AirPods are getting even better

Today Apple finally released the long-awaited update to AirPods. The new AirPods are powered by the new H1 chip and feature 50 percent more talk time, hands-free “Hey Siri” and the option of a wireless charging case.

The new H1 chip replaces the W1 used in the 2016 AirPods and has been developed specifically for headphones. Whilst Apple has consistently revised the W-series chips since 2016 for use in Apple Watch, it is interesting to see a new H-series for these. We can only assume when Apple’s rumoured over-ear headphones debut later in 2019, they will build on this technology. I can also imagine future Beats products will feature the H-series chips too. H1 delivers performance efficiencies, faster connect times, more talk time and the convenience of hands-free “Hey Siri.” Apple says the H1 chip in the new AirPods makes switching between devices up to two times faster, and enables up to a 1.5x faster connection time for phone calls and up to 30 percent lower gaming latency.

The AirPods come with either a standard charging case for the same price of £159, or a new Wireless Charging Case for Qi charging at £199. The wireless case is also available for existing AirPods customers at £79. This new case is the same case originally shown off alongside AirPower in September 2017. Seeing as code enabling AirPower functionality has been found in the latest iOS 12.2 beta, that should be launching any day now too.

A custom laser engraving on the case is also available exclusively from Apple’s online store.

A pretty minor update to the world’s most popular wireless headphones, with no redesign, no black colour option or any kind of health monitoring features. If you’re like most of the world and bought your AirPods within the last 6-12 months, there’s nothing to cry over. If wireless charging is a must for you, just get the case. I got my AirPods on day one in December 2016, and the batteries are really showing their age now. I’ve ordered a pair of these 2nd-generation AirPods as it’s time for me to upgrade, and these new features are welcome additions. It remains to be seen when and where all the missing long-rumoured features will turn up; will there be ‘AirPods Pro’ later on in 2019 alongside Apple’s over-ear headphones? Or will ‘AirPods Pro’ actually turn out to be the over-ear headphones themselves?

According to Mark Gurman, these AirPods were initially planned to go on sale last year. Gurman says Apple is working on a subsequent pair of 3rd-generation AirPods with noise cancellation and water resistance that were originally planned for release later this year, but he now speculates that they could arrive in 2020.

For the last 3 days straight Apple has released new products via press releases, so it’s safe to assume we’ll see something tomorrow and something else on Friday. My money is on iPod touch tomorrow and AirPower on Friday. It’s worth noting that these new AirPods do require iOS 12.2 or newer, suggesting 12.2 will drop on Monday after the keynote, ahead of AirPods deliveries beginning on Tuesday here in the U.K. As I previously mentioned, iOS 12.2 does support AirPower, so again, we could finally see that this week too...

...I hope.

:))

On the 2019 iMac

Yesterday the iMac line received welcome updates. This update was just a spec bump, but a big one to say the least. These models remain physically unchanged but feature new chips:

• The 21.5-inch iMac now features 8th-generation quad-core, and for the first time 6-core Intel processors, delivering up to 60 percent faster performance.

• The 27-inch iMac now for the first time features up to 9th-generation 6-core and 8-core Intel processors, delivering up to 2.4 times faster performance.

• The Radeon Pro Vega graphics that debuted on iMac Pro, and were later added as an option to MacBook Pro, now come to iMac. On the 21.5-inch iMac this new GPU delivers up to 80 percent faster graphics performance and up to 50 percent on the 27-inch.

Sadly, these new iMacs do not include the amazing T2 chip found in all other recent (2018 onwards) Macs, but that’s because it doesn’t support Hard Drives. The iMac is overdue a major redesign, which I can’t see happening before Apple’s standalone 6K display debuts alongside the 2019 Mac Pro. Hopefully, when this happens the iMac will move entirely to SSD’s, like iMac Pro, and then we will see the T2 (or by then T3) chip come to the consumer desktop line.

Seeing as iMac was last updated at WWDC 2017, these updates are really good to see, but I can’t help but think that this will be the final revision to the current iMac design, originally introduced way back in 2012.

