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Apple’s September 2023 Event: By the Numbers

Today’s Wonderlust event was packed with facts, figures, and statistics throughout the presentation and elsewhere. We’ve pulled together the highlights from the event that was at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.

The New iPhones

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

  • The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are 19 grams lighter than their predecessors
  • The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus can reach a peak HDR brightness of 1600 nits, which can reach 2000 nits in bright sunlight, which is 2x the iPhone 14’s brightness
  • The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus come in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities
  • The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have 3 ‘optical-quality’ zoom levels: 0.5x, 1x, and 2x
  • We hoped for Thunderbolt 4, but we got USB 3 as the new connector on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, but it’s still 20x faster than before at 10Gbps
  • iPhones now support Wi-Fi 6E
Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

  • The A17 Pro SoC that powers the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is built using a 3-nanometer process with 19 billion transistors
  • The A17’s Neural Engine can handle 35 trillion operations per second, has 16 cores, and is up to 2x faster than before
  • The A17 Pro’s GPU is capable of 4x faster ray tracing and is up to 20% faster
  • The iPhone 15 Pro features an improved 48MP sensor that takes 24MP images by default with 24 mm, 28 mm, and 35 mm focal lengths
  • The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a 5x Telephoto lens thanks to the lens’ tetraprism design
  • The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can shoot ProRes video in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second
  • The image stabilization of the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s camera is capable of 10,000 microadjustments per second
  • The iPhone 15 Pro is available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities.

The New Apple Watches

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

  • The Apple Watch Series 9 can go from 1 nit to 2000 nits of brightness
  • The S9 chip that powers the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a 2x faster Neural Engine with 4 cores and a 30% faster GPU
  • The Neural Engine allows for dictation that’s up to 25 percent more accurate
  • The Apple Watch Series 9 is 100% carbon neutral
Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

  • The Apple Watch Ultra has a 3000 nits brightness, which is 50% greater than the original Ultra
  • The Series 9 gets 18 hours of normal battery life and 36 in low-power mode
  • The Ultra 2 gets 36 hours of normal battery life and 72 hours in low-power mode

Services

  • New 6TB and 12TB iCloud+ storage options were introduced by Apple

You can follow all of our September 2023 Apple event coverage through our September 2023 Apple event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2023 Apple event RSS feed.

Apple’s iPhone 15 and 15 Pro Models: The MacStories Overview

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple introduced four new iPhone models: the iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The new iPhones pack a wide array of new features to cover, so let’s dig in.

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

As in the past, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus come in a greater array of colors than the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, with pink, yellow, green, blue, and black options this year. The design on the new iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is similar to last year’s models but with a new contoured edge and a glass back that embeds the iPhones’ color throughout the glass that’s etched for a matte finish.

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Apple Announces Availability Dates for New iPhones and Apple Watches

At this morning’s annual September Apple Event, Apple announced its latest lineup of iPhones and Apple Watches. Kicking things off with the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, both devices can be ordered starting today, with availability beginning September 22nd.

Despite rumors of a delayed launch date for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple will in fact be delivering the device at the same time as all other models. All of the new iPhones — the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max — are available for preorder starting this Friday, September 15th, at 5 AM PDT. Like the new Apple Watches, ship dates and availability for the iPhones will begin on September 22nd.

Apple is also releasing a lineup of new “FineWoven” accessories — a more environmentally friendly alternative to their previous leather accessory lineup. Most of these accessories are available for order here starting today, with the same ship date of September 22nd.

You can follow all of our September 2023 Apple event coverage through our September 2023 Apple event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2023 Apple event RSS feed.

Apple’s September 2023 Wonderlust Event: Replay Today’s Keynote and Product Videos

If you didn’t follow the livestream or announcements as they unfolded today, you can replay it on Apple’s Events site or YouTube 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 will also be available through Apple Podcasts as a video and audio podcast. An American Sign Language version of the event keynote is available on the Apple Events page too.

Product videos from today’s event are available after the break.

