Apple Event Sept 2021: iPhone 13, Apple Watch Series 7, and More Announced

[ShadowGuardian87]

Yea after sleeping on it I am not upgrading either my Apple Watch Series 6 or my iPhone 11 Pro Max. I will upgrade those next year ( if the rumors for iPhone 14 and Apple Watch series 8 are true). This year's upgrades are just lackluster and very minor. My money is better spent upgrading my macbook air to a macbook pro for video editing needs and such.

 

[opeter]

Seriously underwhelming event. Anyone else?

I'm hoping that the underwhelming nature of this event will be outdone with the spectacular announcements of the M1X/M2 MBPs next month....Then, we will be back at balance: 1 extreme followed by another extreme.

Don't have high hopes for the next event, because it can happen, that you will be again (very) dissapointed.

 

[Ansath]

Nah, I couldn't be happier that I sold my 12 Pro Max, gave my wife my 5th gen Mini, and bought the Z Fold 3. It's okay if you are salty after today. I don't blame you one bit! People dropping hundreds of dollars on a phone with essentially the same design it had in 2017 and a hidious notch does remind me of a mammal that produces wool though!!

Spoken like someone who assumes the whole world buys the new phone every year, whereas in reality, majority upgrade after 2-3 years, if not longer....... Therefore most will see big changes. Whereas the die hard obsessive Apple fans get salty cos there's not huge differences. Bearing in mind that there's not much that can change other than the usual these days.

We see the same with Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy flagship devices, no massive changes year on year lately, but people like to pile on Apple and give Google and Samsung a pass, cos it makes them feel better to be negative....

 

[IKnowTheWoz]

Imma head out to a lawyer conference call -- which will be more interesting.

So would a 15 hour insurance seminar 🤣

 

[IKnowTheWoz]

Spoken like someone who assumes the whole world buys the new phone every year, whereas in reality, majority upgrade after 2-3 years, if not longer....... Therefore most will see big changes. Whereas the die hard obsessive Apple fans get salty cos there's not huge differences. Bearing in mind that there's not much that can change other than the usual these days.

We see the same with Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy flagship devices, no massive changes year on year lately, but people like to pile on Apple and give Google and Samsung a pass, cos it makes them feel better to be negative....

I didn't "assume" anything. Google might come out with the same trash year after year like Apple does but you seem uninformed when you throw Samsung in there. And trust me, I'm not a Samsung fan but I am a huge fan of the Fold 3. You do realize that the iPhone's design is from 2017 right?

 

[Darth Tulhu]

IT seems that very sadly, Apple made you have low expectations...
That is sad indeed.

Only sad for you, my friend. I am more than happy with my current Apple products.

Before we used to be excited of presentations, now I do not even look at them. They are a waste of time.

Perhaps, depending on what you look forward to. The days of Steve Jobs "inventing" are long behind us, yet I still give credit where it's due, like the A and M-series chips, the Watch, Pencil, AirTags, the iPad redesigns, and of course, the integration of all Apple products. That is the "killer app" that keeps me happy.

Because of people complaining, Apple actually change the design of the Macbook Pro after a massive failure design. THey still insisted for over 3 years, but less and less people were buying them. If we speak, they will listen. If you have low expectations, they will only conform the masses with sad upgrades...

That is a specific scenario where yes, Apple dropped the ball big time, for a LONG time. I was pissed too: I did not buy ANY Apple products between 2012 and 2020 because I wanted NOTHING they made. But that issue has LONG been fixed. Apple has rectified many of their past blunders (even if some remain...ahem...Magic Mouse charge port, "well-intentioned" spyware).

That being said, what specifically would you look forward to Apple putting out/adding to iPhone or other product?

I have a few (better file management and TB transfer stability and speed on the iPad, for starters), but these are still iterative. They'd be additional features to an existing product.

Or, what product do you wish Apple would come out with that doesn't currently exist already?

 

[840quadra]

Your earlier post mentioned lightning to move files for use in FCPX, which implied an Apple to Apple pipeline, hence my thoughts on airdrop.

Fair point, but FCPx is only a small portion of my workload.

..no usb-c because so many lightning cables lying around at apple contract manufacturers

And they would work great if they kept the iPhone 13 on lightning and moved the pro models to USB-C alongside the new iPad mini.

 

[Steve686]

Being an iPhone user since day one and a MR member since 2007, it's hard to believe how stale Apple has gotten.

It's also refreshing to see that people are kinda cooling to Apple in larger numbers on the forums without the usual high energy pushback I've seen in the first several years of iPhone.