:))

Apple Revives iPad Air and iPad mini

On Monday Apple released updates to the consumer iPad lineup. The entry-level 9.7-inch iPad sadly did not receive an update, being left with an ageing A10 Fusion chip. iPad is still a great device at £319, but a new SoC and the addition of niceties such as True Tone would’ve made a welcome 7th-generation update.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is gone - in its place, the iPad Air is back, with an A12 chip and a downgraded camera - 8MP, no more bump or LED TrueTone flash. This new iPad Air still supports the original Apple Pencil, now with the addition of Logitech Crayon support. Starting at £479, this new iPad Air is very powerful and still super portable - it’s a much nicer device than the normal iPad for those who are willing to pay, but don’t need to fork out for an iPad Pro.

As expected, the 5th-generation iPad mini finally made its debut on Monday, a major upgrade for iPad mini fans who love a compact, ultra-portable design packed with the latest technology. Last updated in September 2015, Apple had kept the iPad mini 4 on sale with a very old A8 chip for far too long. Starting at the same price of £399, the new iPad mini features an A12 Bionic chip, delivering three times the performance and nine times faster graphics over iPad mini 4. The display now gets True Tone technology and wide colour support, and is 25 percent brighter than before. A fun fact is this iPad mini, has the highest pixel density of any iPad at 326ppi.

Like iPad Air, the new iPad mini has 1st-generation Apple Pencil and crayon support, making the new iPad mini perfect as a take-anywhere notepad for sketching and jotting down thoughts on the go. I’m surprised Apple didn’t put more of an education spin on iPad mini like it did last March with the 6th-generation iPad launch. iPad mini paired with the Logitech Crayon is going to be incredible in classrooms.

Overall, a great day for iPad, and the lineup is much tidier than before. Whilst it would've been even better had the 9.7-inch been updated (why is the iPad mini much more powerful than iPad?), we can’t have perfection. Another approach that Apple could’ve taken would be to have branded the mini as a 7.9-inch Air, seeing as these new iPads are effectively the same device in 2 different sizes, but someone probably decided that would be even more confusing for the customer. Regardless, I’m happy, and now is a great time to buy any of the models in the iPad lineup.

:))

The Blue Ink Show

In October I debuted a companion podcast for Blueinkcode, titled The Blue Ink Show. Episode 7 is coming out tomorrow, and I feel now is a good time to begin promotion for the show. So far there are about 14 hours of back catalogue for you to listen to at your leisure.

The Blue Ink Show airs every other Tuesday morning at 10AM, and I am always joined by my close friend and colleague Lex MacEoghain. In each episode we discuss current news regarding Apple or other emerging stories in the tech industry, along with other general ramblings.

You can listen to the show on this site (just hit T.B.I.S in the navigation menu), or in any podcast player that uses the iTunes Podcasts directory - such as Apple Podcasts or Overcast (our preferred podcast player of choice), alternatively you can catch us on Spotify.

We hope you join us at some point, and would really appreciate any feedback that you might have. You can find me on Instagram as @ajacktaylor, Lex as @amaceoghain, or email me directly using jack@blueinkcode.com.

:))

On the 2018 iPad Pro

“All new. All screen. All powerful.”

Yesterday Apple introduced the new iPad Pro by literally throwing the Home button away. It features an edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display, with rounded corners, Face ID, and comes in 11” and 12.9” varieties. The new 11” size actually shares the same physical footprint as the outgoing 10.5” model, whereas the updated 12.9” version takes up 25% less volume, making it the size of an A4 sheet of paper. It’s also 15% thinner than before, measuring a mind-blowing 5.9mm thick. This thing is crazy thin. Hopefully, battery life won’t suffer as a result of this (Apple still quotes 10 hours), but the headphone jack certainly did - it’s been removed for the first time on an iPad - presumably to make way for this thinner enclosure. The new design is very blocky - reminiscent of the iPhone 5/5s/SE - in fact, it is so square the iPad Pro can stand up on its bottom edge by itself. If you ever wanted to do that.

