It's September, and Apple is here again with plenty of announcements. The event started off with a special presentation featuring James Corden and Apple's CEO Tim Cook, using Corden's Late Late Show x Carpool Karaoke vibes.
After jokes about security issues, some talks and other jokes about Cook's busy schedule, Lynyrd Skynrd's track "Sweet Home Alabama" was played to honor Cook's Alabama roots. After than, the keynote then begins.
Starting off, the Apple's Keynote is all about the company in delivering speeches about its products, system, and service launches.
The Keynote that happened on September 7th, 2016, highlights many new products Apple is having, and also some changes in hardware. From its software to the awaited iPhone 7, the event was to unveil the next generation of its biggest products.
Apple Music and App Store
Apple Music is having more than 17 million subscribers. Tim Cook praised the future of streaming music service and how Apple Music is able to compete in such a tight market. "This past year alone, Apple Music was the first place to hear over 70 new releases," he said. "One of our most popular exclusives of all is the Apple Music Festival in London."
The next is Apple's App Store which is where practically everything an iOS has to extend. This is explained by Cook when he said: "The App Store has forever change the world of software and forever changed all of our lives."
More than 140 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, according to Cook. "In fact, in the last 2 months we've seen growth rates of over 100 percent year on year."
Related: Apple's App Store: 100 billion download
ConnectED and iWork
Tim Cook told the audience that education is part of Apple. "We are keenly aware that not every school can have this impact," he said. "That's why we're so deeply committed to ConnectED."
According to Cook, the program has greatly helped underprivileged children to utilize the benefits of advanced tech. "I'm thrilled to tell you that this fall all 114 schools that Apple is supporting will be up and running," Cook said as he explained the details about the equipments donated by Apple to schools around the world.
Cook also announced an initiative to teach everyone to code.
As for iWork, Apple is adding real-time collaboration to the entire iWork suite. This allows users to simultaneously edit their presentations, documents and spreadsheets.
The company demonstrated the new updates on stage by editing a set of Keynote slides. A groups of users were then able to add text, images, and animations to their documents in real time on their iPad, iPhone and on the web. It also introduces a public and private mode.
This update is indeed beneficial to Apple users, but is seen as overdue. Competitors like Google and Microsoft has had this functionality for years already. Apple delivered the update within the context of classrooms, which will make iWork suite more useful for students and workers alike.
Apple Watch
Apple's Watch is a relatively new device which brings, and opt to change how users see gadgets. Before first unveiling the new Apple Watch, Cook bragged about how the device compete in the market.
"We became the no. 2 watch brand in the world," he said. "We're also the top-selling smartwatch."
At the event, Apple announced the Series 2 of its Watch smartwatch. The device that is available in ceramic, stainless steel and aluminium, is now water resistant to 50m. It also introduces: a dual-core processor; a built-in GPS location tracker that can be used without pairing; a more powerful processor for more detailed graphics and a brighter screen.
The original Watch is the best selling smartwatch on the market. But the device shipment has dropped to more than 50 percent between April to June 2016 if compared to the same period in 2015.
Further reading: Smartwatches Against Mechanical Watches: The Smart Vs. The Mighty
Super Mario
Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto made an appearance. He announced that Nintendo's famous plumber will appear in iPhone's video game. Miyamoto confirmed that the running-themed adventure would be an iOS exclusive at launch. This follows the success of another Nintendo franchise, Pokémon GO, on the platform.
It was also revealed that the Apple Watch would have the ability to tell owners how close they are to nearby monsters in Pokémon GO, and to show which characters have hatched from eggs in the augmented reality game.
Apple's iPhone 7 and iOS 10
2016 is where Apple introduces the iPhone 7. As "the 'best iPhone' the company has ever created," the phone packs a major upgrades with a new "Jet Black" finish. The antennas are repositioned, and the camera bump are now more polished. The result is a sleeker device.
The iPhone 7 is having an image stabilization and high speed sensor for the camera (the f/1.8 lens allows 50 percent more light than the iPhone 6S' f/2.2 lens). The front camera on the iPhone 7 has been upgraded to 7MP with automatic image stabilization for better selfies and video recording.
The iPhone 7 Plus on the other hand, has two cameras (wide angle and telephoto lens) on its back - both using their own 12MP sensor. The two camera setup allows users to quickly switch to a tighter shot without sacrificing image quality, and also allows the device to offer 10x zoom - double the amount than before - by digitally cropping the photo in the camera app. Apple said that this feature comes with algorithms that can combine data gathered by sensors to simulate the effects previously associated to only DSLR cameras.
Additionally, the flash on the cameras has 4 LEDs emitting 50 percent more light than previous models.
Beside the cameras, having the already familiar rounded aluminium body shape, some of the major upgrades on the iPhone 7 over the iPhone 6 lineup, include: an overhauled home button which is clickless and supports haptic feedback; IP67 dust and water resistant.
The Retina HD display on the 7 and 7 Plus is 25 percent brighter than the 6 models and comes with 3D Touch capabilities. With a wider color gamut, the display has better color reproduction and improved color management. The speakers (now positioned one on top and one on the bottom) are now stereo for the first time. The iPhone 7 that ditched the headphone jack comes with 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB of storage options.
The iPhone 7 lineup is powered by an A10 Fusion chip that makes it twice as fast as the 6 and 6S models. The processor is paired with a new graphics processing chip. Apple also said that the new phones have "the longest battery life ever of an iPhone", saying that the smaller iPhone 7 will last two hours longer than the 6S, and the 7 Plus an hour over the 6S Plus.
According to Apple's stats, the company has pushed more than a billion iPhones over the years. With its massive popularity, alongside iPhone 7, Apple is announcing iOS 10 which is the biggest facelift for iOS in the company's history.
"We've added even more intelligence through machine learning," Cook said. Home automation has now been integrated into a major platform, making it simpler to set up at-home devices while the user is miles away. The iOS 10 also introduces a lot of new features as well as security improvements.
AirPods
The absence of the headphone jack is Apple's way to ditch ageing techs from its products. Apple said that removing the 3.5mm headphone socket made it able to free up room for other parts.
As a replacement to the old but popular jack, Apple demonstrated the AirPods which are its wireless headphones. The device contains infrared sensors to detect when they are in the user's ears, which will then allow them to automatically stop music when they're taken out. They also have motion sensors that allows Siri to be activated for voice commands by double-tapping the sides of the device.
The wireless AirPods can last for "up to five hours" on a single charge. They come with a case that can boost their charge and can extend their life up to 24 hours before a plug socket is required.
Apple-owned Beats is also introducing a line of headphones that make use of the wireless technology.