Source:Asia Vets

Asia Vets reported on September 10th that the Apple Spring Festival Gala officially opened at 1 am Beijing time today.

Familiar Cook, familiar Apple Park, different iPhone new colors.

The new colors this year directly "became ugly and trending"...

其实iPhone 16 Pro系列的配色变化不大，增加的沙漠金色，按照以往经验，大概率会是受欢迎的颜色。网友更多的争论点，是在标准版iPhone 16上，其色彩相比上代更“浓”，饱和度更高。

所以网友就产生了更多联想，水晶塑料拖鞋配色、还有秋裤……总之，有些离谱、有些失控。

抛开配色我们来看看手机本身，说起苹果iPhone 16，这次大家最关心的一定是AI。

苹果智能什么时候支持中文，苹果终于给了时间：明年。

If we have to talk about the biggest highlight of the entire press conference, it might have to be the newly added "camera control button".

Just press once to directly activate AI photo search:

Just press once to shoot 4K 120FPS film-like slow-motion footage:

Slide the button to directly adjust the camera settings:

Well, the camera button from Sony and the AI search from Samsung, Cook, looks like you've learned it all.

However, to be honest, Apple's operational experience does seem smoother and the functionality is richer. Compared to the traditional camera shutter button, this button has two levels of light press and heavy press, as well as touch and slide operations, making it more fun to use.

In terms of product upgrades, Apple is undoubtedly a "master of materials, craftsmanship, and color coordination", not sure if this is a compliment.

But this is the truth, both Apple Watch and AirPods have the situation of "new product with new colors", and the attention on Weibo is still overwhelmingly focused on the new color options for the new phones.

In Cook's words, it was a day full of surprises!

Returning to the protagonist iPhone, Cook said that this year's new iPhone is completely dedicated to creating a smart Apple, and the importance of AI is beyond doubt.

But if you ask what new AI features we saw today, there weren't many. The majority are the applications of Apple's intelligence that were revealed at WWDC in June.

As for the chips, the iPhone 16 directly upgraded to the A18, and the Pro version upgraded to the A18 Pro. Both of these chips use the second-generation 3nm process, and there should be no dispute that they are the most powerful mobile phone chips on the market, as it has been the case year after year.

For a more detailed explanation of the Apple A18, A18 Pro, and S10 SiP chips, please refer to Xin Dongxi (Apple's late-night release of four chips! The strongest 3nm chip comes out, and even the cheapest iPhone 16 can use itThe possible significant impact of the decrease in NVIDIA's stock price is that the possibility of being included in the price-weighted index may increase (especially the Dow Jones Industrial Average).

As for other products, the Apple Watch Series 10 is equipped with the largest screen and thinnest body in the series this time. This screen is even larger than their own Ultra, which is quite impressive.

In order to be thin, the extreme stacking design inside the body can be called another "engineering miracle", while the rest of the health and sports aspects are more routine upgrades.

AirPods 4 has launched an active noise-canceling version, on par with the Pro series, but the price is 400 yuan more expensive. After many years, AirPods Max finally gets an upgrade... with more color options and a new port.

Overall, the gap between Apple's headphone and watch product lines in the Pro and non-Pro versions is further narrowing. However, this does not align with Cook's consistent strategy. Cook has always aimed to widen the gap and stimulate consumers to buy the Pro versions. Is it really due to "lack of innovation" that it's difficult to maintain the lead of the Pro version?

In terms of pricing, except for the headphones that support active noise cancellation, there is no price increase for phones and watches. This is quite surprising for Apple, who has repeatedly set record high prices for the top-end iPhones, as it's truly a case of "more for the same price".

What are the specific details and key features behind the three major new products today that are worth paying attention to? Let's take a comprehensive look with Zhidx.

01. iPhone's "thoroughly" built for Apple smart, AI Chinese support will be available next year

After 40 minutes of the event, the iPhone 16 series finally arrived.

Cook particularly emphasized that Apple will integrate large models into the core of the iPhone, thoroughly building the new generation of the iPhone for Apple's intelligence.

In order to run Apple's intelligence, Apple has given a significant upgrade to the standard version of the chip this time, or "leapfrogged", directly upgrading from the A16 to the A18 chip, doubling the performance of the neural network engine, and increasing the memory bandwidth by 17%. These improvements are crucial for AI functionality.

