March Apple Event
Apple just had an amazing event at Town Hall in Cupertino on March 21st, and had a bunch of new products and announcements. The event started out with a small 40-second video commemorating their 40th anniversary that is set to arrive on April 1st.
Initiatives
The first of their two initiatives was the environment. Apple’s new Liam robot takes apart your old iPhone in order to recycle the parts and precious materials. This new robot will make the process much easier, safer, and more efficient. Apple also announced that 93% of their operations now run on clean, renewable energy.
The second initiative was Health. Ever since the release of their HealthKit, ResearchKit, and the Health App, they have changed the lives of many iPhone users. Apple claimed that the ResearchKit allowed for the largest Parkinson’s Disease study in under 24 hours. It also allowed for researchers to study more on Autism, Parkinson’s Disease, and Epilepsy. Apple’s new CareKit, which launches in April, will allow, not only for these studies to continue but also, for doctors to have a deeper understanding of their patient’s reactions to treatment and monitor their progress.
Apple Watch
Although I was expecting for the Apple Watch 2 to be announced, Apple showed some new woven nylon bands that will come in a variety of new colors and styles. They also announced that the Apple Watch will now be starting at $299 for the 38mm Sport edition.
A new update for tvOS, starting today, will allow one to watch two games at a time, organize apps into folders, like iOS. You can use Siri to search the App Store, enter a username and password, view photos andLive Photos using iCloud Photo Library. All this provides a better Siri experience.
The two biggest announcements at the March Apple event, which didn’t come as much of a surprise, were the iPhone SE and the smaller, 9.7″ iPad Pro. I honestly thought that it would be called the iPad Pro Mini.
iPhone SE
The new iPhone SE will replace the iPhone 5S as the 4-inch iPhone. It has an upgraded A9 64-bit processor along with the M9 motion co-processor. The SE has the same graphics, Wi-Fi, and LTE capabilities as the iPhone 6S. It comes with a new 12MP iSight Camera, Live Photos, Retina Flash, 4K video, 63MP panoramas, Touch ID and so much more.
It will be available in Gold, Silver, Space Gray, and Rose Gold. It will also support Apple Pay. The 16GB version will cost $399 and the 128GB version at $499. The 16 GB version can be obtained for free on a 2-year contract or cost $17/month with the Apple payment plan. Preorders start on March 24 and will start shipping on March 31.
iPad Pro 9.7″
The new, smaller iPad Pro will come with a 9.7-inch screen. It includes support for the Apple Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The screen has 40% less reflectivity than the iPad Air 2, 25% more brightness, 25% greater color saturation.
It also introduced new display technology known as True Tone Display, which measures the color temperature of the ambient light around you and adjusts the screen accordingly. It also supports Night Shift, a new feature of iOS 9.3 which reduces blue light when viewing the device at night.
Like it’s big brother, the iPad Pro 9.7” has a 4 speaker audio system. It also has an A9X processor, “Hey Siri” dictation, a 12MP iSight Camera with True Tone Flash, 4K video support, a 5MP FaceTime camera with front-facing Retina flash.
It will come in a 32GB model for $599, a 128GB model for $799, and a 256GB model for $899. The larger iPad Pro will also come in a new 256GB configuration for $1099. As well, they will come in Gold, Silver, Space Gray, or Rose Gold. Preorders will also start on Thursday, March 24 and will start shipping on March 31.