Apple’s annual fall launch event has just concluded. The company launched new Series 9 Apple Watches and a new lineup of iPhone 15 phones. Most of the news was in line with expectations from analysts, though one detail caught investors by surprise: the pricing. Some analysts had expected price creases across the board for the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. But Apple kept the starting price for its new iPhone Pro phone the same as last year, at $999. The company did raise the starting price for its iPhone 15 Pro Max by $100, though it also included more memory with that phone.
CEO Tim Cook kicked off the event, by saying that the company’s upcoming Vision Pro headset is “on track to ship early next year.”
The iPhone 15 will start at $799, and iPhone 15 Pro will start at $999.
According to a live update by CNN, ‟There was a loud applause in the audience in Cupertino, California, as Apple introduced two new iCloud plans.
Starting next week, iCloud+ will offer 6TB and 12 TB storage plans.
iCloud allows you to share photos and automatically backup your iPhone, and with family sharing, everyone in a household can get the benefits of iCloud+.
iPhone 15 Pro includes major updates for photographers
The iPhone 15 Pro brings a slew of new updates to its camera system, including a more-advanced 48 megapixel main camera featuring a larger sensor than on iPhone 15.
The camera also includes a “nanoscale coating” meant to reduce lens flares, Apple said, and bring higher resolution to everyday photos. It also boasts better low-light performance for portraits and night mode.
The latest iPhone can also shoot high-resolution photos in 24, 28 and 35-millimeter focal lengths.
The company announced its next-generation entry-level iPhone 15s, which now feature an expanded “Dynamic Island” tool that is home to alerts, notifications and other controls, in place of the notch. The feature was previously only available on the iPhone 14 Pro.
The iPhone 15 phones include updated image stabilization for taking photos and videos, 2x optimization and updated portraits with richer color and better low-light performance. It also includes 4K cinematic mode.
The iPhone 15s ship with the A16 bionic processor — the same chip used in the iPhone 14 Pro — with a neural engine that handles more complicated tasks, such as live voicemail transcriptions on device, according to the company.
The iPhone 15 has an Ultra-Wideband chip so it can connect with other devices nearby, such as better finding friends who share their location in crowded locations, or power some of iOS 17 features.
The iPhone 15 comes in 5 colors (white, black, pink, green and yellow) and in two sizes: A 6.1-inch screen for the iPhone 15 and 6.7 inches for iPhone 15 Plus.