Apple definitely hit some plateaus and seems to be having a hard time energizing the year over year releases with features that deserve some awards in mobile phones. It seems harder for them to justify upwards to $1599USD annually to have the supposed latest and greatest. I mean, what more can we expect out of a device that fits in our pockets, honestly?

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Being an iPhone user since day one and a MR member since 2007, it's hard to believe how stale Apple has gotten.

It's also refreshing to see that people are kinda cooling to Apple in larger numbers on the forums without the usual high energy pushback I've seen in the first several years of iPhone.

Apple definitely hit some plateaus and seems to be having a hard time energizing the year over year releases with features that deserve some awards in mobile phones. It seems harder for them to justify upwards to $1599USD annually to have the supposed latest and greatest. I mean, what more can we expect out of a device that fits in our pockets, honestly?

I'll give some pushback. I've been with Apple since 2001. And I have to ask:

How exactly is Apple stale?

Apple has deployed a significant number of hardware, software, and services updates in the last few years alone that blow my mind in how each one is able to enhance the other.

In the last couple of years alone Apple has released (to great success) AirPods, Watch, Pencil, AirTags, turned the iPad into a legit Mac replacement (for many like myself), turned iCloud into everything that MobileMe promised and more, (will continue to) transitioned EVERYTHING to their own expectation-shattering processors, started a TV service, has won a bunch of Emmys from internally produced shows.... I could go on.

And it all works together better than anything else I've seen.

So please, be specific. What would make Apple NOT stale?

 

[IKnowTheWoz]

*sigh* My wife bought herself an Apple Watch 6 from the Apple Store..... 16 days ago. (Apple has a 14 day return policy.)

That is 💯 her fault!

 

[RobArtLyn]

You do realize that the iPhone's design is from 2017 right?

You keep emphasizing this as if it matters. So what?

 

[Peperino]

That is a specific scenario where yes, Apple dropped the ball big time, for a LONG time. I was pissed too: I did not buy ANY Apple products between 2012 and 2020 because I wanted NOTHING they made. But that issue has LONG been fixed. Apple has rectified many of their past blunders (even if some remain...ahem...Magic Mouse charge port, "well-intentioned" spyware).

Dropping the ball for 4-6 years in computer is crazy, reckless and pathetic to say the least.
Cook was focusing just on making money with iPhones and wearables disregarding the entire computer line up.
Upgrades cycles (4-6 years) were disgusting.
Is it truly long fixed? I do not think so. The new iMac after a 10 year of NON upgrading the external design, the new design is ugly and the specs are lame. There is no 27"iMac upgrade yet. And all the models ship with RAM and internal SSD like we are in 2015. Please someone remind Cook that we are in 2021. Shipping computers in 2021 with 8GB Ram and 256 or even 512 GB SSD is unacceptable. But that is how Apple is milking its customers with abusive and extremely expensive RAM and SSD upgrade pricing (over 3x more expensive).
AFTER ALMOST 7 years, The new Mac Pro redesign, although it was great, it is completely unaffordable, leaving almost all medium professionals that were still in the cheese grater desktops, with no options for upgrade.

That being said, what specifically would you look forward to Apple putting out/adding to iPhone or other product?

I have a few (better file management and TB transfer stability and speed on the iPad, for starters), but these are still iterative. They'd be additional features to an existing product.

They claim the new iPhone can do hi Res video, etc... Still they have a lame lighting connector which video transfers will take forever.
All phones should be with USB-C
SSD Capacity should be doubled.
Contact management in Apple is quite bad.
TO NOT implement the Photo scanning, which is a complete violation of privacy

 

[IKnowTheWoz]

You keep emphasizing this as if it matters. So what?

It does matter. It is a disgrace to design innovation.

 

[WitchDoktor]

The announced products would be compelling if you're going from devices two or three generations old. Not much there, for me at least. Only thing that's mildly interesting to me are the new iPhone cameras, but even at that it's not reason enough to go from a 12PM unless I was to shoot movies or something.

But I hear the IPhone 14 will be awesome!

 

[Ansath]

I didn't "assume" anything. Google might come out with the same trash year after year like Apple does but you seem uninformed when you throw Samsung in there. And trust me, I'm not a Samsung fan but I am a huge fan of the Fold 3. You do realize that the iPhone's design is from 2017 right?

the Fold is a gimmick. The 5 people I know that switched to it, switched back to their Galaxy S. Also, I don’t see the Galaxy S range getting any revolutionary changes and has basically the same design for the last 5 years or so too…

Also, what big changes are there from the first model of the fold to the current one? It’s the same design for the food 1 to the fold 3….Or are you trying to use Samsung Galaxy S range to Fold? As that’s basically 2 different phone models, so it ruins your whole point.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

all indications are everything is the same except battery life, right?