As for the A18 CPU, Apple describes it as "this CPU is so fast that it has no opponent, and can even compete with desktop CPUs." The GPU is powerful enough to play AAA titles, such as "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey".

With such a powerful chip, what kind of AI experience can be achieved?

When describing AI, Apple used the phrase "understands you and protects privacy", it has to be said, this is becoming more and more similar to the statements of domestic Android manufacturers.

Not only Apple iPhone, but also the flagship of AI phones, major mobile phone manufacturers are competing for it. Recently, Honor's CEO Zhao Ming also called out Apple at an overseas conference, stating that they want to break Apple's closed ecosystem with an open intelligent entity ecosystem, and Honor's AI intelligent entity will land on smartphones before Apple.

Just after the Apple conference, Honor's CMO Guo Rui also posted on his WeChat moments, saying that there is no need to wait for Apple to learn Chinese for the AI intelligent entity. Can you sense the tension?

During the conference, Apple emphasized that these on-device models are developed by Apple and have been optimized for daily scenarios. Apple then listed some applications.

The writing tool is not unfamiliar to everyone, instantly turning notes into invitations, and giving your upcoming comments a touch of quality.

The image tool allows you to create emojis directly by entering prompts.

There are also common functions like AI image search and AI noise cancellation.

Overall, what can Apple's intelligence on iPhone 16 do? In short, most of the AI features showcased by Apple at WWDC in June can be implemented.

The smart assistant Siri is so powerful that it can help you delete duplicate photos in your album... Of course, it can also help you send the barbecue photos from last Saturday to your friends, and open the movie your wife sent you yesterday, allowing for more complex operations and smoother conversations.

The most important concern of everyone is when will Apple support Chinese language on its smart devices. Apple has finally given the answer: next year.

The camera control button that was previously leaked has indeed arrived. With this button, we can directly adjust the camera settings.

The combination of the camera control button and AI has brought about a new function. When walking on the street and wanting to know something, you just need to press it and AI will help you search. Apple calls it visual intelligent function.

It has to be said that this is very similar to the camera search function recently introduced by Samsung. Apple seems to have learned from it in great detail, and of course, the user experience on Apple devices does seem to be smoother.

This camera control button also has some new uses, such as triggering certain small functions quickly.

In terms of camera hardware, the main camera of the iPhone 16 has been upgraded to 48 million pixels, which is on par with the previous Pro version. The light input of the 2x telephoto lens has increased by 1.6 times.

The light input of another ultra-wide-angle lens is larger, the size of each pixel is also larger, and it also supports super macro.

Oh, by the way, the iPhone 16 also supports spatial video shooting.

As for the appearance, the camera arrangement of the iPhone 16 has indeed been changed to a vertical arrangement as per the leaks, and the durability and display effects of the iPhone 16 have been further improved. It is also equipped with an Action Button to keep up with the trend.

In terms of Pro version, it further strengthens its professional audiovisual creation capabilities, with the largest screen size in its history.

Next, let's take a look at the two high-end models - iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max.

As mentioned in the leaks, the Pro Max is equipped with the largest 6.9-inch screen in history, with further reduced thickness and increased battery capacity.

Cook said that the Pro version can achieve a series of unique AI functions, so what will be different about the AI experience on the Pro?

Before talking about this, Apple released a suspenseful story starting from the chip.

Both Pro models have upgraded to the A18 Pro. In terms of performance, the CPU, GPU, and NPU have stronger performance and lower power consumption, but this is just a routine upgrade.

The new A18 Pro comes with a built-in 16-core neural network engine that can perform 35 trillion operations per second (the same as the previous generation A17 Pro). The new GPU architecture enhances hardware-accelerated ray tracing performance up to 2 times higher than the A17 Pro.

But after introducing the chip, Apple directly started talking about the camera without specifically pointing out what unique AI features the Pro version has.

Perhaps Apple's optimization of the on-device model is so good that both the A18 and A18 Pro can run smoothly?

In terms of photography, the main camera and ultra-wide-angle camera of the iPhone 16 Pro are still 48 million pixels, and the periscope telephoto lens that was only available on the previous Pro Max is now also included in the Pro version.