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MacStories Unwind: A Game Boy Webcam for iPad, Grits, and Plane

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This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico explains his UVC device journey that naturally ended with using a Game Boy Camera as an iPad webcam, and I embrace the South by cooking grits, and I recommend Plane, a 2023 action-thriller movie.

  • Kolide – It ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today!

Federico’s Game Boy Webcam for iPad

John’s Picks:

MacStories Unwind+

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Binarynights Releases Forklift 4, a Major Update Its File Management and Transfer Utility for Mac

Today, Binarynights released Forklift 4, its Mac file management and transfer app. Version 4 is a complete rewrite of the app, which adds a lot of new features, a modern design, and a new business model. I’ve only spent a little while with the update, but so far, I like what I’ve seen a lot.

The new design is excellent, with a modern sidebar and preview pane, along with columns for your files and folders that snap to optimized widths for your content but can be adjusted however you like. Of course, there are multiple view options for files and folders, and the toolbar is fully customizable, too. Plus, Forklift 4 adds eight different themes that look great.

Forklift 4 includes a long list of ways to connect to your files, such as FTP and SFTP, but the update also adds cloud services, including Dropbox, Google Team Drives, and Microsoft OneDrive. Other new features include syncing favorites between Macs using iCloud and saving views on a per-folder basis. Binarynights says file syncing and other actions are significantly faster, too.

Forklift 4's default theme.

Forklift 4’s default theme.

Today’s update also introduces a new business model. Forklift 4 offers a free trial, and when you purchase a license, you’ll get the current version plus one or two years of updates, depending on which license you buy. After that, you can continue using the app as-is indefinitely or renew your license to continue getting updates. Also, to celebrate Forklift 4’s launch, Binarynights is adding an extra 100 days of updates for a limited time.

I like this business model a lot for utilities like Forklift. Light users who don’t need the latest and greatest features can pay once and wait to upgrade until there’s a new feature they need, but heavy users can pay more regularly to stay on top of the latest enhancements to the app.

There’s a lot more that Forklift 4 can do than I’ve mentioned above, so it’s worth checking out the app’s product page and the blog post covering the updates. Although I haven’t spent a lot of time with Forklift 4 yet, it makes a great first impression with its native, modern design, extensive customization options, and deep feature set. If you’re looking for a new file management and transfer app, Forklift 4 is worth checking out.

MacStories Unwind: We Bought It for the Same Dumb Reason

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25:10

This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico is back from Spain, unbeknown to each other, Federico and I buy the same new audio gear, and I want you to join him in his Run Across America.

Kolide – It ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today!

MacStories Unwind+

We deliver MacStories Unwind+ to Club MacStories subscribers ad-free and early with high bitrate audio every week.

To learn more about the benefits of a Club MacStories subscription, visit our Plans page.

David Sparks Releases Obsidian Field Guide

No app has had a bigger impact on my day-to-day work in the past couple of years than Obsidian. What makes Obsidian tricky, though, is its flexibility and depth. It can accommodate everything from a simple Markdown note-taking system to acting as a Notion-like relational database. It’s a powerful tool, but also one that takes time to learn.

Today, David Sparks released a new MacSparky Field Guide to help newcomers get their bearings with Obsidian. The video series, which I’ve sampled, covers all the basics, taking viewers on a tour of the app’s interface, core features, built-in plugins, and some of the more popular plugins created by third parties.

The Field Guide comes in Standard and Plus editions, with the Plus Edition adding bonus content via online seminars. The Standard Edition is $49 but is currently $44 for a limited time and the Plus Edition is $99, discounted for a limited time to $89. Both limited time deals are available is you use the code OBSIDIANLAUNCH at checkout.

Apple Announces Media Event for September 12, 2023

Apple announced that it will host a fall media event on September 12th at 10:00 am Pacific US time. Like last year, this fall’s event will include an in-person component. The event will also be streamed.

It’s expected that Apple will unveil the iPhone 15 lineup and Apple Watches. The company may update the media on the Vision Pro too.