Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” Event: iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4

Apple held its “It’s Glowtime” event this week, introducing the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16, both built around Apple Intelligence from the ground up. Alongside the new phones, Apple also launched a redesigned Apple Watch Series 10, a new black Apple Watch Ultra 2, AirPods 4 (now with an active noise cancellation option), and new colours for AirPods Max.

Apple Watch Series 10: bigger, faster, and a new health feature

After a decade of steady refinement, Apple Watch Series 10 strikes a new balance between a larger display and the Watch’s familiar compact form. Apple has grown the display by 30%, while making the case 10% slimmer overall, a 9.7mm reduction in thickness. The metal back keeps its water resistance while now incorporating an integrated antenna.

The new wide-angle OLED display is 40% brighter and can now update every second, even in always-on mode, which means certain watch faces will show a ticking second hand even when the display is dimmed.

Series 10 can detect and notify you of signs of sleep apnoea overnight. Apple said the feature would also come to Series 9 and Ultra 2 with watchOS 11 later in September 2024. Charging has improved significantly as well, reaching 80% in just 30 minutes, powered by the new S10 chip. Apple Intelligence and Siri AI are now available on Apple Watch Series 9 or later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later when paired with a supported iPhone.

The aluminium case comes in polished jet black, rose gold and silver, while the titanium case is available in natural polished, gold and slate grey, alongside a Hermès model in silver titanium. Apple Watch Series 10 starts at A$649¹, with pre-orders open now and shipping from 20 September.

Apple Watch Ultra 2: a new colour, not a new model

Rather than releasing an Apple Watch Ultra 3, as some expected, Apple has instead given the Ultra 2 a new black finish.

iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus

The new iPhone 16 introduces Camera Control, a new button sitting flush below the power button that lets you control camera functions with a press or a swipe, complete with haptic feedback. A single click launches the Camera app, holding it starts recording video, and a new on-screen overlay gives you quick access to zoom and other camera settings.

Alongside Camera Control, the iPhone 16 carries over the Action Button first introduced on last year’s iPhone 15 Pro, a meaningful battery life improvement, brighter and more durable displays, Wi-Fi 7 support, and the new A18 chip, with a 16-core Neural Engine that’s up to twice as fast for Apple Intelligence tasks. The new colour-infused back glass comes in Ultramarine, Teal, Pink, White and Black.

Apple says the A18 chip delivers up to 30% faster CPU performance than the previous A16 Bionic chip, and now supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic game graphics.

Significantly, Apple Intelligence is now available on the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, not just the Pro models as it was last generation, meaning generative AI features now reach the entire iPhone 16 line-up. Camera Control also unlocks Visual Intelligence, letting you point your camera at an object, like a restaurant, a bike, or a document, and pull up detailed contextual information about it.

The rear camera system is vertically aligned, with a 48-megapixel Main camera that doubles as a 12-megapixel Telephoto, alongside a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide, together capable of capturing spatial photos and video for playback on Apple Vision Pro.

iPhone 16 starts at A$1,399¹, and iPhone 16 Plus starts at A$1,599¹, both with 128GB of storage. Pre-orders open Friday 13 September, launching Friday 20 September.

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max

Apple’s new flagship phones bring larger displays, the same new Camera Control button, and the more powerful A18 Pro chip. The iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max steps up to 6.9 inches, the largest display ever on an iPhone. Both have the thinnest bezels Apple has ever shipped, and a titanium frame with a new blasted finish, now available in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium and a new Desert Titanium.

Apple says the A18 Pro uses second-generation 3-nanometre technology. Its 16-core Neural Engine has 17% more memory bandwidth, helping Apple Intelligence tasks run up to 15% faster. The six-core processor is 15% faster and 20% more efficient. The six-core graphics processor is up to 20% faster and supports ray tracing for more realistic game lighting. USB-C transfers are faster, and video encoding throughput has doubled.

On camera, the new “Fusion” 48-megapixel main camera uses a second- generation quad-pixel sensor, eliminating shutter lag for 48-megapixel ProRAW and HEIF photos. The ultra-wide camera also moves to 48 megapixels with autofocus for the first time, and the 5x tetraprism telephoto camera, previously exclusive to the Pro Max, is now on both Pro models. Photographic Styles have been meaningfully enhanced too, now supporting real-time colour and shadow adjustments, including new black-and-white and natural options, applicable live or after the shot is taken.

Video gets a genuine upgrade as well: the Fusion camera supports 4K120fps in full HDR, with playback at 120, 60, 30 or 24fps, smarter wind-noise handling, and spatial audio capture, particularly immersive when paired with AirPods or Apple Vision Pro. A new Audio Mix feature uses machine learning to separate speech from background sound, with an “In-Frame Mix” option to isolate the on-camera speaker, and a “Cinematic Mix” that treats audio more like a film soundtrack.

Camera Control itself is a dedicated sapphire crystal button: a single click launches the camera, a double click takes a photo, and holding it records video, with a light press revealing a clean framing preview and quick access to zoom and lens switching. Camera Control can now lock focus and exposure with a light press and hold.

Battery life on the iPhone 16 Pro Max reaches up to 33 hours. Apple also says the phone can maintain its performance for longer without getting as hot.

iPhone 16 Pro starts at A$1,799¹ for 128GB, and iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at A$2,149¹ for 256GB. Pre-orders open Friday, launching 20 September.

AirPods 4: better sound, Siri gestures, and (finally) noise cancellation

AirPods 4 bring a real sound quality improvement through dynamic head tracking, along with the new H2 chip, Voice Isolation, and Siri Interactions, letting you simply nod or shake your head to respond to a Siri announcement.

A new force sensor on the stem lets you play, pause, or mute calls with a squeeze, and the charging case is the smallest Apple has ever made for AirPods, with USB-C charging and up to 30 hours of battery life. You can also charge the case on an Apple Watch charger or any Qi-certified charger.

A second AirPods 4 model adds Active Noise Cancellation for the first time on an AirPods model without ear tips, using improved microphones and sound processing, alongside Transparency mode, Adaptive Audio, and Conversation Awareness. Apple’s also reworked the fit to suit a wider range of ear shapes. Both AirPods 4 models are available for pre-order now, shipping from 20 September.

AirPods Max: USB-C at last, and new colours

AirPods Max gets a smaller but welcome update: a switch to USB-C charging, and a refreshed colour line-up of Midnight, Blue, Purple, Orange and Starlight. They’ll also support Personalised Spatial Audio once iOS 18 arrives. Pre-orders are open now at A$899¹, launching 20 September. Apple didn’t announce any other significant changes to AirPods Max at this event.

1. Prices were current at launch in September 2024.