Apple’s September Event: My Take On Their Latest Products
One of the largest tech companies in the world, Apple, just released a handful of new products at its annual September launch. Among them are the AirPods Pro 3, three Apple Watch models, and four iPhone models.
In today’s article, we’re not focusing too much on the spec sheets. Instead, I’m going to present my thoughts on Apple’s latest products while we go through their highlighting features.
But spoiler alert, some of these products aren’t very interesting in and of itself.
The AirPods
The first refresh of the company’s best earbuds since 2022, the AirPods Pro 3 have significantly better ANC (Apple claims it’s up to 2 times better than the last model). It can also detect your heart rate and calories during a workout, while the so-called ‘Workout Buddy’ accompanies you.
To be honest, it’s kind of strange for a pair of earbuds. I believe the target audience of this is probably those who often work-out. The problem is that if you workout often, you probably already have an Apple Watch or some other kind of fitness gadget with you. Although some people still may think it’s worth it to spend $249 on a pair of earbuds that are simultaneously a smart fitness band, I’m definitely sticking with my current pair of earbuds.
The Apple Watches
Speaking of Apple Watch-like functionality, let’s look at the three Apple Watch models that were released.
Firstly, the new update to the Apple Watch Series lineup, the Series 11. To me, the Series 9, 10, and 11 are basically the same, with a few minor changes that I can’t even remember. I believe they added features regarding heart rate sensing and sleep tracking to the new Series 11, and a 5G connectivity support. But because they’re relatively small upgrades, and I’m probably not going to be utilizing 5G on my smartwatch, it’s not quite worth it for those who already have an Apple Watch model newer than the the Series 6 or 7 in my opinion.
They’re also upgrading the Apple Watch SE lineup. I have a SE 1 as a matter of fact.
The new SE 3 model has the highlight feature of the Series 9, an Always On Display. It has a newer chip, which unlocks some AI capabilities and improves existing features such as sleep monitoring. If you want a budget Apple Watch and you don’t care about getting the biggest, brightest display or any of the highlights of the Series 10 or 11, then the SE is actually a steal if you ask me.
The last Apple Watch they released was the Apple Watch Ultra 3. This lineup of smartwatches from Apple was expensive ever since its debut back in 2022, and now it’s in its third generation. It has a bigger display with thinner bezels, it’s also brighter, has new watch faces, freshly colored watch bands, and the 5G. The Ultra 3 preserves the theme of the Ultra lineup, that they’re for the ‘pros’ who need the most overkill tech; It’s definitely not for normal casual users, and you can also see that from the price-tag.
Looking at the three Apple Watch models and AirPods Pro 3, all I can say is although their improved features are definitely game-changing for some, they’re incremental unnoticeable upgrades for most people (including myself). If you still want relatively newer features and models, you could get a decent firsthand or secondhand older generation model like an Apple Watch Series 9 or 10 from trustable retailers and resellers at a considerable discount, thanks to the debut of the newer models.
The iPhones
But there is an interesting twist in the iPhone lineup this year. Normally every year, Apple announces the base model, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max. Although they still have four models this year, they killed the Plus version. So now they we have the base model iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, but also the addition of an entirely new lineup, the iPhone Air.
The iPhone 17 is basically using the entirely same design as the iPhone 16; they’re indistinguishable from the outside. However, it now has better sensors to the rear camera, the latest software features like iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence preinstalled out-of-the-box, and the faster A19 chip. A pretty conventional update to the base tier of the iPhone lineup. A potentially ground-breaking feature I personally would find useful in a lot of cases is the new 18 megapixel Center-Stage front camera on the 17, which enables more flexible framing options when taking selfies - you could literally hold the phone vertically and take horizontal group photos. This front camera is present across the lineup though, so it’s not exclusive to the iPhone 17.
Next, they announced their thinnest iPhone yet, the Air. I’m not sure what to make of the iPhone Air honestly. It’s clearly targeting a different audience, people who want convenience over performance, and it’s not the first time Apple has done such a thing: they pulled off successful examples like the iPad Air and MacBook Air. However, this phone has a bit of everything, but nothing very game-changing (besides being very thin and sleek of course). Only a bit thicker than the camera control button and the charging port, this thing packs the latest chip and has only one camera that is housed inside a redesigned camera bar that runs the entire width of the phone.
It’s a bit strange seeing the iPhone Air lineup being announced so late in the iPhone lineup; the MacBook Air and iPad Air have been around for seemingly forever.
So is it good? It’s similar to iPhone 17, better than iPhone 16 lineup, but doesn’t have any highlighting hardware or software features, and it’s cameras aren’t the best either (no 5X telephoto lens or anything). Would I buy it? Probably not, because I’m heavily dependent on the iPhone’s cameras, and I don’t see exceptional cameras on the Air. But it may be helpful for those who just want a light and capable everyday smartphone with core iPhone features.
A problem I see with the Air though isn’t with any of the features talked about so far, it’s with connectivity. You see, to make it as thin as possible, Apple ditched the physical SIM card slot entirely, opting for e-SIM, even for worldwide models. This is a problem, because as of my knowledge, e-SIM still isn’t widely supported in many countries outside the United States. Even if its supported, the cost of using e-SIM is still probably significantly higher in foreign countries. That’s a problem that Apple’s going to face when shipping the iPhone Air, and maybe they will have to turn down orders from certain countries or continents.
Now the last two models announced were the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. They’re always without doubt the best iPhones in the entire lineup.
There was rumored to be an iPhone 17 Ultra, but in the end it wasn’t released, though it’s not a big deal since we still got some big upgrades here with the Pro models.
The only feature I care about are the cameras, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max really have good cameras. Now, 48 megapixel photos are supported across the three cameras, meaning a substantial leap in image quality. But that’s not the end of it, because this phone also has a 4X telephoto optical zoom lens and an 8X telephoto, with the prior equivalent to a 100 mm lens on a traditional camera like a DSLR, and the latter the same as a 200 mm camera lens. They also added some upgrades to the videography on this phone, most of which I don’t understand, but the fact that it now supports 4K at 120 fps is simply mind-blowing.
Apple also focused a lot on the GPU performance of the new A19 chip with the vapor-chamber cooling within the iPhone, but to be honest, probably no one needs the performance of a MacBook Pro laptop on their iPhone as you’re not going to run LLMs locally (and the support isn’t sufficient either). And it starts at $1099? Not worth it for most.
So which iPhone should you buy if you’re a casual user? I think the best option is the iPhone 17 base model, the reason being it’s enough for most use cases, it has all-day battery life, and it comes at a reasonable price that wouldn’t make your wallet cry for days on end.
Conclusion
What are your opinions on this? Will you be buying any of these new products, or are you going to wait for next year’s iPhone 18? Thank you for reading, and come back next week for more.