The elimination of the Home Button means the addition of Face ID, and up until now Face ID on iPhone has only worked when in portrait orientation, so there was quite some debate as to how Apple would implement the system on iPad. Would it be 2 sensors supporting 2 orientations? Or rather 4 supporting 4 orientations? Well, it turns out Apple has managed to keep just 1 TrueDepth camera system - in the top bezel - and it supports all 4 orientations. This really is the ideal scenario and no one was really excepting it.

Under the hood, or should I say glass, is an A12X Bionic chip, paired with 6GB of RAM (but only in the 1TB model, all the others have 4GB RAM, for some reason). Just like the A12 in iPhone XS and XR, it’s a 7-manometer chip, with 10 billion transistors, but with an additional 2 cores, bringing it up to an 8-core CPU, and a 7-core GPU. Apple reckons you’ll get 90% faster CPU performance over the old iPad Pro with its A10X chip. To put these gains into perspective, the GPU in this is 1000x faster than the GPU in the original 2010 iPad. The net result is Xbox One S-level graphics, with up to 120FPS in some games. This new chip also brings the Neural Engine to the iPad for the first time, mostly for Face ID, but it also improves AR performance and opens up new machine learning possibilities. The A12 in iPhone XS allowed up to 512GB of storage in iPhone, and the A12X allows up to 1TB of storage in iPad - you can now configure the iPad Pro with 64GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Another big change is the removal of the Lightning connector, replaced with USB-C. This really does open the iPad Pro up to a whole new world of computing. You can connect it to 5K displays, connect it to data accessories, and even charge out - so you can top up your iPhone from your iPad. In the box is a new 18W USB-C power adapter, up from the old 12W adapter, and it can be used to fast charge iPhone 8 and newer, as long as you combine it with a USB-C to Lightning cable. Currently, you can’t buy this power brick separately, but that may be down to temporary supply chain issues. As I previously mentioned, there’s no headphone jack, so Apple is selling a USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor for $9/£9 - but don’t expect to find it in the box. The speakers have been improved, now featuring woofer and tweeter pairs in all four corners. On an iPad Pro, I find the quality and volume of the built-in speakers massively important, so any gains in this department are most welcome.

The cameras have also had a spec bump, with the addition of Smart HDR and 4K 60FPS video recording. The inclusion of the TrueDepth camera on the front means Portrait mode, Animoji and Memoji arrive on iPad for the first time. There’s no Portrait mode on the back camera, for some reason, which is strange seeing as iPhone XR can do it with pretty much the same hardware. I’ve been told that this camera actually loses optical image stabilisation and has one less lens than the old model, but Apple doesn’t want you to know that. Regardless, this spec bump has resulted in quite a physical bump, with the camera sticking far out of the back of the enclosure. Whilst it already did, this is a new level of camera bump for the iPad. The camera bump doesn’t bother me on the iPhone, but on a device that’s meant to be lying flat on a table so you can draw on it with Apple Pencil? This is going to be a bit of an issue if you don’t put it in a case.

Speaking of cases and pencils, there are 102 magnets placed around the enclosure, for use with the new Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and the new Smart Folio and Smart Keyboard Folio accessories. The new Apple Pencil retails for $119/£119 and features a new, simpler design. It has a matte finish which results in a more tactile feel, and the case is more angular now, so it shouldn’t roll off your desk. Charging is now inductive, powered by the side of your iPad Pro, where the Pencil also magnetically attaches for pairing and storage. The sides of the Pencil are now touch sensitive and support customisable double-tap gestures. Examples shown off included quick switching of the brush type in the Notes app or zooming in and out on Photoshop. Another neat addition is the Pencil can now be ordered with an engraving, exclusively from Apple’s online store. The old Pencil was cool but had major shortcomings, and this Pencil fixes all of them. It only works with the 2018 iPad Pros and the old Pencil will not work on these models. The Smart Cover has been replaced with a Smart Folio which wraps around the full enclosure, and the Smart Keyboard has been succeeded by the Smart Keyboard Folio, which again, wraps around the full enclosure and utilises the repositioned Smart Connector on the back of the device. It also now has an adjustable viewing angle, which Apple is marketing as one for your lap, one for your desk. The keyboard is another nice improvement, but just like previous versions, it’s still pricey, especially seeing as you almost need it to get the full ‘iPad Pro experience’. The 11” version comes in at $179/£179, with the 12.9” version costing an additional $20/£20 at $199/£199.

