Great engineering and bits of Apple Intelligence

I was able to attend my first Apple event in nearly six years at Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. It was an exciting experience, especially since most of the presentation was a high-production video followed by hands-on demonstrations and briefings with Apple executives. To no one’s surprise, the focus of this event was the new iPhone 17 series, but Apple also announced the new Apple Watches and AirPods Pro 3.

The new iPhone 17 series

Apple has made significant changes with the new iPhone lineup, starting with the iPhone 17, which now features the A19 Apple Silicon SoC and ProMotion display, elevating Apple’s entry-level iPhone model to even more premium graphics. The A19 chip, like its A19 Pro sibling, also features new GPU cores with neural accelerators and a 16-core Neural Engine (i.e. NPU).

The iPhone 17 also features Apple’s new 18MP front camera (up from 12MP) in the center. This allows the user to take landscape or portrait photos and videos without rotating the phone, thanks to a unique square camera sensor, which deviates from the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio of the camera sensor. I could see apps like Snapchat and Instagram taking advantage of this new camera configuration, especially since Instagram is the original square photo app and Snapchat has invested in portrait and landscape photography with Spectacles. Additionally, Apple has sprinkled some Apple Intelligence into the camera to automatically use the correct aspect ratio to fit all the people photographed in the shot. Because of how much I expect users to love the new setup, I think Center Stage and the unique square camera sensor will likely be quickly copied by Android OEMs.

Apple uses the same Fusion 48MP camera system on the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, but the iPhone 17 has two 48MP sensors, while the Air gets one and the Pro three. All four iPhone 17 models also feature Dolby Vision at 4K60, while the Pro has up to 120 Hertz. Apple has also decided to increase storage across the board, so now 256GB is the default minimum storage configuration, a decision I fully applaud (and supported with the previous generation). Considering the size of apps and videos and the number of photos people take, 128GB just isn’t enough.

The iPhone Air is an Apple Silicon showcase, starting with the A19 Pro SoC (now Apple’s highest-performing mobile chip) and extending to the all-new C1X modem and N1 connectivity chip, which combines Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread networking. The C1X is an updated, faster version of the C1 modem that debuted earlier this year on the iPhone 16e. the company claims it’s twice as fast, while also using 30% less power while maintaining the same 4nm process node. While it’s unclear exactly how Apple achieved twice the speed without adding mmWave support, the improvements are likely due to more cellular aggregation and higher configuration.

The iPhone Air is also an eSIM-only device worldwide, which allows the phone to be as thin as possible while also packing as much battery as possible into a device that’s only 5.6mm thick. To achieve this, Apple built the iPhone Air from a titanium frame with a ceramic shield on the front and back. The overall feel of the iPhone 17 Air is extremely premium, and it doesn’t look like Apple made any compromises when designing something this thin, even though we know the battery is smaller than the regular iPhone 17 and the Air has fewer cameras.

The iPhone 17 Pro now has an all-new aluminum frame combined with a vapor chamber for maximum heat dissipation. Apple seemed to indicate that the Pro series is more for power users, whether that means shooting a lot of videos or gaming extensively. I believe this will create a performance gap between the iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max and the iPhone Air, even though the Air technically has the same A19 Pro processor (albeit with one less GPU core than the Pro). This GPU’s new neural cores also mean that now the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine can process all AI workloads, with specific tasks assigned to the best core for the job as determined from Metal.

The Pro also has the most comprehensive camera configuration in the iPhone 17 series with a triple 48MP Fusion camera array. This setup finally brings Apple into competition with the many Android OEMs that have released triple 50MP camera configurations. It will be interesting to see how the iPhone 17 Pro stacks up against premium phones from Google, Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and others.

