After much anticipation, the Apple Autumn Product Launch event kicked off on September 13th at 1 a.m. Beijing time with the theme "Curiosity Takes the Lead."

During the short duration of this Apple "Spring Festival Gala," a total of seven new products were announced, including four new models from the iPhone 15 series and three new Apple Watches.

The highlight of the event was the introduction of the world's first 3nm chip in the iPhone 15 Pro series, featuring two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, incorporating a staggering 19 billion transistors.

Prior rumors had mentioned that Apple would eliminate the traditional "mute button" on the iPhone 15 Pro series, and this was confirmed during the event. The iPhone 15 Pro series introduced a new Action Button, located above the volume buttons on the left side of the phone. Long-pressing the button allows for quick mute functionality, and the Taptc Engine linear motor provides haptic feedback.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the highlights of this event:

1. iPhone 15/15 Plus: 6.1-inch/6.7-inch screen; A16 Bionic chip; upgraded 48-megapixel main camera; improved battery life; innovative fusion-color glass back panel; Dynamic Island feature across the entire series; added USB-C port; starting from 5,999 yuan/6,999 yuan; available for pre-order on September 15th and released on September 22nd.

2. iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max: 6.1-inch/6.7-inch screen; aerospace-grade titanium design; A17 chip; 5x optical zoom; new Action Button; starting from 7,999 yuan/9,999 yuan; available for pre-order on September 15th and released on September 22nd.

3. Apple Watch Ultra 2: New S9 SiP; second-generation Ultra-Wideband chip; peak brightness of 3000 nits; up to 72 hours of battery life; starting from 6,499 yuan; available for pre-order on September 14th and released on September 22nd.

4. Apple Watch Series 9: New S9 SiP; new gesture control—double-tap with two fingers; 18 hours of battery life; peak brightness of 2000 nits; second-generation Ultra-Wideband chip; starting from 2,999 yuan; available for pre-order on September 14th and released on September 22nd.

iPhone 15 series new models

This time, Apple has released four models in the iPhone 15 series, namely the 6.1-inch standard iPhone 15, the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus, the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro, and the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Let's take a look at the colors available for the iPhone 15 series. The iPhone 15/Plus is available in five color options: black, blue, green, yellow, and pink.

The iPhone 15 features an aerospace-grade aluminum casing, with the colors integrated into the glass back panel itself. Saying goodbye to several generations of notch displays, the entire iPhone 15 series models adopt the Dynamic Island design, offering a higher screen-to-body ratio. They support Dolby Vision and have a maximum brightness of 1600 nits, with a peak brightness of 2000 nits under sunlight, which is twice that of the iPhone 14.

In terms of performance, the iPhone 15 series is equipped with the same A16 Bionic chip as the 14 Pro series. It still features a six-core CPU and a five-core GPU, but with significant upgrades in performance and energy efficiency compared to the A15. The 6-core CPU consists of two high-performance cores that reduce power consumption by 20% and four efficient cores. It delivers faster speeds than the previous generation and can easily handle intensive tasks while providing an extended battery life. The 5-core GPU has a 50% increase in memory bandwidth, enabling smooth graphics performance during video streaming and gaming.

In terms of imaging, the standard version of iPhone 15 features a 48-megapixel main camera. It not only has a new rear-focus portrait function but also utilizes computational photography for multi-frame synthesis and super-resolution synthesis technology to achieve 24-megapixel photo output. The specific principle is that Apple's new image engine selects the best pixel parts from an ultra-high-resolution image and combines it with another image optimized for capturing light, generating a 24-megapixel photo.

In addition, the iPhone 15 series officially switches from the Lightning port to the USB-C port. The Lightning port is now a thing of the past, but it only supports USB 2 with a maximum transmission speed of 480Mb/s. Users can also charge AirPods or Apple Watch directly from the iPhone using a USB-C connector. Both models support MagSafe and future Qi2 wireless chargers.

Last year, iPhone 14 introduced satellite communication technology. This year, iPhone 15 will be able to call roadside assistance through communication satellites. Leveraging the same advanced technology used by Apple's existing satellite services and in collaboration with the largest roadside assistance provider, AAA, once a request is made, rescue personnel will be dispatched accurately to your location. Apple will provide iPhone 15 users with this assistance service free of charge for two years. However, this service is basically useless domestically (in China).

Both iPhone 15 models are equipped with the second-generation Ultra-Wideband chip, which triples the connection range between two iPhone devices equipped with this chip.

In terms of pricing, the starting price of iPhone 15 is 5,999 yuan, and the starting price of iPhone 15 Plus is 6,999 yuan. The starting price of iPhone 15 Pro remains at 7,999 yuan, consistent with iPhone 14, but the 256GB version has increased by 200 yuan. The starting price of iPhone 15 Pro Max is 9,999 yuan.

Overall, the upgrade of the standard version in this generation is very significant, and iPhone 15 is almost becoming an iPhone 14 Pro. Compared to the incremental improvement from iPhone 13 to 14, this year's upgrade is much more substantial.

Now let's take a look at the latest iPhone 15 Pro. In terms of appearance, it comes in gold, black, silver, and blue. The highly anticipated white color is completely gone. The 15 Pro features a titanium frame, making it nearly 20 grams lighter than the previous generation. The iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs only "221g," and the iPhone 15 Pro is as light as 187g. The official statement claims that this is the lightest Pro model ever released.

In terms of the camera system, the iPhone 15 Pro features an upgraded 48-megapixel main camera with an equivalent focal length of 24mm, a 2.44μm pixel size, and an F/1.78 aperture. The photosensitive element of the Pro model is larger than that of the standard version. The other two lenses differ slightly between the Pro and Pro Max models. The Pro model has a 3x telephoto lens, while the Pro Max model has a 120mm 5x optical zoom lens. This allows the Pro Max to achieve a longer zoom distance compared to the iPhone 15 Pro. Both models have a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. Heavy photography enthusiasts should consider the Pro Max for its specifications.

In terms of performance, the iPhone 15 Pro is equipped with the powerful A17 Pro chip. It is the industry's first 3-nanometer chip, with 19 billion transistors. It features a six-core CPU, offering double the performance and quadruple the efficiency compared to the A16 chip. With a 16-core Neural Engine, it is twice as fast as its predecessor, capable of processing up to 3.5 trillion operations per second. It accelerates machine learning tasks and supports more accurate auto-correction and subject extraction from images. It also has dedicated ProRes, Pro Display Engine, and AV1 decoder engines.

This year, Apple has made improvements in the GPU department as well. The professional-grade GPU now offers a 20% speed increase and unlocks a whole new experience. It adopts a new 6-core design, enhancing peak performance and energy efficiency. It also features hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which is four times faster than software-based ray tracing.

The iPhone 15 Pro series is also equipped with a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. The A17 Pro chip supports USB 3 with a transmission speed of up to 10Gbps, which is 20 times faster than USB 2.

The iPhone 15 Pro series replaces the silent switch with an Action button. By holding down the Action button, users can toggle between ring and silent modes, with haptic feedback indicating the change in status. Users can switch between different actions, such as starting a voice memo, launching the camera, activating their favorite accessibility feature, function, or running shortcuts.

In addition, the iPhone 15 Pro also features Apple's second-generation ultra-wideband chip, allowing other devices equipped with this chip to connect from up to three times the distance and share their location with you just like AirTag.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max now support Wi-Fi 6E, offering higher wireless performance, including speeds up to twice as fast. They also mark the first smartphones to support Thread, opening up future opportunities for home application integration.

To be continued...