This new iPad Pro hardware is yet again pushing the boundaries of what an iPad is capable of and expands the use cases where it can be used to replace a traditional PC or Mac. I’d argue the biggest example of this is the addition of USB-C, bringing it more in line with the Mac in terms of connectivity. iPad hardware and software are on somewhat of a tick-tock release cycle, so expect iOS 13 in 2019 to include massive new features for these iPads. Will I be getting one? For sure. Which one? Probably the 12.9”. When? Hopefully before December if availability is good, although I’m in no rush. Of course, you can expect videos on both new models to be on iCollectApple in the coming weeks.

Both the 11” and 12.9” iPad Pro go on sale November 7th, starting at $799/£799 and $999/£999, respectively.

:))

On the 2018 MacBook Air

“Lightness Strikes Again.”

Today Apple finally took the wraps off its new 13-inch, consumer, Retina notebook. Long-rumoured to be a MacBook Air successor, it turns out it’s just a new MacBook Air. It also turns out it’s effectively a bigger MacBook with 2 USB-C ports. Tim Cook almost joked about the fact that the MacBook Air was still lacking a Retina Display, and that’s the key new feature here; the new 2018 model has a 13.3-inch Retina Display, which Apple claims has 4x the pixel count of the previous generation. This isn’t quite true, as the resolution is a native 2560x1600 - the same as the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The keyboard is the 3rd-generation butterfly mechanism found on the 2018 MacBook Pros and features Touch ID in place of the power button. The trackpad is now larger and features Force Touch. Under the hood, there’s now a T2 chip, just like iMac Pro, the 2018 MacBook Pro, and the 2018 Mac mini. The T2 is used as an SSD controller, allows support for always-on ‘Hey Siri’, features a Secure Enclave for storing secure Touch ID data, and has new secure boot options. The CPU is a low-power 7W class chip, similar to the 5W version used in the 12-inch MacBook, with i5 and i7 options. There’s up to 16GB RAM - up from 8GB on the 2017 model - and up to 1.5TB SSD options.

MagSafe and the SD card slot are gone, replaced with 2 USB-C ports, which are also Thunderbolt 3 capable. This is pretty impressive seeing as the 12-inch MacBook only has a single, USB-C port with no Thunderbolt support whatsoever. This means the new MacBook Air is capable of driving external displays up to 5K resolution. The headphone jack remains on the right-hand side of the chassis. The enclosure itself is almost unchanged from the 12-inch MacBook, and it takes up 17% less volume than the old MacBook Air. It’s just 15.6mm thick and weighs in at just 2.75 lbs. For the first time, MacBook Air comes in multiple colour options. No surprises here - it comes in Space Grey, Silver and Gold - the Gold being the yellow/rose gold hybrid first introduced on iPhone 8 in 2017. The brilliant news here, however, is that the enclosure is now made from 100% recycled aluminium - just like the 2018 Mac mini.

Battery life remains stellar, as we’ve come to expect from a MacBook Air; with up to 13 hours of iTunes movie playback. The speakers have also been vastly improved with stereo sound and improved bass. They’re also 25% louder. Ultimately, this new MacBook Air is everything it needed to be, although it’s a little expensive. It starts at $1199/£1199 which is considerably more than the old model, which is still on sale for £949, but honestly, Apple should be ashamed of themselves for still selling that thing in 2016, let alone going into 2019. $1199 gets you a 1.6GHz dual-core i5 with turbo boost up to 3.6GHz, 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage.

