- Apple Watch Series 6 will be available from September 18, 2020; prices start at £399; the watch allows monitoring of blood oxygen saturation; Apple is working with researchers on detecting the first symptoms of coronavirus using the smartwatch.
- iPad Air will be available from October 2020; we will have to pay at least £579 for it; Touch ID has been placed in the Power button, which will allow unlocking the device with a fingerprint; instead of the Lightning port, we will find a USB-C port; the A14 Bionic processor was described as the most powerful chip ever produced.
- Apple Fitness+ is a subscription-based service that allows us to improve our physical fitness through various video workouts; Apple guarantees full integration with Apple Watches; the platform will be available from autumn 2020 at $9.99 per month; UK consumers will have to do without it for now.
- Apple One allows you to purchase a bundle of Apple services at preferential prices. The package includes: Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple TV and iCloud storage; Apple One will be available from autumn 2020; in the UK the individual plan will cost £14.95, and the family plan £19.95.
1. Apple Watch Series 6
Apple Watch Series 6 — what's new
The latest Apple smartwatch, as expected, reinforces the health-oriented focus of this gadget.
The new feature in this year's model is the ability to monitor blood oxygen saturation. The company from Cupertino assures that it takes only 15 seconds to take a measurement, and the device will regularly check this while we sleep.
The watch's hardware has been improved thanks to a new dual-core processor S6 based on the A13 Bionic chip known from the iPhone 11. Thanks to it, the smartwatch will be more efficient, and its charging will be 20% faster.
The display of Series 6 is to be 2.5 times brighter than previous series, which, combined with the built-in altimeter, is meant to make it easier to use outdoors.
Apple's watch will be available in a variety of colours, including the new red Apple Watch Product Red model. We will also be able to choose from a range of new watch faces. The theme of one of them will be Memoji.
Solo Loop is another new solution. It is a one-piece, silicone, clasp-free band available in various sizes and colours. There is also an alternative version in which the silicone has been replaced with a braided material.
PRICE: from £399
AVAILABILITY: from September 18, 2020
2. Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch SE — a cheaper alternative
Alongside the sixth series of the Apple Watch, a more wallet-friendly SE version was also announced. It will have many features of its more expensive counterpart, including: a compass, altimeter, heart rate measurement and fall detection. Inside the device we will find the processor S5 known from model 5, but the display will be exactly the same size as the one in Series 6.
The smartwatch will not feature blood oxygen saturation measurement, ECG or always-on-display.
PRICE: from £269
AVAILABILITY: from September 18, 2020
3. Family Setup
The new Apple Family Setup service allows you to control multiple Apple Watches from a single iPhone. Watches from series 4 onwards will be supported. They will need to be connected to a mobile plan. Family Setup allows you to manage the contacts with whom smartwatch owners can communicate and monitor the location of the devices.
4. iPad 8th generation
The main change of the new iPad compared to the previous version is the processor A12 Bionic Chip, which allows working with high-resolution materials and comfortable gaming. It allows processing up to 5 trillion operations per second, which is meant to be a big advantage for neural networks and machine learning. Thanks to this, we will be able to instantly change the colour palette of a given photo or receive a real-time analysis of a tennis match!
The tablet is fully compatible with Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. Editing documents with the help of the former is to be greatly improved – the system will understand and translate our handwriting into computer text.
PRICE: £329
AVAILABILITY: from September 18, 2020
5. iPad Air
At the "Time Flies" conference, a new iPad Air was also presented, whose design is modelled on the iPad Pro. The product is equipped with a high-end display with a diagonal of 10.9 inches and a resolution of 2360 x 1640 supporting Apple True Tone technology.
The device's performance has been enhanced thanks to the new A14 Bionic Chip, thanks to which the processor is to run 40% faster.
To unlock the device we will be able to use fingerprints, whose reader has been placed in the Power button.
For photography enthusiasts, a camera with a resolution of 12 megapixels, f/1.8 aperture and image stabilisation has been prepared. Music lovers, in turn, will be pleased with the improved speakers allowing for stereo sound in the horizontal position of the iPad.
In place of the Lightning port we will find a USB Type-C input.
PRICE: from £579
AVAILABILITY: from October 2020
6. Fitness+
Fitness+, Apple One and the rest
Apple's new subscription platform will enable users to develop proper exercise habits, improve their physical fitness and track statistics. A range of workouts will be at our disposal, including: yoga, dance, fitness and cycling. The app will be compatible with iPhones, iPads and Apple TV, but the main medium through which we will be able to fully use Fitness+ will be the Apple Watch. Unfortunately, the service will not yet be available in the UK.
PRICE: $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year
AVAILABILITY: autumn 2020
7. Apple One
Apple One is a bundle of Apple services we know, which are to be available under a single subscription – of course at an optimal price. The offer includes 3 packages:
- individual, which gives us access to Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV and 50GB of iCloud storage;
- family, thanks to which families of up to 6 people will be able to use the same services offered by the individual package, and iCloud storage will be increased to 200GB;
- the premium package, not available in the UK for now, which additionally gives us Apple News, Fitness+ and 2TB of data in iCloud.
PRICE: £14.95 per month for the individual package or £19.95 for the family package; the premium package costs around $29.95 per month
AVAILABILITY: autumn 2020
8. Environmental improvements
Apple assures that by 2030 it will be a fully carbon-neutral company. To this end, it plans to implement the following steps:
- eliminating the use of BFR, PVC, beryllium and mercury in the production of devices;
- using 100% renewable energy sources in the production process;
- using recycled tungsten;
- designing aluminium enclosures from recovered materials;
- discontinuing the inclusion of a charger in the box.
9. New operating systems
At the "Time Flies" conference, the premieres of new operating systems were also announced: iOS 14, iPadOS 14, iWatchOS 7 and tvOS 14. All new devices will come with the new system pre-installed. Noticeable changes include the new look of the home screen. iOS 14 will be available for iPhones from model 6s upwards.
AVAILABILITY: September 16, 2020
You can watch the entire conference at this address.
Summary
On September 15, 2020, Apple presented a wide range of new products, branded with the slogan "Time Flies." Among the announcements were the Apple Watch Series 6 and SE, the iPad 8 and iPad Air tablets, as well as the subscription services Apple Fitness+ and Apple One. Prices of the devices in the UK start at £269, and their availability is scheduled from September 18, 2020.
It is worth noting that the new iPad Air, as one of Apple's first products, is to use the A14 Bionic processor, which the manufacturer described as the most powerful chip in its history. This year's event also brought declarations of the company's full carbon neutrality by 2030, which includes, among other things, abandoning the inclusion of chargers in retail boxes.
