Apple launches iPhone 17, Air, new Apple Watches and AirPods

It was a very packed event.

Today was Apple's September 9 'Awe dropping' event, and they announced a ton of new products. As we predicted recently, Apple replaced many products with new ones that are essentially exactly what we thought, with some twists. Let's break it down.

The biggest announcement today for me was the iPhone 17 Pro. It is actually meaningfully redesigned this time around, with a new, unibody aluminum frame and a section of 'Ceramic Shield' glass for wireless charging. Unfortunately, they didn't mention reverse wireless charging, however, that doesn't mean they won't release it later with a software update.

The camera bar looks pretty good and is a nice departure from the growing 3-camera square cluster on the back of the iPhone since the iPhone 11 Pro. The cameras are all Fusion Cameras (2 types of cameras fused together in one lens) this time (across all of the new models, iPhone 17 and iPhone Air included), including the front camera. Apple did present some slightly misleading marketing during the event by saying that it is like having 8 cameras in your pocket (3 back cameras x 2 = 6 plus 1 front camera x 2 = 2, 6+2=8). That is not really the case, but you now have many different functions for how you can use the cameras. The front camera is now a Center Stage camera at 18MP, which should help to keep you in frame during video calls. The back cameras are also all 48MP.

One thing that Apple talked about is how across all of the new iPhones, you don't have to rotate to landscape to take a landscape selfie, since the front camera sensor is a square sensor now. Not necessarily super needed, but interesting nonetheless.

The chip in iPhone 17 Pro is the A19 Pro chip. It should most likely offer modest improvements over its predecessor, but now with vapor cooling. This is something that Android devices have had for a while now where the iPhone has a cooling system that uses something like deionized water to cool off the chip through a sealed chamber. It should help to keep sustained workloads and keep it running faster for longer.

Speaking of working longer, the iPhone 17 Pro has an even better battery than last year, since they were able to shift around some components to create more space for the battery. Apple says the iPhone 17 Pro will have up to 33 hours of video playback, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max having up to 39 hours. These are some crazy-sounding numbers, and if they are true, it could be a game changer. The iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099 for 256GB of storage and the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199 for 256 GB of storage going all the way up to 2TB on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Now, moving onto iPhone 17, there is not much to report. The same Center Stage camera is here as well, along with the 18MP sensor. It also finally has a ProMotion 120Hz display, which will help to make things smoother on the display. This is a feature that Pro iPhones and many Androids have had for a while, so it is nice to see it on the baseline iPhone. It has the same design as last year, but with some new colors, finally. They definitely do pop, which is nice. The biggest improvement is the A19 chip. It again offers steady improvements over its predecessor and gives a nice performance boost over the already fast iPhone 16. The iPhone 17 starts at $799 for 256 GB of storage.

Finally, to round out the iPhones, there is the iPhone Air. Yup, that's right, not iPhone 17 Air, just iPhone Air. I actually like this, as it brings forward what is important about the device, without making it too complicated (since it is the 1st, not 17th version). It again has similar features to the other devices, but just in a smaller package. It seems as though Apple is really taking risks again, which is a step in the right direction.

It has the same Center Stage front camera, but instead of 2 cameras on the back, it only has one. It is supposedly similar to the iPhone 17's main camera, but we don't know how the sensors really stack up. It has the same Ceramic Shield 2 on the back, but this time covering the whole back instead of just the middle like on the iPhone 17 Pro. It also has a Titanium frame, unlike the Aluminum found in the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. There are slight changes from the iPhone 17 to the Air to accommodate for this slimmer design, but the biggest thing to take away from this section of the event is that Apple's design team can finally use the Apple silicon power and efficiency to make the devices they have always wanted to make and that we have always wanted to see.

It also has the A19 Pro chip, something that I was not expecting. I wonder how much it will affect cooling, given how small the body of the iPhone is. I also wonder how this will affect battery life, but Apple assures us that it is amazing. I guess we will have to just go with what they say. The iPhone Air starts at $999 for 256 GB of storage.

Some other announcements were for the Apple Watch lineup, which, as we earlier have said, will be getting a full refresh. All of the models have the same design, just upgraded with newer chips and small improvements here and there. The coolest thing to me was that the frame of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is 3D printed metal. It is a special process, so I assume it is stronger than normal 3D Printed metals, but I still wonder how well it will work. They all have improved battery life, with the Apple Watch Series 11 having up to 24 hours of battery life. The prices all stay the same, with the Series 11 at $399, the SE 3 at $249, and the Ultra 3 at $799.

Finally, the AirPods Pro got an update. There is not much to say about them, other than that they have better noise cancellation, a heart rate sensor, and Live Translation. The heart rate sensor can read your heart rate during workouts and connects to the Fitness app to track your activity. The Live Translation feature sounds pretty interesting. It automatically translates what you are hearing in another language to your language on your screen, but it also can translate through sound on the AirPods Pro 3 themselves if both people have AirPods Pro 3. They still start at $249.

This Apple Event was packed. It brought lots of new devices and features to everyone. We will have to wait and see how good they are soon.