Looks that way!

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Dropping the ball for 4-6 years in computer is crazy, reckless and pathetic to say the least.
Cook was focusing just on making money with iPhones and wearables disregarding the entire computer line up.
Upgrades cycles (4-6 years) were disgusting.

It sounds like Apple really broke your heart, my friend. I felt the same way when they discontinued the 17" MBP, when they started soldering RAM, and the Tube was the last straw. Nevermind those keyboards.

But years later someone in these forums gave me an epiphanous moment:

The Mac was no longer the center of Apple's universe. The iPhone is.

If you cannot accept that, Apple is simply NOT the company for you.

Is it truly long fixed? I do not think so. The new iMac after a 10 year of NON upgrading the external design, the new design is ugly and the specs are lame. There is no 27"iMac upgrade yet. And all the models ship with RAM and internal SSD like we are in 2015. Please someone remind Cook that we are in 2021. Shipping computers in 2021 with 8GB Ram and 256 or even 512 GB SSD is unacceptable. But that is how Apple is milking its customers with abusive and extremely expensive RAM and SSD upgrade pricing (over 3x more expensive).

Perhaps it is you who is out of step with Apple. Apple has always been consumer friendly, the computer "for the rest of us". Steve Jobs' return to Apple marked the consumerization of Apple, and it was he that brought forth the "Post PC Era" that Apple is FULLY invested in, even if you aren't.

Apple doesn't care about gamers, PC enthusiasts, and "spec whores". There's the PC market for that, and Apple is fine with it.

AFTER ALMOST 7 years, The new Mac Pro redesign, although it was great, it is completely unaffordable, leaving almost all medium professionals that were still in the cheese grater desktops, with no options for upgrade.

Apple made that truck for high-end pros specifically, not "traditional" computer enthusiasts or middle-tier pros. Again, Apple pivoted away from the Mac as the center long ago. That said, we have all of 2022 left in the AS transition, so Apple's full position on this remains to be revealed and it shows Apple is still committed to the Mac in general terms. The Mac won't die.

They claim the new iPhone can do hi Res video, etc... Still they have a lame lighting connector which video transfers will take forever.
All phones should be with USB-C
SSD Capacity should be doubled.
Contact management in Apple is quite bad.
TO NOT implement the Photo scanning, which is a complete violation of privacy

I wish the iPhone had USB-C too. Actually, I wish that Lightning were as fast as, well, you know, because I find the connector to be superior to USB-C hardware-wise.

However, anyone can see that Apple is moving towards over-the-air transfers in those devices. MagSafe spells doom for that port, it appears.

In summary, you sound angry about Apple's decisions, so perhaps it is time to not walk away mad but to just walk away.

I did for about 8 years, but came back once the iCloud-driven ecosystem got to where it is now (even if there's still room for a LOT of improvement), and made my Macs nigh-irrelevant.

Apple's focus on iDevices and Wearables is where the money and their effort is, for better (in my case) or for worse (in yours).

 

[RobArtLyn]

It does matter. It is a disgrace to design innovation.

Successful designs do not need to be changed just for the sake of change.

 

[Steve686]

I'll give some pushback. I've been with Apple since 2001. And I have to ask:

How exactly is Apple stale?

Apple has deployed a significant number of hardware, software, and services updates in the last few years alone that blow my mind in how each one is able to enhance the other.

In the last couple of years alone Apple has released (to great success) AirPods, Watch, Pencil, AirTags, turned the iPad into a legit Mac replacement (for many like myself), turned iCloud into everything that MobileMe promised and more, (will continue to) transitioned EVERYTHING to their own expectation-shattering processors, started a TV service, has won a bunch of Emmys from internally produced shows.... I could go on.

And it all works together better than anything else I've seen.

So please, be specific. What would make Apple NOT stale?

Most glaringly is using the iPhone 4 design as the 12 and 13 phones, then integrating that design into iPads/iMacs and probably the next gen MacBooks.

I used to defend them taking their time to "perfect" features that other makers had already brought to market, but just like 4 day old bread, it is stale. My first thought of staleness was how long they took to implement OLED after Samsung had done it with their Galaxy S4(which I used and loved on an alternate cellular line).

What would make them not stale at this point? I think the first thing they could do is get rid of that stiff, Tim Cook, and replace him with a more Elon Musk type guy that does creates more buzz with one tweet than Cook does with a whole presentation like Tuesday.

