Today is iPhone 7 day! Apple's event is now in full swing and we're expecting the new headphone jack-less version of its popular pocket-sized touchscreen supercomputer, along with a new Apple Watch and some other assorted gadgets. Probably.
You can tune in live on Apple's event page, using the Safari browser on most Apple devices, or you can refresh this page for live-updating roundup of all the good stuff and only the good stuff.
IPHONE 7 AND 7 PLUS
Surprise surprise the iPhone 7 is here. The phone hasn't been mentioned on stage just yet, but it's already shown up in a few (now-deleted) tweets from Apple, as well as on Amazon and we know its key features: The iPhone 7 will be water-resistant, come with stereo speakers, a new "customizable Home Button, but most importantly, no headphone jack.
Apple is also announcing new, completely wireless "Air Pods," though the pricing is not yet clear.
The Home Button is getting a big new revamp as well. The new Home Button will no longer actually move. Instead of being a physical clicker, it will be a force-sensitive touchscreen button that uses the same taptic engine from the new Macbook's touchpad in order to give you some feedback when you click. The lack of these moving parts is no doubt part of the reason the new iPhone 7 can be water-resistant.
For cameras, the iPhone 7 will have a 12MP shooter, and a quad-LED flash. The iPhone 7 also has a new camera sensor that helps do all sorts of camera settings on the fly, it can help autofocus, set the white balance, do noise reduction, and even take multiple pictures and stitch them together into one amalgamation that is more than the sum of its parts. On the front side, the iPhone 7 will have a 7MP "selfie" camera that benefits from many of the computational benefits the updated sensor provides.
But the Plus model is getting a major camera upgrade in the form of a dual lens camera. The Plus model has always had a slightly better shooter—the iPhone Plus has Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) which smaller iPhones don't—but this is the biggest departure to date. With two 12MP cameras, the 7 Plus is able to have a dedicated telephoto lens.
If you were wondering what Apple could possibly do after Rose Gold, we now have our answer: the iPhone 7 will come in jet black, with a glossy or matte finish, perfect for letting everyone know at a glance that you have the newest, bestest iPhone.
Apple Watch Series 2
Yes, there's another Apple Watch. It doesn't have a full-on LTE connection like some rumors suggested but it does now have GPS, which means that it will be much better at things like tracking your route while you jog, and chewing through battery life. It also has a new dual-core processor, which will hopefully make its apps run better, is water-resistant enough to be swim-proof, and comes in a new ceramic model.
The Apple Watch Series 2 is also water-resistant enough to be swim-proof, thanks in part to a neat trick where the Watch blasts its speakers to clear out water after a swim, since the speakers are necessarily a point where water will be able to get in.
As for apps, the Apple Watch is now able to play Pokemon Go! That is, if you still have your iPhone in your pocket, because the Apple Watch Series 2 doesn't have the data connection necessary to play the app all on its own on the go.
Apple Watch Series 2 will start at a price of $370. The original Apple Watch—now updated to have its predecessor's dual core chip but none of its other features—will also remain on sale for the lower price of $270.
Updating...
From: Harper's BAZAAR US