Apple Event highlights: new iPhone 11, Apple Watch Series 5, new iPad announced

Apple's feverishly-anticipated Special Event in the Steve Jobs Theatre has now taken place and, simply put, it was a big show.

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The keynote, which was teased with the tagline "By Invitation Only" on the official invites, was widely-rumoured to see the launch of a successor to the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR, as well as an Apple Watch Series 5, smaller HomePod smart speaker, and waterproof AirPods 3.

And, well, that was largely true. The iPhone 11 is here to replace the iPhone XR, and the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are here to replace the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

The Apple Watch Series 5 is also now here, and boasts a raft of improvements, but there was no new HomePod or AirPods.

You can watch the show highlights if you missed it below in the video, and we have a beat-by-beat report from the show that covers everything that was spoken about and revealed, too.

• Apple iPhone 11 announced with ultra-wide camera and six shiny new colours
• Apple iPhone 11 Pro is here, has triple-camera, fast-charging, and five HOURS more battery
• Apple Watch Series 5 is the sleekest, most polished Apple Watch yet

New iPhone 11 event: how everything was announced

And here we go! Tim Cook takes to the stage following a colourful introductory video and gets a very warm welcome from the attendees. Looks like it is going to be a good show.

"We have a huge morning planned for you" notes Cook out of the gate.

App store is up first. A whole new way to enjoy games. Say hello to Apple Arcade! The world's first game subscription service for phone, tablet and TV. You can't find these games on any other subscription service.

A brand new arcade tab is now in the app store. It allows you to access the content, with editorially selected games picked for the user. How nice.

Japanese software house Konami is bringing Frogger in Toy Town to Apple Arcade. It's a physics-based platformer designed for use with touch controls. Available at launch, apparently. Exclusive to Apple Arcade.

Japanese software house Capcom is also getting on board with Apple Arcade. An old-fashioned side-scrolling platformer set underwater is shown off. Again, designed for touch controls as the primary input. Game is called Shinsekai: Into the Depths.

AnnaPurna Interactive is up next. "A playable music video" game is shown. It is a mix of rhythm action game and racer. Seems indebted a bit to classic Dreamcast game Rez.

Apple Arcade is available from September 19th in over 150 countries around the world. There will be over 100 games at launch.

$4.99 a month for "the whole family" is the price for Apple Arcade. There will be a one month free trial, too.

Tim returns to the stage to talk about Apple TV+. Apple TV+'s aim is to "bring you the best stories from the most creative minds in television", Cook notes.

The Morning Show and other programs get a call out. The Morning Show is "Fall's most anticipated series", according to Entertainment Weekly.

A new TV show staring beefcake Jason Momoa is shown off in a slick trailer. The pitch is that people have lost their sight, but now some babies have regained that ability, and are McGuffin'd up. The title of the show: See.

Snoopy in Space is confirmed! 🤯

The first shows, which include Snoop, will be available on November 1, 2019. More content is added every month. Apple TV+ will cost $4.99 per month for your whole family.

Next up is iPad. Tim says "iPad is transforming the way we create, learn, work and play".

The 2019 range refresh and iPadOS gets a call out.

"We have never been more excited about the future of iPad", says Tim as he leaves the stage again.

The 7th generation iPad is here!

It is designed to make the most of iPadOS, apparently. The screen is a 10.2-inch Retina display. 3.5 million pixels. 2.5x brighter, too.

The new iPad is powered by the A10 Fusion CPU. Smart Connector allows keyboard attachment.

iPadOS's redesigned home screen, better Apple Pencil support and multi-tasking abilities get a call out.

The iPad's enclosure is made from 100% recycled aluminium. Nice!

The price? $329. Good price point.

You can order it today, and it ships at the end of the month (September 30).

Cook returns to talk about Apple Watch.

"Today Apple Watch is everywhere," Tim notes. "It is having a profound impact on people's lives," he continues, before playing a video of users thanking Apple for the product.