Whilst this Mac is great, the bigger problem here is that Apple decided to keep lots of older models in the product line, rather than take the opportunity to fix the confusing mess that is the Mac notebook lineup. I wrote about this a couple of months ago, and this Mac addresses a lot of those issues, but it needed to be launched in conjunction with a cleansing of the lineup, which today, unfortunately, did not bring. However, this should not take away from the fact that Apple has finally done the MacBook Air justice and given it the update it truly deserves.

MacBook Air goes on sale November 7th.

:))

On the 2018 Mac mini

“It’s Space Grey… our pro customers are gonna love that!”

After facing four long years of neglect and impending discontinuation, the Mac mini today received a substantial update. Whilst “remaining an important part of [Apple’s] lineup”, the Mac mini seemed to be dead, with the last update coming in October 2014, which was seen by many as a major downgrade over the 2012 model due to the lack of after-market upgradability. This new 2018 version features the same basic case design, but now it has a Space Grey finish - of course it does. The brilliant news here, however, is that the enclosure is now made from 100% recycled aluminium.

The base configuration features an eight-generation, quad-core Intel i3 - configurable up to a six-core Intel i7 - making this Mac mini 5x faster than the outgoing model. There’s also now a T2 chip for managing security, borrowed from iMac Pro and MacBook Pro. The base model comes with 8GB of RAM, but this is configurable up to 64GB, albeit costing over $1000 extra. All models come with an SSD, starting at 128GB but build to order options offer up to 2TB of storage. Interestingly the RAM has been confirmed to be upgradable but Apple “strongly recommends” taking it to an Authorised Service Provider to do so.

On the back of the case, the IO situation is nothing short of glorious. There’s still an HDMI port back there, so finding a third party display you like should be no problem at all - no visit to dongle town needed. There’s 2x USB-A ports for ‘legacy’ connections. Of course, there’s 4x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports and there’s even the option for a 10Gb Ethernet port taken straight from iMac Pro. This is more ports than any of us could’ve expected from 2018 Apple. Oh, and I almost forgot - there’s a headphone jack too.

The new Mac mini starts at $799/£799 but once it’s been maxed out it will set you back well over $4000/£4000. This device can be for the consumers that Mac mini was originally designed for - buy a cheap Mac, you bring the rest. But the price and Apple’s presentation shows this little box off as far more than a consumer entry-level Mac, and appropriately so - over the past few years it’s very much become a machine used and loved by professionals. You can stack them, you can use thousands of them in server farms, you can run a home video server on a single unit, or offload tasks to it from your MacBook Pro so you can get on with the next task at hand. You can spec these things exactly how you want, depending on your use case, and the possibilities are almost endless. It’s tantalising to see Apple revive such a brilliant product after it was presumed dead, and it’s yet more evidence to suggest the Mac is on a good path.

Mac mini goes on sale November 7th.

:))

Apple Announces iPhone XS and XS Max, iPhone XR and Apple Watch Series 4.

On Wednesday Apple held its annual iPhone keynote at the Steve Jobs theatre in Cupertino. Rumours and leaks meant that there were no major surprises, but the products announced were welcome additions to the lineup. This post will highlight the key features of the four new devices unveiled at the event

iPhone XS and XS Max: S is for best.

iPhone XS is the new flagship iPhone. The device comes in 2 sizes; 5.8-inch (like the previous iPhone X), and the massive 6.5-inch, iPhone XS Max. Although iPhone XS Max has the largest display ever on an iPhone, the overall size of the device is similar to the iPhone 8 Plus. Both models will come in Space Grey, Silver, and Gold colour options, with Gold being the new colour this year. iPhone XS keeps the same design as the iPhone X, with an OLED Super Retina HD display, Face ID, a stainless steel band running around the edge of the enclosure, and a glass back for wireless Qi charging. Both models are rated to IP68 water resistance for up to 2 metres for 30 minutes of submergence, this is an improvement over the IP67 rating of previous iPhones.