Apple Watch Series 11 embraces 5G RedCap

Apple went full 5G with its latest Series 11 Apple watches. This was part of a modest general update to the Apple Watch, but I think the addition of 5G is big for mobile users and would warrant an upgrade if you use the watch by itself often. With the new 5G modem inside, the watch will take better advantage of Standalone 5G thanks to the RedCap modem. RedCap stands for “reduced capacity” and translates to slower 5G speeds, but better latency and battery life than 4G. I haven’t been impressed with 4G cellular watches in terms of either signal or battery life, so I have a strong feeling that these new Apple watches, including the SE, Series 11 and Ultra, will all benefit from better connectivity.

In addition to all watches getting 5G for their cellular models, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is getting satellite connectivity. This makes sense because it aligns with the ultra-durable brand of the Ultra 3 — and the watch’s other capabilities. In practical terms, this connectivity means you’ll likely never get lost again while the watch is charged. In addition to emergency messages, the satellite connection also supports iMessage and other data services, including Find. I expect Apple to expand these capabilities to watch and iPhone models as it rolls out its next-generation satellite network with Globalstar.

AirPods Pro 3 aims for health

Apple has completely redesigned the new AirPods Pro 3 headphones, which I got to try first-hand after Apple’s keynote. The first thing I noticed is that they felt very comfortable in my ears. This is due to an ergonomic revision that also includes foam inside the ear tips. not only is it a better fit in the ear canal, but the improved seal at the tip of the earpiece results in better bass. Apple claims the automatic noise cancellation is twice as good as the AirPods Pro 2, which I’ve been using for quite some time. I will say that ANC was already good in the previous generation, but now it’s on par with over-the-ear headphones.

Additionally, the AirPods Pro 3 now includes a heart rate sensor for fitness and health apps, and I think that’s something we’ll start to see from more headphone manufacturers. Many people wear headphones while exercising, so a heart rate sensor in the headphones can be useful, especially if the person is not wearing a smartwatch. That said, I’d love to see Apple use the AirPods and Apple Watch together to get more accurate heart rate data. I think wearables will continue to add new sensors and capture better data about our health to become more useful and stickier, just like the Apple Watch has for Apple users.

Another interesting feature Apple introduced with the AirPods Pro 3 is real-time language translation. This feature leverages Apple Intelligence, but uses computing and AI models on the device instead of sending data to the cloud. This has two advantages: first, it is extremely secure and private. second, it also provides extremely low latency — at least when you can get the model to perform well on the device. This is likely one of the reasons why this iPhone generation received upgraded Apple Silicon across the board. AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 will also have this feature, but you need an iPhone 15 Pro Max or newer phone with Apple Intelligence to use the feature. Along with Center Stage, I think this is one of the most exciting features for the iPhone, and I suspect that its two-way nature will lead many people to upgrade their headphones or their phone, or even both.

Apple’s iPhone Air Challenge

The iPhone Air is without a doubt one of Apple’s greatest achievements in engineering. The cameras and most of the phone’s processors and electronics are located inside the device’s camera, allowing the phone to be as thin and light as possible. It also represents Apple’s best step in chip design in the A19 Pro, C1X and N1 chips for SoC, 5G and Wi-Fi.

That said, the iPhone Air seemed to get less traction than the other models in the pre-order phase, which I believe stemmed from a misunderstanding about durability and hesitation about battery life. In other words, I think people were cautious about battery life, wanting to see reviews before buying the Air. Meanwhile, many people pre-ordered the iPhone 17 Pro Max and AirPods Pro 3 models, so much so that deliveries quickly backed up for weeks.

I also think Apple’s pricing structure — $799, $999, $1,099, and $1,299 — works very well against the previous generation of iPhones as well as the Android competition, especially considering the base 256GB storage configuration. I doubt many users will use the 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max, but some professionals might find it useful — plus it breaks Apple into the $2,000 price range before it inevitably ships a $2,000-plus foldable, perhaps sometime next year. I’m excited to get my hands on the new iPhones for testing, along with the new AirPods Pro 3 to try out the new Apple Intelligence-enabled features.

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