"It is truly inspiring to hear about the difference the Apple Watch is making," Tim concludes, before making way for a shallow dive into the Apple Heart Study.

Three more studies are also coming: the Apple Hearing Study,  Apple Women's Health Study, and Apple Heart & Movement Study.

The new Apple Research App is incoming in the US later this year.

Tim Cook returns once more. "Innovation has been the core of the Apple Watch," he says, before introducing a look at "what's next for the Apple Watch".

The new thing? It is the next generation of Apple Watch. Say hello to the Apple Watch Series 5!

It has an always on Retina Display! You can always see the time.

LTPO display is sweet. Can go froim 60Hz to 1Hz to save energy. A new ambient light sensor and power management chip, it boats an always on 18-hour, all-day battery life.

Apps have also been optimised visually.

A built-in compass is another brand new feature for Apple Watch Series 5. You can add the compass to your watch face, and there is also a dedicated app.

The cases on the Series 5 are made from 100% recycled aluminium.

Gold, Space Black and Polished colourways are available. A Titanium version also is coming. As too a Ceramic variant. Nike models are also incoming, and other designer brands, too. Basically, there are a lot of colours/straps to choose from.

GPS models of Series 5 start at $399. And $499 for cellular models.

Apple Watch Series 5 is available in store September 20th, and can be pre-ordered from today.

The Apple Watch Series 3 ends the segment, with a new $199 price point.

Next up: iPhone!

"Customers love iPhone," starts Tim, before reviewing last year's range. That range had a 99 per cent customer satisfaction score. What about this year, Tim?

Here we go, a video reveal for the new device.

And it is the... iPhone 11!

Aluminium and glass design. The glass around the camera has a custom 3D geometry.

Purple, white, black, green red and more colours are available.

The new iPhone 11 has a 6.1-inch LCD screen.

Spatial audio is included, too. This grants virtual surround sound. Dolby Atmos is supported, too.

Dual camera system. 12MP wide and 12MP ultra-wide. Lots of detail about the benefits that the ultra-wide angle camera deliver.

The image pipe-line has also being updated for the new iPhone. Semantic rendering has been added, which makes photos look even better.

Smart HDR and multi-scale tone mapping makes portraits look amazing, so we are told.

A new portrait lighting effect is shown off: high key mono. Fancy black and white.

Night mode now gets a run out. It comes on automatically at night. Well, duh! We get an example and it shows a dark image without the mode turned on, and then a well lit image with it turned on.

Now we get a snazzy video shot on the new iPhone. It is shot in 4K resolution. The ultra-wide camera can be used for video, as well as the wide-angle.

Up to 60fps video capture at 4K is capable across both cameras.

QuickTake allows you to quickly transition from photo snapping to video taking.

12MP TrueDepth camera is installed on the front of the device. You can also record 4K, 60fps with this camera, and it also allows slow-mo video capture, too. A comedy video showing a girl getting blown in the face with a hair dryer is played. Ha. 😐

The new iPhone is powered by the A13 Bionic processor. This beats the Snapdragon 855 on Android and is "the fastest CPU ever in a smartphone." GPU performance is also incendiary. "It is the fastest GPU ever in a smartphone."

We are now treated to a game demonstration. It looks like a light Dark Souls clone. Runs very smoothly on the new iPhone 11, though. Locked at 60fps. The game is called Pascal's Wager.

The battery on the new iPhone delivers one hour more than last year's Apple iPhone Xr. Faster Face ID is also confirmed, among a few other small features, before another glossy video is played. It has a fat cat in it!

Price of iPhone 11: $699

And... here comes Tim again. He has something else to share.

"We've created something truly special," he states. Could this be another new iPhone?

It is the iPhone 11 Pro / iPhone 11 Pro Max, and it is for "professionals, or people who aren’t professionals but want the best”. It is the new premium offering, clearly.

Here comes Phil. "This is the first phone we've called pro," he opens with.

Design-wise, it is made form surgical grade stainless steel and is glass backed.

Midnight Green, Space Gray, Silver and Gold colourways are confirmed.