The real highlight of iPhone XS is the new A12 Bionic chip, which is the industry's first 7-nanometer chip. Firstly, A12 Bionic includes an improved ‘next-generation' Neural Engine. Not only does this open up new AR possibilities, it brings with it improvements to portrait mode and also powers a new and improved Face ID system, which combined with smoother algorithms results in a significantly faster Face ID on iPhone XS. A12 Bionic features a six-core fusion architecture with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, as well as a four-core GPU. The neural engine itself has an additional eight cores, resulting in an 18-core chip - yes, this is a phone. As a result, iPhone XS is 50 percent faster and more efficient than iPhone X.

Battery life has improved on the new devices. iPhone XS lasts 30 minutes longer than the iPhone X, while the XS Max offers battery life that lasts an hour and a half longer than iPhone X.

The iSight Duo camera on the iPhone XS sits at 12-megapixels but has been updated with a new sensor which is twice as fast as iPhone X. New camera features on this device include advanced depth segmentation, Smart HDR (allowing for better highlight and shadow detail across photos), and further improvements to portrait mode. There is also a new depth control feature, allowing users to adjust the depth of field blur both in real-time preview and post-capture. When recording video on iPhone XS, larger pixels and that faster sensor allow for improved low-light performance and video stabilisation. The sound in videos is now for the first time recorded in stereo thanks to an array of four microphones.

The iPhone XS uses LTE Advanced for faster download speeds and introduces Dual SIM support through the combined use of a nano-SIM and digital eSIM. This feature will be enabled in an update later this Fall. If you're in China, iPhone XS will come with a physical dual-SIM tray, where the SIMs sit back to back in the SIM tray.

iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will be available in 64GB and 256GB capacities, along with a new 512GB option. iPhone XS will start at £999, whilst iPhone XS Max starts at £1099. Pre-orders started today Friday, September 14, ahead of launch day on Friday, September 21.

iPhone XR: R is for not-so-regular.

iPhone XR is this year's ‘budget' iPhone, taking over from iPhone 8 as the phone ‘for the masses'. iPhone XR features an edge-to-edge, 6.1-inch "Liquid Retina" LCD display with wide colour and True Tone support. This is considerably bigger than the 5.5-inch display on iPhone 8 Plus, but the overall size of the device is smaller. The edge of the enclosure is anodised aluminium like the iPhone 8, rather than the stainless steel found on iPhone XS. A glass back allows for wireless Qi charging.

iPhone XR is available in 6 bright colours, similar to those of iPhone 5c back in 2013; White, Black, Blue, Coral, Yellow, and (PRODUCT)Red. A seven-layer colour process is used to colour the glass back, resulting in vibrant colours akin to the (PRODUCT)Red iPhone 8. The aluminium band and camera trim are then colour matched with the back glass. The XR is splash and water resistant with a rating of IP67, just like iPhone 7, 8 and X, which should protect against everyday spills and can even withstand submersion up to 1 metre for up to 30 mins.

iPhone XR has no home button, instead using Face ID for authentication and the same swipe-based gestured introduces on iPhone X. The Liquid Retina display does away with 3D Touch but instead includes a new feature Apple calls Haptic Touch. Haptic Touch is essentially a long press on the display (like on a non-3D Touch device such as an iPad) to invoke an action, but now the device responds with haptic feedback just like 3D Touch. This addition in iPhone XR really does give credit to the rumours suggesting the entire 2019 iPhone lineup will lack 3D Touch.

iPhone XR is powered by the same A12 Bionic chip as iPhone XS. Albeit with less (rumoured) RAM. Of course, the A12 features that next-generation Neural Engine, which in addition to everything mentioned previously, allows for a more advanced camera system capable of portrait photos despite only having a single camera lens. The camera has a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture wide-angle lens with an all-new sensor, delivering faster auto-focus, while larger and deeper pixels improve image fidelity and low-light performance on both photos and videos. Both the new depth control feature and smart HDR from iPhone XS are also found on iPhone XR.

The iPhone XR also uses LTE Advanced for faster download speeds and features the same Dual SIM setup found in iPhone XS.

iPhone XR starts at £749 and will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models in the colours listed above. iPhone XR will be available to pre-order Friday, October 19, with availability in stores beginning Friday, October 26.

