Apple took the wraps off its new lineup of iPhones and Apple Watch at a special event in Cupertino, California, earlier this week, and I was there ringside to see what the American company had in store for its most personal devices for the year ahead. Having spent some time at the event with each device, here’s my take on which of the big changes really matter.
iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
What You Need To Know: The iPhone X design is now the new normal for the iPhone lineup, and the natural successors to Apple’s 10th Anniversary iPhone are the XS and the upsized XS Max with its 6.5-inch display. Both are powered by the A12 Bionic chip, the first commercially available 7-nanometre chip that not only allows for better battery life but also packs in a Neural Engine that makes short work of the FaceID facial recognition and photo processing/scene recognition. Camera upgrades are incremental, with a larger pixel size for better low-light performance and a faster TrueDepth sensor for quicker selfies.
The new Smart HDR capabilities promise zero shutter lag and well-preserved details for both the subject and the background, and the portrait mode now allows the bokeh to be adjusted even after the picture has been shot to find the right level of background blurriness you want. Interested? The XS and the XS Max hit India on September 28 in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations starting at Rs 99,900 (XS) and Rs 1.10 lakh (XS Max).
First Take: Both phones feel extremely exquisitely crafted in the hand and feature improved IP68 water resistance that’s supposed to allow for 2m-deep water submersion for up to 30 minutes, but the Max is where the big changes (quite literally!) are most felt. This is so much more ‘Plus sized’ than any iPhone has ever gotten, so much so that they forwent the Plus tag and went with ‘Max’ instead! With the slim bezels and near-edge-to-edge screen, Apple has squeezed in an enormous amount of an insanely bright and vibrant OLED screen into a size no bigger than the previous generation Plus variants.
What’s impressive is how shockingly light the phone feels for a device with that much screen. You get more details on screen, and with the improved dual speaker setup, a better movies and gaming experience as well!
Apple Watch Series 4
What You Need To Know: With all the new iPhones getting edge-to-edge screens, the Watch Series 4 isn’t far behind. With a completely redesigned display which extends to the edges and curves at the corners, Series 4 gives you over 30 per cent larger screens than on previous models. With the bigger display, the Watch can now show you richer, more customisable watch faces that allow you to read more information at once. It’s also thinner, the Digital Crown now has haptic feedback, a louder speaker, more watch faces and made of new materials: ceramic and sapphire.
Big upgrades on the health and medical tracking front — the Watch can now detect if you’ve taken a fall and alert emergency contacts if you’re unresponsive, and there’s new hardware to detect abnormally low heart rates, irregular rhythms and to take an on-demand electrocardiogram (ECG) straight from your wrist, though the latter will likely need Indian regulatory approvals before launch. India availability is yet to be announced, though I fully expect it should be in time for the festive season up ahead.
First Take: That gorgeous new screen, with the rounded edges and barely-there bezels, is a sight, but it’s an iterative refinement of a popular design. More crucial is the improvement to the Digital Crown on the side, which now has haptic feedback while scrolling through lists and allows for greater precision while navigating the interface.
It’s thinner on your wrist, though the bigger screen will please those craving for a plus-sized version of the bigger 42mm Series 3. Believe me, this version will be enough to spark the requisite amount of envy in current Series 3 owners.
iPhone XR
What You Need To Know: The new tweener device that lines up alongside the XS duo is the iPhone XR, where R could stand for anything (I’m going with Regular or Relatively Affordable)! You see, the thing is that while it may sport a lower starting price of Rs 76,900 when it launches on October 26 and offer a 6.1-inch notched LCD screen (instead of the superior OLED screens on the XS) with no 3D Touch tech, this is by no way a pushover of a phone. The XR is powered by the same A12 Bionic chip as the pricier models and has the same Face ID facial recognition, and even manages to pack in portrait mode capabilities, albeit off a 12-MP single camera setup.
As with the XS series, the XR will also have a dual-SIM setup on the iPhone but with a twist — you’ll get a regular nano-SIM card slot along with a digital eSIM capability that we saw earlier on the Cellular version of the Apple Watch (only Airtel and Jio, for now). For many, the clincher will be the sheer number of colour options the XR will be available in, including yellow, red, coral and blue…and black and white for the less adventurous!
First Take: After a few moments of use, one thing is clear: This will be the phone for the Rest of Us. It offers a similar design as the more expensive XS models, albeit in an aluminium and glass combination (not stainless steel) and offers a lot of the same features at three-quarters of the price. The 6.1-inch LCD is classic Apple — well tuned and high on brightness — in a body slightly smaller than the previous Plus variants, thanks to the reduced bezels. In the hand, the XR feels like a 7/8 Plus, but with more screen real estate, including the landscape app layouts you see on the XS Max.
Tushar Kanwar is a tech columnist and commentator. Follow him onTwitter @2shar. Mail your tech queries to t2onsunday@abp.in