Super Retina XDR 5.8 and 6.5-inch screens are available. OLED panel. 2,000,000: 1 contrast ratio, 1200 nits brightness. Cor blimey! That is bright!

Spatial Audio sound, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos are built in.

The iPhone 11 Pro runs off the A13 Bionic chip, which is a 7nm piece of hardware. The new chip has 8.5 billion transistors. Um, great. The result of this and other improvements is greater performance and improved efficiency (read battery life).

"We can't wait for our customers to see it in action."

On to battery life now. You get 4 hours more compared to iPhone XS, and 5 more compared to iPhone XS Max on the Pro.

Cameras-wise, it has a 12MP wide camera, 12MP telephoto camera, and 12MP ultra-wide camera.

We are shown the 4x optical zoom range delivered from ultra-wide to telephoto. And then a selection of images taken by camera professionals. The pictures look good for sure (makes mental note to get better at taking pictures).

Using the neural engine in the A13 Bionic, a new camera feature called Deep Fusion allows for 9 images to be shot and then combined to produce an optimised picture that is built pixel-by-pixel for low noise and great vibrancy.

4K, 60fps video shooting, as on the new iPhone 11, is naturally delivered by the Pro variants. Another video showing what the handsets are capable of in the hands of pro video makers is shown. Detail is sharp and colour bold. This is because all three cameras are calibrated for colour and exposure.

The footage shown was edited on the phone, too. New editing functions are included on iPhone 11 Pro. A third party video editing app is then promoted.

Phil returns to the stage to briefly recap the hardware and features before making way for another official video. This focuses on the durable, dust and water resistant new handset. The A13 Bionic gets another call out, too, as too the triple camera system. It's a recap following a recap. We are well and truly recapped now.

A new line of cases for both Pro variants

Need the price and release date now.

And it is... $999 for the iPhone 11 Pro

And $1099 for iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Pre-order this Friday from 5AM.

September 20th is the release date for the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Interestingly, Apple is still keeping the iPhone 8 and iPhone XR in the new range. The iPhone 8 retails for a new price of $449, and the iPhone XR now costs $599.

Tim Cook comes back to the stage again to introduce a segment on Apple's retail presence.

A new Apple Watch Studio lets you bespoke build an Apple Watch in terms of choosing sizes and straps etc.

Some information about Apple Trade In and monthly payment plans are shown.

On September 20th Apple Store 5th Avenue is re-opening, too. It is a "newly expanded public plaza" that is the largest Apple retail space in the world. No matter what you think of Apple, that store is iconic, so it is good to see it back in business.

Tim's back, and for the final time. He rounds up everything we've seen tonight and thanks everyone for coming.

Apple's new iPhone event: what we expected

Apple is widely-tipped to announce follow-ups to its best-selling iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR handsets from last September. 

Apple Watch Series 5, which will purportedly detect blood pressure and ship with two new premium finishes, is also expected, as well as new details about its Apple TV+ premium streaming service, Apple Arcade games subscription, and potentially new HomePod hardware and a refresh to the AirPods design.

As for the invitation itself, which is pictured above, there's not much to unpack. In fact, there's nothing to unpack. The iPhone manufacturer is known to hide a number of hints about its future plans in the graphics and taglines on the exclusive invites, but this year the invitation is particularly sparse.

"By innovation only," doesn't give much away about the next-generation iPhone and honestly is probably just the door policy at the Steve Jobs Theatre.

However, the six colourful logo could offer some clues. Apple is rumoured to be bringing back the nostalgic logo on some of its new handsets, one source claims. Also, it's worth noting the colours used in this invitation are exactly the same as the ones rumoured to be coming to the new range of iPhone XR successors, replacing the Coral and Blue finishes found in the existing line-up.

• Every iPhone that Apple currently sells, ranked

And when can we expect all of this box-fresh new tech?

Earlier this month, a monumental slip-up from SoftBank President Ken Miyauchi confirmed Apple will begin selling its new iPhone models on September 20, 2019. That's 10 days after the keynote, which fits perfectly with previous launch windows. 

