Highlights From Apple’s September 2020 Event – Apple Series 6, iPad 8th Gen, iPad Air & More!
On 15th September, at about 10:30 PM IST, the ribbon-styled Apple logo placeholder titled ‘Time Flies’ took us to Apple’s September event at Apple Park. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, began the event announcing updates on two of its product categories – Apple Watch & iPad. Here are the major highlights of the event.
Apple Watch Series 6 Can Now Measure Blood-Oxygen Level
Apple launched it’s Watch Series 6 in 4 new colours – Blue, Updated Gold, Graphite and Red. The main new addition in this series can measure the body’s Blood-Oxygen level. It can algorithmically calculate the oxygen saturation of your blood with infrared LED sensors on the watch’s back-dial. The watch can check your blood-oxygen at any given time, even while you are sleeping. It runs on an S6 chip based on iPhone 11’s A13 Bionic chip. Additional features include an Always-On altimeter to measure real-time elevation, new watch-faces with new design, languages, and memojis. They also introduced new solo-loop watch bands with braided and non-braided variants which will be available in multiple colours. They are more like bands without buckles that can be easily worn and come in different sizes to fit onto your wrist. They also introduced a Family Setup app for the Apple Watch. Using this feature, one can monitor a child’s activity and also set up an Apple Watch without the need of a phone.
The Affordable Apple Watch SE
Apple finally announced an SE line-up for their watch category with Apple Watch SE. The watch comes in a Series 6 design, with all the essential features of an Apple Watch but at an affordable price bracket. Although it uses an S5 chip when compared to the latest S6, it gets the Apple Watch tasks done! It has a cellular option, a standard watch display, an accelerometer, compass, and even fall detection. It is easily an entry-level option for anyone looking to get an affordable Apple Watch.
Fitness To The Next Level With Fitness+
Apple then announced its new vertical into the fitness category with Fitness+. The app features training videos that can be integrated with Apple Watch while you are at your fitness routine. This feature helps achieve your routine fitness goals while you are exercising and get to see the real-time metrics of your workout. Fitness+ will allow an on-screen display of your workout data so that you won’t be distracted by peeking into your watch while exercising. The app also integrates with Apple music for you to follow up on tracks played by trainers during a workout or have your own.
Apple One’s Bundle Subscription
Apple will now offer bundled subscription options under Apple One. The subscriptions come under Individual, Family and Premier options. The individual plan offers Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade and 50 GB of iCloud. The Family plan offers the same with 200 GB of iCloud and a family sharing option. The Premier plan offers Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple News, Apple Fitness+ and 2 TB of iCloud storage.
Apple’s 8th Generation iPad With A12 Bionic
The Whole New Apple Air
Saving the best for last, Apple announced a fresh overhaul of the iPad Air Series. This iPad looks more or less like the earlier iPad pro with new colours – rose gold, green and sky blue. The exterior is fully laminated making it’s back anti-reflective. The biggest feature of the iPad Air is it’s A14 Bionic, a 5-nanometer process technology. It is packed with a whopping 11.8 billion transistors that boast 11 trillion operations per second! It offers increased performance and power efficiency. It hosts 2360×1640, 10.9-inch liquid-retina display. The camera on the front shoots at 7 MP and 12 MP on the back. Since it lacks Face ID, it integrates a Touch ID on its top power button. The iPad Air also supports 2nd Generation of Apple Pencil and can also be docked onto the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard or the Smart Folio Keyboard. Mimicking iPad Pro, the Air also comes with the USB-C option making it more versatile like a pro-machine!
An Update On The OS Updates
Before signing off, Tim Cook also announced the software update release for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, WatchOS 7 and tvOS14. It will be released the following day, which is today. But, there was no mention on the update release for the macOS Big Sur.
