Glowtime – September 2024

Apple’s relentless launch cycle demanded the Glowtime event. It launched iPhone 16/Pro, new/updated AirPods, new Watch Series 10 and updated Ultra 2 including Hermès. Tim and Craig literally invited us to share the glow. But how much innovation did we really see?

TL:DR – Apple's latest lineup offers a few incremental upgrades wrapped in their famed reality distortion field of new materials and buzzwords, with slightly better cameras, thinner borders, more USB-C and some mildly useful software tweaks.

Apple Watch Series 10 with the biggest display and thinnest design ever, and it's a wide angle OLED display too

Your New Apple Watch Series 10 not only tracks your steps but could also detect possible Sleep apnea. Good job then that it is the fastest charging ever at 30 minutes to 80%, since I've yet to own an Apple Watch that doesn't need charging overnight, exactly when it should be detecting my sleep patterns. Real world battery tests are not yet available but Apple claim up to 18 hours. Fast charging capability can sometimes be at the expense of battery longevity too but we won't know this for a few years.

Theres a lot of features here but not so many benefits

• Up to 40% brighter when viewed from an angle,
• The thinnest Apple Watch ever,
• Speaker playback,
• Largest most advanced display,
• Silver, Jet Black and Rose Gold in Aluminium,
• Natural, Gold and Dark Slate Gray in polished Titanium,
• Fastest charging Apple Watch ever, 30 minutes to 80%.

Watch Apps

Overnight vitals and sleep changes are new. Medications, Loudness and Atrial Fibrilation are existing apps.

Possible Sleep Apnea

This new app will also work on Ultra and Series 9 Apple Watch

Blood Oxygen app (missing in action)

There was no mention of the Blood Oxygen app which is not available in the USA but is in other markets.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 new colour, same 2023 technology

There's a sleek new finish for the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in Black and the new Titanium Milanese Loop brings elegance and endurance to your wrist but theres absolutely no innovation in the technology itself. The technology is the same as the original Ultra 2 from late 2023.

Most accurate GPS in a sports watch

• New colour Black,
• New titanium Milanese loop,
• New Apple Watch Hermès Ultra edition.

Black

something old, something new, something borrowed

The AirPods 4 with enhanced Active Noise Cancellation, would appear to be the innovation here. It is more expensive, naturally. USB-C is not an innovation.

H2 chip powered

• USB-C charging case,
• Up to 30 hours total battery life,
• A second model with Active noise cancellation,
• Adaptive audio and conversation awareness so you dont need to switch modes when you move to a noisy area.
• Speaker in the case for 'find my'.

AirPods Max

USB-C is not an innovation. New colours Starlight, Midnight, Blue, Purple and Orange are also not an innovation.

AirPods Pro 2

This is not a new product. but a pre-announcement of a software update to iOS to support turning the AirPods Pro 2 into a hearing aid.

Hearing Test 

Hearing focus

• Focus on Prevention, Awareness, Assistance
• Hearing Protection on by default provides protection in a variety of environments
• Hearing Test results in the health app
• Easy to use professional grade Hearing Aid

iPhone 16

New and vibrant colours are not a technology innovation, neither are USB-C or WiFi 7 particularly noteworthy. The new camera control does provides quick access to essential functions and the cameras are improved hugely. If you're into photography and can't stretch to a Pro this might be the right choice.

Apple Intelligence in the core of iPhone

I will give Apple a lot of credit here, in its implementation of Apple Intelligence ensuring that your data is never stored.

Apple Intelligence

Daniel Levi (Craig Federighi)

Camera Control

Quick access to useful functions

Photos App 

A redesigned Photos app makes photo management intuitive - because obviously, moving things around and managing your photo library was a huge pain before and iCloud storage is expensive. 

Camera Summary

Roadside Assistance

Just in case you break down on a lonely road, Roadside assistant is there for you—because we’ve all been waiting for our phones to finally save the day.

iPhone 16 Summary

iPhone 16 Pro

Incredible new capabilities

The iPhone 16 Pro now boasts the thinnest borders on any Apple product or, I suppose, they provide just a few millimeters of difference, depending on how large you like your bezels.

The 48MP Fusion camera and Ultrawide lenses capture every moment with precision. With a promise of Apple Intelligence UK availability in December 2024, the future of tech feels closer than ever. Apple's reality distortion field works.

Sounds fancy, but it essentially means the phone will be even better at doing things you probably didn't realise it couldn’t already do.

• 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch on Pro Max
• The thinnest borders on any Apple product
• Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium.
• Best battery life ever
• A18 Pro chip
• 2x faster ray tracing
• Fastest CPU in any smartphone

Pro Camera

• 48MP Fusion, and Ultrawide cameras
• 5x Telephoto
• 2 stage shutter (coming soon)
• New adjustable photographic styles to adapt colours and tones
• Video cinematic slow motion capture
• 4K120 in HDR with Camera control
• Social Safe, Directors viewfinder controls 

Pro Audio

• Studio quality microphones 
• Audio Mixes
• Voice memo updates layer over (coming soon)

iPhone 16 Pro Summary

Overall

It was a presentation of perfect production values showcasing the positioning of these new products for Q4 marketing. As such it served its purpose well and theres no company better than Apple at refining product messages so that they are compelling. There is no better technology benefits presenter than Craig.

But are the announcements really compelling enough to make for upgrades? I have last years iPhone and it has USB-C and a great camera. I don't need another button which anyway doesn't look like it is in a good position for me as a left hander.

I do need a new Apple Watch having traded my Series 5 last week (for £76 - it was over four years old - I think that's a result), but a refurbished Ultra 2 is £679 and a Series 9 half that from Apple, and cheaper elsewhere. I don't need it in black.

I like the hearing aid functionality, a lot, I need it, but its just a software update for AirPods Pro not and is not a new hardware technology. I gave away my AirPods Pro as they just kept falling out no matter which way I tried to use them.

Thankfully theres no new Pencil with strange incompatibilities this time. So apart from maybe a refurbished Ultra 2 I'm not feeling it.