Far Out: What’s new in the 2022 Apple launch event
by Matt Rooke-Content Marketing Manager|Thu Sep 08 2022
There are few things in the world that get the Apadmi team more excited than new tech. So, you won’t be surprised to hear that the annual Apple product launch is quite an occasion for our team - and this week’s ‘Far Out’ event didn’t disappoint. With new additions to the Apple Watch and iPhone families, there’s plenty to get excited about. Here are our thoughts on the new announcements from Far Out.
Two new Apple Watches
The first major announcement came from two brand new additions to the Apple Watch family. The first, the Apple Watch Series 8, is a fairly incremental upgrade on its previous version, but still comes with some promising new features to keep customers excited. It includes a new temperature sensor as well as crash detection to help keep wearers safe and healthy. Also new to the Apple Watch is a low power mode, which extends the battery life to last up to 36 hours - a useful feature that will be familiar to iPhone users.
The second new device is the Apple Watch Ultra, a brand new premium wearable device for fans of extreme sports - and something that will definitely give our sports clients something to get excited about. It offers pro running features, up to 60 hours battery life, 2000 nits of brightness and a range of sensors to monitor ECG, blood oxygen and temperature. Though perhaps a little niche for the average Apple customer - it’s always fascinating to see exactly what new tech can achieve.
The much anticipated iPhone 14
After over a decade of high profile Apple launch events, some things are just part of the furniture - and the announcement of the new iPhone certainly came as no surprise. Like the Apple Watch Series 8, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are more of an iterative update than a bold new redesign. The new models come with a 12MP main camera, autofocus on the front camera, ultrawide camera and all day battery life.
There’s not too much to get excited about from a software and app perspective here, but customers will certainly appreciate a better camera and longer battery.
As ever though, the most exciting news of the night was kept for last - and the new iPhone 14 Pro certainly won’t disappoint.
iPhone 14 Pro goes to Dynamic Island
The iPhone 14 Pro comes with several exciting new design upgrades, the most radical being a bold redesign of the iPhone’s traditional notch at the top of the screen. The notch has been removed and integrated with the rest of the iPhone screen, transformed into an eye-catching new notification panel called Dynamic Island.
Combined with a new ‘always-on’ display, the updated panel will give essential information like time, notifications and live progress updates - even when the screen is locked and inactive. This should make it easier to cast your eye over ride hailing or food takeaway apps that deliver a live progress as you wait - as well as downloads, updates and other important information.
It’s not entirely clear whether this is just a redesign of existing notifications or a new software upgrade that developers can innovate with - but we’ll be exploring the possibilities as soon as we can. We’ve got a lot of fun ideas for the new features - and we’ll be waiting with baited breath for Apple to release more info soon.
It’s not all about the new display. The new iPhone 14 Pro comes with a 12MP main camera, 5-core GPU and 48MP camera - together with a whole range of other exciting specs that outperform almost every smartphone on the market. A promising new addition all round.
Security leads with iOS 16
At the same time, the new release of iOS 16 has some great new features to accompany the new iPhone, mostly centred around keeping customers secure. The boldest change replaces traditional passwords with a unique, encrypted key, known as PassKey. Also added is a new ‘Lockdown Mode’, which lets users temporarily disable fingerprint sensors, voice activation and facial recognition. This is an important indication of how seriously Apple takes security, given some of the high profile iOS attacks we’ve recently seen.
We love to see it
Whether it’s a minor adjustment to a camera or a full on redesign - we’re always excited to see what’s new in the world of Apple. The Dynamic Island is certainly the flashiest announcement - but there’s plenty of exciting features here to whet your appetite.
If you have any questions about what these changes mean for you or your customers then chat with your Apadmi account manager or get in touch with our team of experts here. Alternatively, check out this Apple Events page if you want to find out more about the announcements.