By: Nick Gambino
Tim Cook and his team announced new hardware products during their online-only event this past Tuesday. The annual event is where the tech giant would typically unveil the year’s iPhone, but with the ongoing pandemic, they’ve had to push the release date.
We were left with the unveiling of the Apple Watch Series 6 and SE as well as new iPads. While the new products are exciting, most of us were holding out hope for a glimpse at the iPhone 12. We have no word on when that will be released. Fingers crossed for an October launch because I can’t hold out until 2021.
The Apple Watch 6 was the focal point of the event. While they haven’t reinvented the Watch, they have given it an upgrade that should please Watch users (I’m not one of them but my wife swears by it). The new wrist gadget includes an electrocardiogram sensor and can measure your blood oxygen levels. It also features an upgraded always-on display that’s brighter than predecessors. And, as expected, it sports a higher-powered processor chip.
For those who want the Watch experience without shelling out a cool $400, they now have that option with the Apple Watch SE. While you won’t see any of those new nifty health sensors or the always-on display in the 6, the SE still features a lot of other cool features contained in WatchOS 7 like new watch faces and the brand-new Family Setup. That latter feature allows families to pair their watches so they can stay in touch without the need for phones.
The event also saw the unveiling of the 8th-gen iPad and a new iPad Air. The new iPad gets nothing more than a processor update and not much in the way of bells and whistles. So it’s not necessarily something you need to run out and buy if you’ve already got the 7th-gen iPad.
The iPad Air gets the biggest makeover here with a redesign that looks more like the iPad Pro with a 10.9-inch display and the return of Touch ID, which is now housed in the button at the top. No home button for this guy, which runs on the A14 Bionic Processor for increased power. The USB-C port is also reminiscent of the iPad Pro.
We’ll have to wait a bit longer (hopefully) before we get any info on the iPhone 12. In the meantime, we’ve got new iPads and Watches to hold us over.
