It’s September, the official start to hoodie season (and football season!). The leaves are just starting to change, the weather here in Berrien is already threatening us with the long winter ahead of us, and there are pumpkin spice lattes aplenty. To tech fans, however, September means new Apple products and content . This year was no exception. With new iPhones, Apple Watch, and AirPods announced at Apple’s keynote titled “Far Out,” there is a lot to talk about. While both the Watch and AirPods were steps up in their respective lines, they were not what caught most viewers’ attention. Instead and per usual, the talk of the town is indeed the new iPhone–more specifically, the iPhone 14 Pro.
While the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro are not entirely new in a visual aspect, they flaunt tech Apple fans have been eagerly waiting for. First, let us take a look at the iPhone 14 Pro. In the past, the Pro line has always been defined by the camera, and this model is no different. Like its 13 Pro predecessor, the 14 Pro has a 6x Optical zoom range and a telephoto lens with a ƒ/2.8 aperture, smart HDR 4 for photos, night mode portraits, macro photography, and has the ability to shoot in Apple ProRAW if so desired. This is where the similarities stop. The 14 Pro model boasts its new 48MP sensor, a whopping 36MP jump from the 13 line. This 75% increase lets the new iPhone scale new heights. With this new tech, Apple showed off the 14 Pro’s incredible image stabilization, heightened night mode capability, and a 4K HDR Cinematic mode. Essentially, these new features result in a rejuvenated camera that captures a new level of detail. For example, hyper-zoomed or dark images are now clearer than in previous iPhones. Paired with Apple's new Photonic Engine, iPhone 14 Pro seems to be reaching for the phone camera crown.
If you watched the Apple presentation or have seen any of their new ads, the overall theme for promotion is Apple’s ability to save lives. We see this specifically, with the new Emergency SOS via satellite and Crash Detection being two new features on both the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro lines. These features seem like great safety additions to the phone. Emergency SOS via satellite allows an iPhone 14 user to access the emergency SOS system from anywhere around the world without cell service. It does however, require a clear view of the sky (no clouds, trees, etc.). This service will be free from Apple for the first two years and…who knows after that. Let’s hope none of us have to test this out! The second way Apple is trying to save your life is through Crash Detection. This feature uses the phone's gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, and a slew of other smart tech and software to detect if you have been in a crash. If it detects you have been in a crash, it will call emergency services for you. This seems similar to the fall detection on the Apple Watch since its Series 4, albeit more complicated since your phone needs to know the difference between being dropped and being in a car crash.
Another key feature of this new release was the iPhone 14 Pros Dynamic Island. An odd name for sure, but one completely unsurprising when looking at Apple’s history of quirky naming. The Dynamic Island feature replaces the iconic “notch” found on the top of iPhones’ screens beginning in 2017 with the iPhone X. In classic Apple fashion, the company has taken its sweet time to switch to a common screen feature. The Dynamic Island is Apple’s way of converting a necessary and possibly ugly piece of tech in their screen into an elegant hub for the user. Apple uses smooth animations and useful widgets around the cutout to turn the pill into an interactive hub. The island displays popup notifications, acts as a media player, and holds live widgets. It can be used to switch between apps and tells you when you have live features in the background. Despite the odd name, the Dynamic Island is a golden representation of Apple doing the Apple thing - taking an idea that has been a part of technology for years and perfecting it.
iOS 16 is perhaps the most universally anticipated release of the Apple keynote, being the one thing that impacts almost every Apple user this fall. In my opinion, the best feature of iOS 16 is the new lock screen customizability (and the always on display for iPhone 14 Pro users). Boasting widgets, font styling, and photo depth manipulation, the new lock screen is a step in the right direction for Apple in terms of customization—an aspect of their technology that has been critiqued in the past, especially when compared with Android. The new lock screen experience also allows users to create multiple lock screens and allows them to be tied to different focus settings as well, like Do Not Disturb (nice touch, Apple). In addition, notifications got a makeover. Long gone are the days of 15 separate notifications from your favorite football team each time they score (or only two notifications telling you how badly they lost). Now, a single notification is updated without clogging up your feed. Perhaps the next exciting change in this iOS update is the ability to edit messages. No more need to casually play off those accidental typos spell check doesn't catch. The new IOS also gives users a window of time to unsend accidental messages. Most of the other iOS changes are smaller and more detailed and I will let you all discover them for yourself.
Overall, this season's iPhone and iOS reveal were aligned with expectations. A new advancement in camera features, especially in the Pro line, is exactly what we have come to expect each year. The changes to iOS were nice but lacking. I find myself wishing there was still more customizability, for example the ability to move the time or adjust where the widgets show up on the screen. However, my reaction to this year’s keynote was not unexpected. When we were growing up, every year Apple had a huge leap in each and every phone, iOS, or product. Now, we are making more and more fine adjustments, which are harder to notice unless that tiny adjustment applies exactly to why you own an iPhone. In my opinion, to expect mind blowing changes in every Apple keynote is unreasonable at this point. Apple is in a different stage of development, they are perfecting what it means to be Apple and what it looks like to be in the Apple ecosystem.
What are your thoughts on what Apple has to offer this year? Was it a Bop or Flop? Let us know!
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.