By Invitation Only – Apple Media Event Highlights

In case you missed yesterday’s Apple media event titled, By Invitation Only, here are the highlights and major announcements.

The event started with a brief video that showed a variety of apps and technologies and ended with the tag line, “Give people wonderful tools and they’ll do wonderful things.”

Tim Cook took the stage to welcome the guests and did not give his usual business update because of the big agenda planned for the morning and jumped right into the program.

New Subscription Services

First up is Apple Arcade.  The new subscription service lets you download and play any arcade game right from the App Store.  A sample of some of the games were introduced.

Apple Arcade is available starting September 19th in more than 150 countries and will launch with over 100 games.  The cost is $4.99 for a family subscription but Apple is offering a one-month free trial.

Tim Cook then talked about Apple TV+.  This is the new subscription service to challenge the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The first shows will be available November 1st and a subscription is $4.99 per month.  Starting today, if you purchase a new iPhone, iPad, mac or Apple TV, you get a year of Apple TV+ for free.

iPad

Apple is replacing the 6th generation iPad with a new 7th generation iPad.  It has a 10.2” Retina display and an A10 Fusion chip.  The recently released iPadOS expands what you can do with the iPad including multi-tasking.  For the first time, the iPad is made from 100% recycled aluminum.

Prices start at just $329.00, but educational customers pay just $299.00.  You can order the new iPad today with shipping scheduled to start on September 30th.

Apple Watch

Tim Cook started off by sharing some stories of how Apple watch has impacted people’s lives including medical emergencies and help for people with disabilities.  Apple is also doing research in the areas of atrial fibrillation, hearing studies and woman’s health.

A new Apple Research app will be available in the U.S. later this year.

Apple Watch Series 5 is being introduced with an innovative “always-on” Retina display.  With Series 5, you will always be able to see the time and complications at a lower brightness.  Even with the always-on display, Series 5 will provide 18-hour battery life.

The Series 5 will include a compass which can be added to the watch face and the Maps app will now show you which way you are facing.

All cellular watches will support International Emergency SOS calling.

Apple Watch Series 5 will offer the largest assortment of case finished.  Aluminum cases are available in silver, gold and space gray, all made from 100% recycled aluminum.  Stainless Steel cases are available in gold and space black. An all-new Titanium case is available in brushed silver and brushed space black.  A ceramic case is available in white.

Apple Watch Series 5

The Apple Watch Series 5 GPS model starts at $399 with the GPS + Cellular starting at $499.  You can order the Apple Watch Series 5 today and they will be available starting September 20.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is still in the current line-up and starts at just $199 for the GPS version.

iPhone

iPhone 11 has an anodized aluminum and glass case design with the toughest glass ever found on a smartphone.  It is available in six colors including white, black, yellow, green, a new purple and Product (RED).  It has a 6.1” Liquid Retina display, spatial audio and Dolby Atmos sound.

iPhone 11 has a dual-camera ultra-wide camera system with a 120-degree field of view and a new night mode for very low light situations.  The new True Tone flash is 36% brighter than previous versions.  The front camera is a 12MP camera that also takes 4K video and supports slo-motion video.

iPhone 11 Camera

iPhone 11 has the A13 bionic chip which is the fastest CPU ever in a smartphone and battery life is rated at 1-hour longer than last year’s iPhone Xr.

iPhone 11 starts at $699

For people who want the absolute latest in smartphone technology, there’s the new iPhone 11 Pro.  Made from surgical grade stainless steel, the back is a single piece of machined glass and is available in Midnight Green, Space Gray, Silver and Gold.

iPhone 11 Pro

iPhone 11 Pro has an OLED Super Retina XDR display with a 2,000,000 : 1 contrast ratio with 458 pixels per inch, and is 15% more energy efficient.

The A13 Bionic chip contains 8.5 billion transistors and is capable of performing 1 trillion operations per second.

The iPhone 11 Pro has a pro battery that lasts 4 hours longer than the iPhone Xs.  A larger iPhone 11 Pro Max last 5 hours longer than the current iPhone Xs Max.

The Pro models come with an 18-watt adapter in the box to support fast charging.

The iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999 and the iPhone 11 Pro Max starts at $1,099. Preorders start this Friday at 8:00 AM Eastern Time with shipment beginning September 20th.

The iPhone Xr will still be available starting at $599 and the iPhone 8 is $449.

What do you think of the latest announcements from Apple?  Will you be upgrading your Apple technology or are you happy with what you have now?  Why not join the conversation and add a comment below?

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