(Bloomberg/Mark Gurman) — Apple Inc. will maintain its greatest product launch occasion of the 12 months Tuesday, when the corporate is ready to unveil the brand new iPhone 17 lineup, smartwatches and AirPods forward of the vacation season.
The video presentation — carrying the tagline “awe dropping” — will kick off from the corporate’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, at 10 a.m. native time. Bloomberg Information can have full protection, together with a stay weblog with play-by-play reporting and evaluation.
Listed below are six key issues to be careful for:
A Thinner iPhone
Probably the most notable introduction will probably be a product that’s anticipated to be referred to as the iPhone 17 Air. It represents the corporate’s first fully new smartphone mannequin in a number of years. The massive change: This iPhone would be the thinnest-ever by far and a couple of third slimmer than right now’s flagship fashions.
The display screen measurement will probably be near those on Professional Max telephones, however the Air will sacrifice battery and cameras to make the thinner body potential. The machine may also use Apple’s in-house modem chip, which is already within the low-end iPhone 16e. That part has been graded in assessments as slower than these from Qualcomm Inc., which is able to stay in different new iPhones.
The machine is prone to be priced between the iPhone 17 and 17 Professional, and it could possibly be a tough promote for customers who prize battery life and efficiency. Nonetheless, the ultrathin look might excite some consumers and can match an identical handset from Samsung Electronics Co., which launched its Galaxy S25 Edge this summer season. The underlying expertise may also set the stage for future, extra succesful fashions.
Digital camera, Battery Upgrades for Professional Fashions
For customers who’re searching for digital camera upgrades — and an extended battery life — Apple will introduce the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max. These new high-end fashions, which is able to proceed to come back in roughly 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display screen sizes, will embody utterly redesigned digital camera methods.
The corporate has been testing a number of new options, together with main upgrades to video recording and a variable aperture system to provide customers extra management over focal size. There’s additionally improved expertise to permit extra correct zoom capabilities, in addition to a strategy to concurrently file video utilizing the back and front lenses.
Apple can also be prone to tout battery life beneficial properties on each the iPhone 17 and 17 Professional, responding to customers’ unceasing demand for longer-lasting smartphones.
Upping the Assault on Garmin and Fitbit
For the primary time in a number of years, Apple is giving its smartwatch lineup an end-to-end refresh. That features a new Apple Watch Sequence 11, an Extremely 3 and up to date variations of the lower-end SE mannequin. However the modifications on the flagship Sequence 11 received’t be dramatic. After an overhaul of the Sequence 10 final 12 months, the Sequence 11 will get extra minor tweaks, like a brighter display screen.
The massive noise will come from the Apple Watch Extremely 3, which is able to add a barely greater display screen and satellite tv for pc connectivity. Which means wearers can keep related off the grid, even after they don’t have their cellphone. This characteristic goes proper after Garmin Ltd., which not too long ago rolled out new fashions with related capabilities and has lengthy offered a standalone satellite tv for pc machine to contact emergency providers.
The Apple Watch SE, in the meantime, will get its first replace since 2022. The thought is to proceed going after the entry-level watch market, together with fashions offered by Fitbit — owned by Alphabet Inc.’s Google — and Samsung.
A Lack of Main AI Developments
If the corporate’s Worldwide Builders Convention in June was any indication, Apple doesn’t have so much up its sleeve when it comes to AI — at the very least not within the close to future. On the June occasion, the corporate solely confirmed a number of enhancements, together with some translation options that Google has had for years and deeper integration with ChatGPT and Anthropic providers.
For extra vital AI advances, customers might have to attend till spring of subsequent 12 months, when the corporate is planning to introduce a much-delayed overhaul to the Siri voice assistant. The brand new Siri will have the ability to higher fulfill queries by tapping into the open internet, on-screen content material and a person’s information.
Health Improve for AirPods Professional
Apple’s AirPods have been transitioning from plain-old earbuds into well being units. That shift started final 12 months when the corporate added a complicated listening to well being system to the product. This 12 months, Apple will transfer additional into health. The corporate will add a heart-rate monitor to the earbuds, giving wearers a strategy to observe vitality burned and different exercise information with out a smartwatch.
This, after all, may increase the variety of clients hooked into the well being and health part of Apple’s ecosystem, ultimately pushing them into pricier merchandise just like the smartwatch. Customers can even count on modifications for improved ear match and a redesigned charging case. Apple first added heart-rate monitoring to its Powerbeats Professional earbuds earlier this 12 months.
Potential Worth Hikes
Pricing will probably be one of the carefully watched components of Tuesday’s occasion. Apple will both preserve its iPhone worth ranges the identical or give them a hike — both means, it’s an fascinating improvement. The corporate might choose to boost costs in response to climbing bills and the still-volatile tariff state of affairs, or it’d simply eat the additional prices to drive demand.
Installment plans and trade-in applications would soften the blow of upper costs, however many customers stay extremely delicate to price will increase — particularly after opponents like Google and Samsung held off on hikes with their newest fashions.
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