Apple Special Event: Here are all the big announcements

Ending round the clock rumours around its devices, Apple at its special event announced a slew of devices including the all-new iPhone 11 line-up, new iPad, Apple Watch Series 5, Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ subscription service. Here, we will look at all the big announcements.

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade, the company’s first mobile game subscription service will be available on the App Store on Thursday, September 19 with iOS 13. For Rs 99 per month, users will get unlimited access to the entire catalogue of over 100 new, exclusive games, all playable across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and Apple TV.

The company has launched the Apple Arcade with a one-month free trial. Games can all be played offline, and a single subscription includes access for up to six family members with Family Sharing. From action and adventure games to party and puzzle games, a few of the titles debuting on Apple Arcade include ‘Ballistic Baseball’ from Gameloft, an action-packed arcade baseball game that captures the intense battle between pitcher and batter in live head-to-head multiplayer matches; ‘ChuChu Rocket! Universe,’ a universe of strange and wonderful planets with over 100 mind-bending puzzles; ‘Exit the Gungeon’ from Devolver, players must escape a collapsing hell dungeon as increasingly perilous obstacles and opponents stand in their way, etc.

Apple TV+

The Apple TV+, is the first all-original video subscription service from Apple, which will launch on November 1. The Apple TV+ will offer an extensive line up of original shows, movies and documentaries, including “The Morning Show,” “Dickinson,” “See,” “For All Mankind” and “The Elephant Queen.” The service can be accessed on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac and other platforms, for Rs 99 per month with a seven-day free trial. Subscribers can watch Apple TV+ originals on the Apple TV app, which is available on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch and select Samsung smart TVs, and will be coming soon to Mac and to Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and VIZIO platforms in the future.

Apple Watch Series 5

The new Apple Watch Series 5 comes with an Always-On Retina, a built-in compass and international emergency calling that allows customers to call emergency services directly from Apple Watch in over 150 countries, even without having an iPhone nearby.

Each watch face in the Watch Series 5 is optimised for the new display and to preserve battery life. The new built-in compass and updated Maps app allow users to see which way they are facing. With Apple Watch Series 5, customers can use the new Compass app to see heading, incline, latitude, longitude and current elevation. Users can even add one of three new Compass complications to their watch face to see direction at a glance. Users with the cellular models of Apple Watch Series 5 can make international calls to emergency services. The watch runs on watchOS 6 and comes with a new cycle tracking app, which gives customers the ability to log important information related to their menstrual cycles, and see predicted timing for their next period and fertile windows using the convenience of Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch Series 5 is available in titanium too along with aluminium, stainless steel and ceramic. The Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS) starts at Rs 40,900 and Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS + Cellular) starts at Rs 49,900. The popular Series 3 (GPS), with built-in GPS, optical heart rate sensor and water resistance, starts at a new low price of Rs 20,900 and Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) is Rs 29,900.

Apple iPad

Starting at just Rs 29,900, the upgraded iPad features a 10.2-inch Retina display and comes with Apple Pencil 2 support, fast A10 Fusion chip and advanced cameras and sensors. The new iPad is available to order starting today and in stores starting Monday, September 30. Featuring the powerful A10 Fusion chip, the new seventh-generation iPad brings up to two times faster performance over the top-selling Windows PC4 for powerful multitasking and smooth gameplay in Apple Arcade.

The main USP of this iPad is that it is made from 100 per cent recycled aluminium. A redesigned Home screen shows more apps on each page and the Today View can now be added, allowing quick access to widgets for at-a-glance information including news headlines, weather and calendar events. Working with multiple files and documents from the same app is now easier on iPad with updates to Split View, as well as switching between multiple apps using Slide Over.

iPhone 11

The most anticipated product of the Apple Special Event was the iPhone 11 that comes with a dual-camera system. The smartphone is powered by the A13 Bionic chip to perform the most demanding tasks, while getting through an entire day on a single charge, and is designed to withstand the elements with improved water resistance.

The iPhone 11 comes in six colours, and will be available in India starting September 27, at Rs 64,900.

The iPhone 11 is rated IP68 for water resistance up to 2 meters for up to 30 minutes, and is protected against accidental spills from common liquids such as coffee and soda. It sports a 6.1-inch all-screen liquid retina display with True Tone technology. The A13 Bionic is built for machine learning, with a faster Neural Engine for real-time photo and video analysis, and new Machine Learning Accelerators that allow the CPU to deliver more than 1 trillion operations per second.

The iPhone 11 comes with a dual-camera system with all-new ultra wide and wide cameras and offers powerful video editing tools are accessible to everyone with the ability to rotate, crop, increase exposure and apply filters to videos instantly all within the new, easy-to-use Camera interface.