Provided Apple sticks with its usual launch schedule, we'd expect pre-orders for the new models to go live from 8am BST / midnight PT / 3am EST on the Apple Store online and the app. With the smartphones that will be available to pick-up from the Apple Store on launch day typically selling out within a few hours.

As for the iPhone 11 and iPhone Pro themselves, Apple is tipped to stick with a very similar industrial design to iPhone X, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, albeit with a controversial new square-shaped camera housing with a triple-camera system.

The new triple-camera is tipped to help Apple catch-up with rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, Huawei P30 Pro, and OnePlus 7 Pro, which offer a much greater array of photography modes and options – from increased optical zoom and better low light photography.

The new camera that joins the telephoto and wide-angle lens seen on the existing iPhone XS line-up will purportedly be an ultra-wide camera. According to whispers ahead of the event tonight, this will bring a host of new functions, including the ability to include someone who was slightly out of frame in a photo taken by the primary wide-angle lens back into the shot, since they were likely captured by the ultra-wide camera even if they were partially lopped-off by the main shooter.

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Case manufacturer Nood has revealed its accessories for the upcoming iPhone, seemingly confirming the rumoured design tweaks...

Bloomberg has also reported Apple wants to use its triple-lens system to power all-new Augmented Reality (AR) experiences, like the ability to mask digital elements to your face using the front-facing system on the iPhone XS, which isn't currently available on the rear-camera. To ensure there is consistency across its flagship product lines, the new camera is also tipped for the next iPad Pro refresh.

Cameras aside, we're also expecting to see a new A13 system-on-a-chip. If history has taught us anything, this will likely send the new iPhone models charging up the charts to become the fastest smartphone you can buy. 

A new colour option – vaguely described as "rainbow" by sources speaking to YouTube creator EverythingApplePro – is also rumoured to be in the pipeline. The new finish is likely something akin to the shimmering, colour-changing Aura effect on the Samsung Note 10, and Huawei P30 Pro. Apple is also expected to bring a matte finish to another of the models.

When it comes to storage options for the new flagship phones, Apple is expected to keep things the same as the existing line-up, starting at 64GB for the entry-level model, followed by 256GB and 512GB. One tipster on Reddit, who doesn't quite have the same track record as some of the other more established sources quoted in this article, claims the iPhone XS Max successor will have a 3,969mAh battery – quite a step-up from the 3,174mAh cell it uses right now. That could mean the iPhone XR is no longer the iPhone with the best battery life – a title it holds at the moment when compared to the other handsets in the Apple Store. 

Sources also claim a wired fast-charger will also be bundled in the box with the iPhone 11 Pro – a first for the Apple handset range, Face ID will also be upgraded so that it works in a landscape orientation (like the new iPad Pro) and when looking at the handset while it's lying flat on a table, the ability to shoot slow-motion video from the front-facing camera, as well as a replacement for 3D Touch, are also rumoured.

Leaked benchmark results suggest the iPhone 11 will be powerful, but not quite as much of a monstrous upgrade in power as we saw from the company last year.

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Meanwhile, the iPhone XR follow-up is expected to move to a dual-camera system on the back – like the current flagship models. It will also benefit from the faster silicon.

And what about the names? Twitter user CoinX claims Apple will begin to use the "Pro" moniker already prevalent in its MacBook and iPad ranges with the iPhone this year. An unknown quantity at the time, CoinX accurately tweeted the final brand names for both iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max a week before the announcement.

If the tipster is right again, Apple will name its new handsets iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Others have suggested the Cupertino-based company will drop the number entirely and use "iPhone" for the iPhone Xr follow-up, and "iPhone Pro" and "iPhone Pro Max" for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max successors, respectively. Or who knows? Maybe Apple will surprise us with something completely new and unexpected – Apple Phone 1, perhaps?

Thankfully, we don't have long to wait to find out. T3 will have all of the opinion, reaction and updates from the Apple Event as it happens, so stay tuned.