‘WONDERLUST’ Stories

CHENNAI: Apple’s Wonderlust event ushered in four new iPhones, two new Apple Watches and a product refresh for the Apple AirPods Pro. Here are the highlights.

Apple stuck to the same iPhone formula as last year – the line-up includes the iPhone 15, the larger iPhone 15 Plus (with a 6.7-inch display) and two iPhone Pro models including the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Lightning port finally makes way for a more universal USB Type-C port (across all iPhone 15 models). Apple also unveiled an updated version of the second-gen Apple Air Pods Pro with a USB Type-C port.

The new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro models will debut on Indian shelves on September 22. All iPhone models will now sport the Dynamic Island display cut-out that was reserved only for the Pro variants in 2022. This display element keeps getting more useful with unique interaction capabilities.

The rear camera has been enhanced across the entire iPhone 15 line-up (Rs 79,900 onwards). The iPhone 15 features a new 48MP primary cam with improved low-light capabilities thanks to pixel binning. The iPhone Pro twins feature an improved 48MP primary lens comes with a larger sensor and coated lenses for fewer reflections and an improved zoom photography experience.

Aside from the new A17 Pro bionic processor (the first 3-nanometer chip to power a smartphone), there are a couple of key design updates in the Pro twins. Both devices are finished in a titanium alloy with an aluminium substructure that makes them the lightest Pro models in a while. There’s also a new ‘Action button’ (that you can configure as a hot key) that we first saw on last year’s Apple Watch Ultra.

The new Watch Series 9 (Rs 41,900 onwards) becomes Apple’s first carbon-neutral product. The other key highlight in the Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the all-new S9 chip that Apple claims can process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast as its predecessor. The displays are brighter too - the Watch Series 9 display peaks at 2000 nits (double that of the Series 8) while the new Ultra’s display peaks at 3000 nits making it one of the brightest displays on any smartwatch.