It was another active week in the Club MacStories+ Discord this week, and we’ve collected some highlights that you may want to check out if you missed them. Discord can display dates and times based on your local time zone if they’re encoded for Unix. This week there was a fantastic discussion of how Unix...
App Debuts
Mirror Magnet IXEAU is back with another handy Mac utility for making screen recordings. Mirror Magnet uses your Mac’s built-in camera or an external camera to display video of you onscreen. If you’re presenting to a group online and sharing your screen or recording your Mac’s screen for a screencast, it’s a simple way...
MacStories Unwind: Apple Event Roundup, Epic Versus Apple, and Shazam
Sponsored by: Shake – Bug, Feedback, and Crash Reporting Tool for Your Mobile App
This week on MacStories Unwind:
MacStories
- Apple’s September 14, 2021 Keynote: By the Numbers
- Apple Updates the iPad mini and 10.2” iPad
- Apple Watch Series 7: The MacStories Overview
- The New iPhone 13 Lineup: The MacStories Overview
- Replay Apple’s September 14, 2021 Keynote and Other Videos
- Apple Announces New iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch Availability
- Shazam Crosses 1 Billion Songs Recognized from Control Center
- What Does It All Mean?: A Look at Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ Decision in the Epic Versus Apple Trial
Club MacStories
- MacStories Weekly
- A collection of John’s favorite Apple event moments
- Accessorizing the new iPad mini
- AppStories will be recorded live in the Club MacStories+ Discord community next Monday, September 20th at 5:30 PM Eastern
AppStories
Unwind
- John’s Pick:
- John’s Apple Music Playlist: 2021 Mix
AppStories, Episode 240 – A Look at the HomeKit and tvOS Updates Coming Soon→
This week on AppStories, we look at Apple’s evolving approach to the way HomeKit devices and entertainment features are incorporated into the company’s OSes.
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On AppStories+, Federico covers WidgetPod and Marvis Pro and John gives Federico Apple Maps homework and explains something fun he received in the mail.
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Apple’s September 14, 2021 Keynote: By the Numbers
As usual, Apple sprinkled facts, figures, and statistics throughout the keynote today. Here are highlights of some of those metrics from the event, which was held online from Apple Park in Cupertino, California.
iPhone 13 Lineup
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini
- 28% brighter display
- 800 nits outdoors
- 1200 nits peak brightness for HDR content
- The A15 Bionic has 15 billion transistors and 6 cores, 2 high-performance and 4 efficiency cores, making it 50% faster (than the competition)
- 4-core GPU that’s 30% faster
- 16-core Neural Engine that handles 15.8 trillion operations per second
- The Wide camera has a 12MP sensor, 1.7 µm pixels that gather 47% more light, a ƒ/1.6 aperture, a 7-element lens, and a 26mm focal length.
- The Ultra Wide lens has a 12MP, a ƒ/2.4 aperture, 13 mm focal length, 5-element lens, and 120-degree field of view
- The iPhone 13 mini gets 1.5 and the iPhone 13 gets 2.5 more hours of battery life than the iPhone 12 models they replace.
- Storage is available in 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
- 50% faster graphics
- 1000 nits peak outdoor brightness and 1200 nits peak brightness for HDR content
- 10 - 120 Hz screen refresh rate
- Telephoto camera has a 77mm focal length and 3x optical zoom
- Ultra Wide camera has ƒ/1.8 aperture, 6-element lens, and 92% better performance in low light
- Wide camera has ƒ/1.5 aperture, 1.9 µm pixels, and up to 2.2x improvement in low light
- The iPhone 13 Pro gets 1.5 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max gets 2.5 more hours of battery life than the iPhone 12 models they replace
- Storage is available in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB
- .25 mm thicker than the iPhone 12 Pro models and slightly heavier
iPads
iPad mini
- 40% faster CPU
- 80% faster GPU
- 8.3” display
- 500 nits of screen brightness
- 2x faster machine learning
- 10x faster data transfers with USB-C
- 5G delivers up to 3.5 Gbps download speeds under ideal conditions
- 12MP camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture
- 20W power adapter
- .31” shorter than the mini it replaces and very slightly lighter
10.2” iPad
- 20% faster
- 3x faster than the top-selling Chromebook
- 6x faster than the leading Android tablet
- 12MP camera with 122-degree field of view
Apple Watch
- 40% thinner borders
- Up to 70% brighter in low power mode
- WR50 water resistance
- 33% faster charging than Series 6
You can follow all of our September Apple event coverage through our September 2021 event hub, or subscribe to the dedicated RSS feed.
Apple Updates the iPad mini and 10.2” iPad
At today’s Apple event, the company unveiled updates to the iPad mini and the 10.2” iPad. The 10.2” version continues to serve as Apple’s entry-level iPad at the lowest price point of any iPad, while the mini takes a more pro-like turn compared to its predecessor.
iPad mini
The new iPad mini was my favorite announcement of today’s Apple event. In the 18 months since I wrote The Mighty mini: Adapting Apple’s Diminutive Tablet to Work and Play, I’ve heard from many MacStories readers who have the same affection for Apple’s most portable tablet that I do. However, the trouble was that that iPad, which was released about 2.5 years ago, came with a lot of compromises compared with any other iPad you could buy until today.
The New iPhone 13 Lineup: The MacStories Overview
Today, Apple debuted its iPhone 13 lineup consisting of four new models:
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
Similar to the iPhone 12 family of devices, the iPhone 13 and 13 mini are the more affordable options, while the two Pro models add premium features at a premium price. All four devices share the A15 Bionic processor, 5G networking, camera updates, MagSafe, and more.
Also, all four devices will be available for pre-order this Friday, September 17th, with availability beginning one week later on Friday, September 24th.
Here’s a complete overview of everything new coming to the iPhone 13 lineup.
Replay Apple’s September 14, 2021 Keynote and Other Videos
If you didn’t follow the live stream or announcements as they unfolded today, you can replay it on Apple’s Events site and catch the product videos on Apple’s YouTube channel.
The keynote video can be streamed here and on the Apple TV using the TV app. A high-quality version is also available through Apple Podcasts as a video and audio podcast. There is also an American Sign Language version of the event, which is available here.
More videos after the break.
Apple Announces New iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch Availability
Apple announced the following pre-order and availability dates for the products announced today:
iPhones
- iPhone 13 mini
- Pre-order: September 17
- Availability: September 24
- iPhone 13
- Pre-order: September 17
- Availability: September 24
- iPhone 13 Pro
- Pre-order: September 17
- Availability: September 24
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- Pre-order: September 17
- Availability: September 24
iPads
- 10.2” iPad
- Pre-order: Today
- Availability: September 24
- iPad mini
- Pre-order: Today
- Availability: September 24
Apple Watch 7
- Pre-order: Later this fall
- Availability: Later this fall
iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8
- Availability: September 20
You can follow all of our September Apple event coverage through our September 2021 event hub, or subscribe to the dedicated RSS feed.