Published

September 8, 2016

Written by

Chris Gonzales

Photography

Apple

If you're as big of an Apple nerd as us, you've already seen Apple's September 2016 keynote. Heck, you probably watched it live, maybe even followed along with a livestream somewhere, or something more personal like Jason Snell & friends' live coverage Talkshow.

But hey, we understand that not everyone can (or necessarily wants to) watch these two-hour events unfold in real-time. And they certainly don't care to read 20 separate "articles" about what it all means, maaaaan. They just want a quick rundown of the most important announcements.

That's what today's post is for. Here's everything you need to know, without all the fluff.


 

iPhone 7 & 7 Plus »

Pre-order September 9th — Available September 16th

What you need to know:

  • Two new colors: matte Black and glossy Jet Black.
  • Now resistant to splashes, water, and dust.
  • Storage size has been doubled across the board: 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB, respectively.
  • Four-core A10 Fusion chip is up to 2x faster than the iPhone 6's, and so processor-efficient you can expect an extra hour or two of battery life.
  • No more ancient 3.5mm headphone jack. The included EarPods now connect via the Lightning port, or you can use the included 3.5mm adapter to plug in older-style headphones. (Be sure to read the AirPods section further down to learn about Apple's incredible new wireless earbuds.)
  • The new 12-megapixel rear camera has a wider aperture than before (f/1.8, up from f/2.2). It also includes image stabilization, better low-light handling than ever, and a brighter/smarter quad-LED flash.
  • Front-facing camera is now 7MP, up from 5. Selfies ahoy!
  • iPhone 7 Plus has two 12MP cameras — wide-angle and telephoto — that can shoot as one. Together, they allow for 2x optical zoom all-around, 6x digital zoom for videos, and 10x digital zoom for photos. And with a free software update coming later this year, the dual-camera system will be able to produce beautiful shallow-depth-of-field images (sharp foreground, blurred background).
  • Retina HD display is up to 25% brighter and can now display a cinema-standard color gamut (basically, everything looks more vibrant).
  • A new solid-state, customizable home button no longer physically presses in, but instead responds to pressure and offers haptic feedback. This is something you'll either love or hate. (At this rate the next iPhone model may not even have a home button, so get used to the weirdness now.)
  • This is the first iPhone series with two built-in speakers for stereo audio. Crank up your music and enjoy.
  • LTE connectivity is now faster (with speeds up to 450 Mbps for data downloads) and wider-reaching than ever.


 

Apple Watch Series 2 »

Pre-order September 9th — Available September 16th

What you need to know:

  • Built-in GPS (yay!). Leave your iPhone at home when you go for a run or ride, and view a map of your route on it when you get back.
  • Water-resistance to 50 meters, and new features that let you accurately track swim workouts.
  • The speaker, which needs air to work, has to let some water in, but has a nifty feature where it uses sound vibrations to force it back out.
  • Brightest display Apple has ever made.
  • Super-fast dual-core processor.
  • New partnership with Nike in the form of the Apple Watch Nike+, which sports (heh) a ventilated watchband (comes in four styles), exclusive Nike watch faces, and a permanent Nike+ Run Club complication.
  • The high-end Apple Watch Edition (from $1,249) now comes in a brilliant, pearly white ceramic case. Four times as hard as stainless steel, but still so sleek and light.


 

AirPods »

Available late-October 2016

What you need to know:

  • Wireless versions of EarPods

  • $159, sold separately from iPhone

  • Apple-designed W1 chip lets AirPods detect when they're in your ear and pause when you take them out. So cool.

  • Double-tap either AirPod to activate Siri.

  • Voice accelerometer recognizes when you're speaking.

  • Beamforming microphones filter out external noise.

  • AAC audio support.

  • AirPods hold up to 5 hours of battery charge, and the included charging case offers up to 24 hours of additional charges.

    Cool feature: You can check the battery life by holding the AirPods next to your iPhone or asking Siri, “How’s the battery on my AirPods?”

  • Simply open the charging case with AirPods inside to pair with your iPhone, and thanks to iCloud, all your Apple devices will instantly pair with them as well.