Apple on September 15 announced a range of new products and services at the Time Flies event. The Apple event was focused on the new iPad launch alongside the Apple Watch Series 6 and an affordable Apple Watch SE. Apple also introduced an all-new service called Fitness+, which will be a part of the bundled Apple One services package. There was a lot that was unveiled and to sum it up, here is what Apple announced at the Apple event.
Apple Event Highlights: Apple iPad Air (2020)
iPad Air 2020 is the fourth generation of the iPad Air series launched at the Time Flies Apple event. The new iPad Air 2020 looks a lot similar to the iPad Pro with its edge-to-edge 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display offering an all-screen look. The iPad Air 2020 display comes with advanced technologies, including full lamination, P3 wide colour support, True Tone, and an anti-reflective coating for an amazing visual experience.
Apple continues to offer Touch ID on the iPad Air 2020 which can be found on the home button placed at the top edge of the screen.
The iPad Air launched at the Apple Event also introduces an all-new Apple A14 Bionic chip that is based on 5nm architecture. The A14 Bionic is packed with 11.8 billion transistors for increased performance and power efficiency.
At the back, the 2020 iPad Air features a 12MP rear camera setup found on the iPad Pro models that supports 4K video capture.
Other iPad Air 2020 features include stereo speakers in landscape mode, USB Type-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfer, Wi-Fi 6, etc.
iPad Air 2020 will boot on the latest iPadOS 14 features out-of-the-box and come with Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard support that can be purchased separately.
iPad Air 2020 comes in five colour finishes: silver, space grey, rose gold, green, and sky blue.
Apple Event Highlights: iPad 8th generation
The iPad 8th generation continues to be the most-affordable iPad starting at USD 329. The new iPad features a 10.2-inch Retina display and a home button for the Touch ID.
The budget iPad runs on the Apple A12 Bionic chip that is said to be 2x faster than the top-selling Windows laptop, up to three times faster than the top-selling Android tablet and up to six times faster than the top-selling Chromebook. The iPad 8th generation also comes with Neural Engine for machine learning capabilities, including people occlusion and motion tracking in augmented reality (AR) apps, enhanced photo editing, Siri performance, and more.
Like the iPad Air 2020, the new 8th generation iPad supports Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. It runs on the latest iPadOS 14 features out-of-the-box.
Apple Event Highlights: Apple Watch Series 6
Apple Watch Series 6 launched at the Apple event on September 15 resembles the Watch Series 5 on the outside but is a whole lot new on the inside. Apple Watch Series 6 features an all-new Apple S6 Chip that is based on Apple A13 Bionic chip but is optimised for the Apple Watch to offer 20 percent faster performance and 18-hour battery life.
The highlight of Apple Watch Series 6 is the introduction of Blood oxygen feature that measures the oxygen saturation of the user’s blood, so they can better understand their overall fitness and wellness.
To compensate for natural variations in the skin and improve accuracy, the Blood Oxygen sensor employs four clusters of green, red, and infrared LEDs, along with the four photodiodes on the back crystal of Apple Watch, to measure light reflected back from blood. Apple Watch then uses an advanced custom algorithm built into the Blood Oxygen app, which is designed to measure blood oxygen between 70 percent and 100 percent.
Apple Watch Series 6 comes in two sizes - 40mm and 44mm - with Always-On Retina display that is 2.5 times brighter. There is also an always-on altimeter that provides real-time elevation all day long by using a new, more power-efficient barometric altimeter, along with GPS and nearby Wi-Fi networks.
The Series 6 runs on the latest watchOS 7 features out-of-the-box that includes seven new watch face options, new health and fitness features, including low-range VO2 Max, sleep tracking, automatic handwashing detection, and new workout types.
Apple Event Highlights: Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch SE brings the best features of Apple Watch and combines elements of the Series 6 design in two sizes — 40mm and 44mm. The affordable Apple Watch shows off a Retina display, with thin borders and curved corners, that is 30 percent larger than Series 3. It runs on the S5 System in Package (SiP) and a dual-core processor.
Apple Watch SE also supports features like Fall Detection that's found on Series 6. Like the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE runs on the latest watchOS 7 features out-of-the-box.
Apple Event Highlights: Apple One
Apple One is a bundle package of all the Apple services available for users. The new service introduces an all-new Fitness+ feature for the Apple Watch that can be viewed on the iPad and the iPhone Activity app.
Apple Fitness+ is a new Apple Service that offers new types of workouts every week. Users who subscribe to the $9.99 service can choose a workout from the catalogue on your iPhone or iPad, and it starts the workout on your screen. The new workouts include Yoga, cycling, HIIT, Rowing, Cooldown exercises, etc. All these workouts are found inside the Activity app on the Apple Watch or Fitness app on iPhone and iPad.
Fitness+ will be available in select countries as a service and can also be bundled with other Apple Services under Apple One.
Apple One comes in three tiers - individual, family, and premier. The Individual pack includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for Rs 195 per month.
The Family pack includes all of the above and 200GB of iCloud storage for Rs 365 per month for up to six family members.
Premier pack includes all Apple services namely Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+ and 2TB of iCloud storage for up to six family members.
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