Edit: And I have to add that my post was directly aimed at phones, so I don't see why you decided to go on a tangent about other products which I didn't even allude to.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Most glaringly is using the iPhone 4 design as the 12 and 13 phones, then integrating that design into iPads/iMacs and probably the next gen MacBooks.

Subjective, but understandable as a matter of taste.

I used to defend them taking their time to "perfect" features that other makers had already brought to market, but just like 4 day old bread, it is stale. My first thought of staleness was how long they took to implement OLED after Samsung had done it with their Galaxy S4(which I used and loved on an alternate cellular line).

Apple bringing a specific feature to market takes time because they always tweak it somehow, as you said. In the case of OLED, I assume it was (aside from the fact that Apple never ever puts everything everyone wants on the one device) that Apple was tweaking things on the software side to prevent the burn in that plagued every single OLED Android phone I've ever owned. I have not heard of burn in on Apple OLED devices yet, but I could be wrong.

However, I've yet to hear about any meaningful feature missing from current iPhones that the competition is doing (besides the folding thing that is questionable at best from a meaningfulness perspective). Matter of fact, I'd love to hear about ANYTHING that the competition is doing better in the phone space.

EDIT: I have a few myself (handled via software though), like Android's customization options, but I genuinely want to hear other perspectives. And I mean better, not just different (I concede that line is blurry).

What would make them not stale at this point? I think the first thing they could do is get rid of that stiff, Tim Cook, and replace him with a more Elon Musk type guy that does creates more buzz with one tweet than Cook does with a whole presentation like Tuesday.

Again, subjective, although I find Elon Musk to be a questionable choice and even more awkward than Timmy C in my opinion. Also, Tesla is doing more emerging tech where Tim is steering the ship of a lot more diverse and mature products so it seems like Apples and Oranges to me. Tesla is nowhere near the integration into my daily life the Apple is. Apple has my entire life in its hands (figuratively speaking), from my memories, to my music, to my health, to most personal stuff, to even my livelihood in some ways.

As far as it is relevant to me, Tesla makes cars, and ones that I don't want at that.

That said, I like where Tim has taken Apple, and people are choosing with their wallets. But to argue about this is pointless really. I don't really care for neither Tim nor Elon at a personal level: I'm all about the products and how I would use them.

Edit: And I have to add that my post was directly aimed at phones, so I don't see why you decided to go on a tangent about other products which I didn't even allude to.

I felt that my points were relevant as the complaints are similar for most Apple products: "I'm disappointed because I didn't get 'X' feature this year, so Apple sucks, it's stale, fire Tim, etc..."

In addition, one of Apple's main attractions is it's ecosystem: how each device interfaces with each other. To ignore how the iPhone and the rest of Apple's products/services work together seems incredibly reductive and cherry-picky to me.

 

[IKnowTheWoz]

Apple Watch S3 officially packed up and shipped out. I'm trading it in for the Galaxy W4 after testing it out. It works well with the Z Fold 3 and I prefer the round face as it is more like my Rolexes and Omega Speedy Pro Moonwatch. Welp, I guess I am down to my trusty iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch for Apple products (I have Windows and Linux machines as well). Oh how the mighty have fallen. Look, I hated Android and I am one of the few that actually bought and tried several Android flagship phones over the years, along with using every iPhone since the 4, just to see what the competition had to offer. Admittedly, Android was trash by comparison. iOS is not what it once was, and Android has come a very long way over the past 2-3 years. If you are on the fence, I suggest you give them a try. I never thought I would make the switch and stick to it, but I have. Deep down I still love Apple, but I hope one day soon Cook will be gone, innovation and superior design will once again reign, and I will be able to rejoin the Apple ecosystem. Until then...

 

[pdoherty]

I did not buy ANY Apple products between 2012 and 2020 because I wanted NOTHING they made. But that issue has LONG been fixed.

It’s only 2021. Doesn’t seem it’s been all that long…

 

[Darth Tulhu]

It’s only 2021. Doesn’t seem it’s been all that long…

Time's relative, no?

A year or two is an eternity in computing.

Three minutes is the difference between life and death, when you're holding your breath.

Once someone has less to live than they already did, every minute counts.

 

[pdoherty]

Such an exaggeration - even in computing a year or two isn’t very much. What’s really all that different between, say, an iPhone 11 and an iPhone 13? Not much. Same with PCs/Macs. CPUs aren’t all that different/better from two years ago. Neither is RAM. Or SSDs. Etc. I think people got Moore’s Law fever decades ago and still think things are changing at that pace in all areas and I just don’t see the same pace today as, say, 1995.