Some questions I have after watching today’s event. Some of these will get answered soon; others may take longer:
Are the new chips based on the M4? It seems like they’re on the newer 3nm process.
I’m confused by the Ultra 2 not getting an upgrade. What are the actual differences between the S9 and S10 SIP? And what is the Ultra’s upgrade cycle if not annual? Is it biannual? Is it a spring update? It seems like the most interesting software features (like sleep apnea detection) are still compatible with the S9 SIP.
Is the camera button replacing the volume up button entirely for taking a photo? Or is the volume button still available? What about the camera shortcut with the action button?
Can the camera button be customized?
Is the natural titanium finish on the new phone and the Ultra 2 different from before? The product photography looks slightly different, but there are too many variables to tell without seeing IRL comparisons.
Now that the normal AirPods do noise cancellation, is there a reason to get the AirPods Pro for most people? How good is that noise cancellation? I find the Pros fall out my ear as easily as the normal AirPods, regardless of tip size, so I might go back to normal AirPods for my usage if the noise cancellation is any good.
They talked a little bit about doing fancy stuff with the displays for off-axis viewing and smaller bezels. It was all way over my head and I look forward to an explanation for humans.
Still curious when they’ll make the Mac Pro good again. Didn’t happen today, and I didn’t expect it to, but as John Siracusa says, any day could be Mac Pro day, so I’m putting the question here for my own amusement.
Speaking of sleep apnea (see above), is that coming in the point 0 version of the new watchOS, or is it coming later?
Disappointed that the AirPods Max didn’t receive the H2 chip. Is it worth paying that price for just USB-C and a new color? Tempted to save the money and just buy Beats Studio Pro, or…I waited this long…continue to wait.
Regarding noise cancellation (tangent) - read an interesting article, that we are pushing so hard for noise cancellation, when we aren’t really meant to cancel noise like that from our ears. To your point about the Pros, I have the Pros and regardless of tip size, while watching a movie or using for extended periods, I need to push them in again they push themselves out after a while.
I am assuming you are talking about the watch? I am sure there’s a better explanation, but the way I understood it was similar to TV technology. TVs could only be watched straight and then at some point with changing technology, they made it so you could watch things at angle a bit, or something like that. I assume that’s similar to the watch.
@tomalmy I’m not trying to undermine your disappointment, which is valid, but it’s worth pointing out that the blood oxygen sensor remains usable in every country outside the US.
@FrMichaelFanous I’ve often wondered that about noise cancellation. Would love to learn more about that if you are able to find your source again. As far as the wide angle stuff, that’s solved, but I meant with the iPhone feature (I should have been more specific).
Here’s what Apple says about said feature on their website (emphasis theirs):
New technology allows us to route display data under active pixels with no distortion, resulting in thinner borders for larger 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR displays that feel great in the hand.
I don’t know what any of that means, and why it should have any bearing on the size of a bezel.
That’s the most likely thing I can think of. That way it can be re-enabled if the lawsuit ever gets settled, and Apple doesn’t have to manage twice as many SKUs (US vs. rest of world).
I’m mostly interested in the hearing protection they announced for the AirPod Pro 2. Not sure how that will work.
It would be nice to protect my hearing while mowing the lawn without having to wear the bulky ear muffs I use when chainsawing trees. The current AirPod Pros do a great job of cancelling out the sound, but apparently they do next to nothing for hearing protection.
This is correct. In Canada, the blood oxygen app is still listed in tech specs.
@vsp how is it possible that the volume can be reduced in your ears without your hearing being protected? That seems contradictory to me. Can you share a source on that? I’d be interested in learning more if that is the case.
As someone with sleep apnea running in the family I will probably upgrade to a new watch. My Series 4 battery is about done anyway. My only question is whether all my bands will be compatible.
Hard to say. My guess is that since the S10 has a bigger screen than the current Ultra, the announcement of a mere spec bump on the Ultra at the S10 launch would have highlighted that. The bigger screen has been a key (though not the only) reason to spend more for an Ultra, and now that’s no longer in the Ultra’s favor.
Apple is probably thinking they need to redesign the Ultra to keep up (even if that only means modifying the current Ultra design just enough to accommodate a screen that’s at least as large as the one on the S10), and they couldn’t get that finished in time. In the meantime, the current Ultra is still for sale to those who can’t wait for an Apple watch they can scuba dive with.
I’ll search for that when I get done with work today. It wasn’t too long ago I came across that.
My guess is that you can think of sound as a physical medium moving through air and at least some noise cancellation is really software reading the waves coming in and artificially applying an opposite pattern through the software.
How, or how not, that impacts ear damage I’m not sure.
sleep apnea is backwards compatible to S9 (and I think S8?) - unfortunately, I have sleep apnea so don’t really need the functionality!
hearing aids are a software upgrade only, no need to purchase a new model.
These are the benefits of being part of the Apple ecosystem. Yes they gouge you in other areas, but kudos to Apple for bringing these significant health benefits to older devices.
I think the software benefits were only for the AirPod Pro 2? I still have the first gen. So still a hardware upgrade for me.
I’m curious about the sleep apnea though, in conjunction with other health tracking. I’ve never wanted a watch before, and have heard the health monitoring isn’t all that great with any wearable. But definitely something that could sway me to a cheap or used S9.
This is interesting, and I’m not saying you’re wrong, but it takes only a cursory walk through a downtown metro area to find out there’s no way the cancelling is good enough to protect you from deafening noises like jack hammers.
My question is: let’s say the noise cancelling did get so good that you couldn’t hear more than a quiet rumble from a jackhammer. Does that mean your hearing is safe? Or does your inner ear still somehow absorb the impact from the noise you aren’t physically hearing?
It’s an important distinction. From the rest of the quote in that post, it sounds like noise cancellation, when it’s truly excellent, can protect your hearing.
