.
I guess it was with that endgame in mind that they’ve redesigned the silicon ear tips, which are now foam-filled and also will give you 5 sets to choose from. They want as many people as possible to find AirPods comfortable to wear for long periods.
And all that is before we get the inevitable infrared cameras on them in the next few years.
You read it here first, Apple has big plans for AirPods.
Oh, and there were some phones as well!
Another hidden in view hero at this week’s event was the base-level iPhone 17.
Firstly, and most importantly, the entry-level iPhone wasn’t overlooked as Apple has been guilty of in previous years. Also, there was no price increase this year, even amid all the ongoing tariff situations, for the iPhone 17. You can still buy an iPhone 17, but now with 256GB of storage, which is twice what the iPhone 16 offered for £799.
It also got a larger, brighter, Ceramic Shield 6.3-inch OLED 120Hz panel. You’ll get that new 18MP selfie-camera on the front, two 48MP cameras on the back and that N1 chip I mentioned, along with improved battery life, which makes the iPhone 17, which comes in five colours, worth taking time to look at.
In many ways, it’s an iPhone Pro on a budget and a diet!
Speaking of the iPhone Pro, that too had a few new goodies loaded onto it.
I’m not normally a colours kind of man, but geez, that new, zesty burnt orange looks damned gorgeous. For the first time in ages, we have a bold, a strikingly bold colour for an iPhone Pro and I’m all in!
Although we had all seen the dummy units, none of those prepared us for quite how good the new iPhone 17 Pro was going to look. That two-tone look is both divine and eye-catching.
Although it would’ve been a nice touch if the cameras were now flush to the plateau or camera island, it now makes sense what that new design was all about. In basic terms, all the workings of the phone are in that plateau, meaning that the rest of the phone is pretty much just made up of the display and battery. The antenna is now wrapped around the camera plateau as well, so hopefully, reception may be improved.
And speaking of that battery, it’s the biggest yet in an iPhone at 5088mAh and should perform even better now that it has a deionised water-filled vapour chamber inside that aluminium, unibody frame. Although I didn’t suffer from heat issues this year with my iPhone 16 Pro Max, I know it was a common complaint, which should fingers crossed now be a thing of the past.
You’ll have no shortage of focal lengths to choose from, as you’ll have a Macro/13mm/24mm/28mm/35mm/48mm/100mm option or 200mm – the latter coming from the 8x telephoto lens. There is a new CODEC for videographers – ProRes Raw, which gives you even more control in post-production.
Watching you
Apple Watch wasn’t overlooked either.
The Apple Watch S3 gets 5G connectivity, faster charging and an Always-On display. The Apple Watch 11 gets the latest Ceramic Shield glass and a 24-hour battery, whilst the flagship Watch Ultra 3 got a brighter display and a 42-hour battery life.
You see what I mean!
Even non-Apple customers would surely have to admit that is not a bad tally for one event?
In case you’re wondering, sitting in my basket waiting to check out is a blue iPhone Air, an orange iPhone 17 Pro Max, both with 256GB of storage and a pair of AirPods Pro 3.
I’m skint, but tech-rich!
But over and above all that, I’m just happy to see Apple bouncing back and letting the tech do the talking.
Not bad for a company that’s no longer inspiring or innovating, is it?
