Apple just had it’s 2023 iPhone event, and there is a lot of chatter online about everything being familiar. I have seen a lot of tweets and comments along the lines of “wasn’t this announced before?” and “didn’t Apple already have this?”. While I do agree there was a bit of predictability and familiarity to today’s event, there were some new features that are coming to the products just introduced. Here are 15 of the new features that the new devices are getting:
The Apple Watches
1. New Apple Watch brightness levels
The Series 9 Apple Watch can go up to 2000 nits maximum brightness and the Ultra 2 can go up to 3000 nits maximum. This is a great feature that doesn’t sound like much but will be a game changer for most. In low light situations it dims to 1 nit which I did not even know was doable and is a great addition.
2. Double tap on Apple Watch
This is an accessibility feature that Apple introduced on the Watches a few years back, now it is a main selling feature and not hidden in menus 3 levels deep. This is one of the “didn’t Apple already have this?” features, but getting prime time in todays event means this can go mainstream. That said, the double tapping interaction is the same interaction/gesture used while wearing the Apple Vision Pro. How will the Watch/Vision Pro know what device the user intended to use when double tapping? Guess we will have to wait for an answer.
3. Siri processing requests on device
Siri on the new series 9 and Ultra 2 can process requests locally on the device without having to connect to the internet.
I’ll give you an example where this can be useful for me personally: My flat is on the fourth floor in the building. I’ll get into the lift and say “Hey Siri start an outdoor walk workout” only for it to say “ I am having trouble connecting to the internet” as the lift being a massive steel box cuts off all cellular connection. I am not planning on getting the new Apple Watch as I am still happy about my beloved Stainless Steel series 7, but if I was, this would be a simple yet beneficial solution to a first world problem.
4. New Watch faces
The new Modular Ultra and the new Nike Globe watch faces are great. I do not know if these watch faces will be loved by all but I hope one day watchOS will open up to 3rd party watch faces so we don’t have to wait for a new watchOS version or new watch hardware for watch faces to drop.
5. Carbon Neutral
The Apple Watch is now available in certain case and band combinations that are 100 %carbon neutral which is great for the environment and if Apple wants to be completely carbon neutral by 2030, having a product hit at goal 7 years prior is commendable progress. The mother nature skit was a good way to make people engaged in what could have been a boring segment during the keynote.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Pros
6. Precision finding people using Find My
This lets you treat your friends like AirTags. Joking aside I think I will find this really useful. I often go shopping with my wife and the superstore we go to does not have good cellular coverage inside, and I really don’t want to join their WiFi network. There has been multiple times that I will go into a different aisle and then lose her, only to try calling her and will not connect. I hope this will help in situations like this, another first world problem solved.
7. Roadside assistance
Oh how I wish this was coming to the UK! In terms of the feature it sounds like a no brainer, an addition to the SOS emergency features we got last year.
8. Titanium!
Titanium replacing Stainless Steel is great that it reduces the weight of the iPhone significantly. The 15 Pro Max weighs 221 grams which is a good 19 grams lighter than the 14 Pro Max it is replacing. I really am looking forward to the less heft on the newer 15 Pro Max, I wrote about the weight of my 14 Pro Max a few days ago, I am glad this is changing for the better.
The new colours or the Titanium phones are really muted, to my eyes the white and natural titanium look very similar, I am guessing the options are very limited when anodising Titanium. The marketing images of the Pro iPhones all tout this being the first titanium phone and “this is what is used in space” was mentioned, expect to see a lot of marketing around this. I still do not know what colour to get, but I am inclining towards the natural titanium.
9. The 3nm chip
This was the part of the keynote where it felt like Apple was just showing off, and they were indeed showing off. No other smartphone processor comes close to the A17 Pro introduced today. I am not going to bore you with a lot of technical details but this was an “industry-first”, meaning no other 3nm chip is out there yet. One interesting point I noted was that Apple is calling this the A17 Pro not Bionic like the previous few years.
10. Action button
RIP ringer/mute switch!
About a year ago I wrote about why there should be an iPhone 15 Ultra, and one of the features I wished for was a dedicated shutter button. The action button we got today can act as a shutter button or you can chose what you want it to be.
The ringer/mute switch was one of the unique things about the iPhone and no other modern (Android) phone has it, and I would use it a lot in the past before I started wearing an Apple watch. Now my watch is always on my wrist and my iPhone is always on silent – this has been the case since 2016 so the ringer/mute switch hasn’t been of much use to me personally. I am glad we are getting an action button and this UI to configure the action button looks overkill and out of place on iOS but I love it.
11. Gaming on iPhone
So every year Apple loves to speak about games and every year it’s when I like taking a bathroom break, but this was a bit different – these were not necessarily “mobile” games but actual console games coming to the phone. When a console game comes to an Apple platform usually the game is a couple of years older at that point, but getting Assassin’s Creed Mirage and two of the new Resident Evil games was a bit of a shocker. Shows that Apple loves to be serious about gaming and has been trying for a while, but will this make more developers and publishers bring their games to Apple platforms? I do not know but I sure hope so.
12. New camera upgrades
There are multiple camera upgrades between the four iPhones but the biggest one is the periscope lens in the 15 Pro Max. I know Samsung phones have had this for a while but I am stoked! Can’t wait to see how this will play out in the new phone. I am not going to write too much here about the camera as it will only be theoretical, I can’t wait to get my the 15 Pro Max and have a play with my camera and then put my thoughts down. I exclusively shoot on iPhone and I am very much looking forward to these upgrades.
One point I noticed was that on the 15 Pro Max the 3X zoom is now gone and is replaced by the 5X zoom. I have stated before that the 3X camera is my favourite iPhone lens, I do not know how this will play out. The 3X now is not an optical zoom anymore, will it make my 3X photos look bad? Guess i’ll have to use the 15 Pro Max to find out.
13. New portrait mode
The new portrait mode lets you shift the focus between subjects even after you take the shot. Excuse the cliche but this sounds like magic but how good will it be in practicality? We’ll have to wait to find out.
Another addition to this is that you don’t have to switch to portrait mode to capture a Portrait photo. The new iPhones automatically capture depth information so you can choose to turn your photo into a portrait photo in the Photos app later.
14. Spatial video
Apple did already do this but with the Vision Pro headset which is not yet out. The new Pro iPhones are meant to get spatial video later this year, which is before the Vision Pro is due to be released. I don’t see the point of spatial video unless you have a Vision Pro but who knows I might be really into this.
Other video features now include LOG encoding with Aces support. The iPhone makes the best videos out there for a smartphone and Apple is not sitting on its laurels, video is getting even better. There is also an option to directly record to an external drive thanks to the new usb-c port supporting up-to 10gigs of data transfer. If this means one can buy the 256gb version of the phone and shoot to a 1tb external drive without worrying about filling up the storage on phone, it’d be great.
15. More iCloud storage options
We are getting new storage options of 6tb and 12tb. Knowing Apple this will cost a lot but I am glad the options are out there for people who need it.
One More Thing
The iPhone 15 Pro Max now starts at $1199 which is $100 more than last year but now has 256gb (which is what the 256gb 14 Pro Max cost last year)
In the UK the 14 Pro Max started at £1199 last year, and this year the 15 Pro Max also starts at £1199 but for the 256gb model. As someone living in the UK, this is an absolute win in my books. More iPhone storage for the same price? Bring it on!