Apple Watch Series 4: The redesign.

Apple Watch Series 4 was probably the highlight of this event, featuring the first Apple Watch redesign since its introduction in September 2014. Series 4 will be available in two sizes; 40mm and 44mm – an increase over the traditional 38mm and 42mm options of Series 3. The new screens are 30 percent larger than before and, combined with a UI refresh for watchOS 5, allow watch faces to display up to eight complications, while native apps can show more information. Series 4 has a thinner body, but Apple claim battery life is the same as Series 3. Around 18 hours can be expected from light use, however, if you're out and about, say on a run, using cellular and the GPS, expect around 6 hours. The Digital Crown has been re-engineered to include haptic feedback as you are scrolling, resulting in a more responsive experience. The built-in speaker has been made 50 percent louder, and as a result, the microphone has had to move the other side of the device, to reduce echo for better sound quality. Making and receiving calls on Series 3 was already a good experience, so this should be even better.

It's not just the front of the Series 4 that has been redesigned; the back has been rethought. Firstly, the back of the enclosure 4 is made entirely of ceramic and sapphire crystal. This means radio waves are able to pass more freely through both the front and the rear, meaning you should get better reception when using cellular on Series 4. The sensors on the back of the watch have some new additions, with added heart detection features that can detect low heart rhythm with background detection for atrial fibrillation, and low heart rate monitoring to detect very low blood flow from the heart. Series 4 is also able to perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) with no additional equipment required - a first from a consumer device. ECG's will be available using the built-in app launching this Fall, however, it will be initially limited to the U.S. as Apple requires approval from health authorities to ship the feature in other regions.

Under the hood, Apple Watch has gone 64-bit, with a new dual-core Apple S4 chip, providing up to twice as fast performance over the Series 3 (which was already pretty fast). Another part of the S4 is a faster accelerometer and an improved gyroscope, allowing for better sensitivity. It's these new features of S4 that allow another new feature of Series 4: detecting a fall. The watch analyses the trajectory of your wrist trajectory and impact acceleration to determine if a fall has occurred. Series 4 then sends the user an alert after a fall, which can be dismissed or used to initiate a call to the emergency services. However, if the watch detects you have been immobile for 60 seconds after the fall, it will automatically call the emergency services and send a message along with your location to pre-set emergency contacts.

Both the 40mm and 44mm models come in GPS and GPS + Cellular versions, in Silver, Space Grey, and Gold aluminium case options, along with stainless steel options in Silver, Space Black, and for the first time Gold. The gold stainless steel watch resembles the gold around the edges of iPhone XS. Apple has also introduced a gold Milanese Loop to compliment the new watch. There is also a new Nike+ collection for Series 4, which include redesigned Nike watch faces to take advantage of the bigger displays. The Nike+ collection comes with new band colours, including a Summit White Sport Loop with reflective yarn for increased visibility at night. There is also a new Hermès collection with a variety of new bands, along with cool new watch faces that change colour as the minute hand rotates around the face.

Sadly, there is no Apple Watch Edition line for Series 4, which is a shame if you were a fan of the shiny ceramic models.

Apple Watch Series 4 starts at £399 for the GPS-only model and £499 for GPS + Cellular. Series 3 is still on sale, starting at £279 after receiving a price drop to replace Series 1. Pre-orders for Series 4 began today, with availability beginning Friday, September 21.

The rest.

Alongside these new devices, Apple introduced a Fall 2018 collection of cases and accessories such as watch bands. It is also worth noting that, as expected, iPhone 6s, SE and X were all discontinued today - meaning that Apple no longer sells an iPhone with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Jet Black iPhone 7 and the (PRODUCT)Red iPhone 8 were also discontinued, but other colours are still available. Personally, I've always felt these were two of the nicest finishes Apple ever released for iPhone, and whilst the red is available on iPhone XR, I am very sad to see Jet Black go.

iPad Pro, AirPower, and Macs were all absent from this event, so expect another keynote in 4-6 weeks to round off the Fall 2018 product announcements.

:))