This time, Apple spent a lot of space talking about upgrades in terms of image color and style, and of course, these image processing techniques are more or less powered by AI.

But speaking of flagship devices, photography has indeed entered the "battle of styles" stage, and Apple is no exception.

In terms of Apple's expertise in video recording, the Pro version supports 4K 120FPS cinematic slow-motion shooting, which can bring a great new shooting experience. This feature also supports HDR, so the image quality is top-notch.

In addition to being able to shoot 4K 120FPS, Pro/Pro Max can select playback speed when playing back 120FPS videos, especially the slow motion playback at the lowest 24 frames, which is a very new experience.

Currently, many Android flagship cameras already support 8K video recording. Obviously, Apple has chosen a different direction and did not pursue the 8K video resolution, but instead improved the frame rate of shooting under 4K resolution.

In terms of audio, the Pro version also provides some new features for professional music creation and editing.

Overall, Apple's positioning of the Pro version of the iPhone is more like a professional audio-visual creation device.

03. The standard version has a larger screen than the Ultra and is half the price, with updated color options.

To summarize the biggest updates of the Apple Watch Series 10 with four keywords: lighter, thinner, larger screen, faster charging.

The display of Series 10 is even larger than that of the Apple Watch Ultra. The screen size of the Ultra is about 1.93 inches, which is good news for users who are accustomed to raising their hands to type and input information on the watch.

And, Series 10 adopts the first wide-angle OLED screen, and the brightness of viewing at an incline angle has been increased by 40%. Even if you are walking and raising your hand, or placing it on the table, you can clearly see the screen content. At the same time, the screen will refresh once per second in the always-on display mode.

When you see this, you may be concerned about battery life. The total battery life of Series 10 is 18 hours, and one of the updates this time is faster charging. The watch can be charged to 80% in just 30 minutes, so you can charge it whenever you have a chance, which can be considered as a "curve rescue of battery life".

Does a larger screen mean a heavier watch? On the contrary, Series 10 is the thinnest Apple Watch to date, with a thickness of 9.7mm. Apple has redesigned the speaker system inside the watch.

Apple Watch uses the new generation S10 SiP chip developed by Apple, combining performance, energy efficiency, and intelligence. Based on the Transformer model, S10 can more accurately complete functions such as dictation, car accident detection, and fall detection, and the translation app also debuts on Apple Watch for the first time.

Health and fitness features are now the most closely watched by most users, but from this release, the upgrades are not significant.

In Series 10, sleep apnea is added. The watch can detect "breathing disorder" indicators and analyze users' breathing disorder data every 30 days, issuing warnings when users have moderate and severe breathing pauses.

In terms of fitness, the focus of Series 10 this time is on water sports, with features such as water temperature, water depth, and tides, providing a variety of data for swimming, rafting, and other enthusiasts.

There are two materials for the watch, aluminum and titanium. The aluminum version comes in three colors: black, rose gold, and silver. The titanium version comes in natural, gold, and slate colors. Series 10 starts at 2999 yuan, accepts pre-orders at 9:00 on September 11th, and officially launches on September 20th.

Now let's take a look at the Apple Watch Ultra series. Unfortunately, it is still the second generation. The Ultra series has demonstrated its capabilities in battery life and GPS accuracy. The watch can detect heart rate and pace when running, and provide distance, speed, and heart rate indicators when cycling. It can also automatically detect swimming strokes while swimming.

But this update is only in color - satin texture black version.

The updated Apple Watch Ultra 2 starts at 6,499 yuan and is available for pre-order starting today, with sales starting on September 20th.

04. The ANC version of AirPods 4 is here, with a price increase of 400 yuan.

In this fall release, the AirPods series mentioned four headphones, but the introduction only took 13 minutes.

The regular version of AirPods 4 is not the highlight this time.

AirPods 4 uses the H2 chip to enhance the hands-free calling function based on machine learning. When interacting with Siri, you only need to nod or shake your head to express yes or no.

There is also a consistent 30-hour total TV battery life, USB-C interface...

The highlight is here, the new model of AirPods 4 - the "low-end version of AirPods Pro", with active noise cancellation.

The transparent mode, adaptive audio, and conversation awareness functions of the Pro series have all been brought to AirPods. The non-in-ear AirPods now have a transparent mode that allows you to hear the sound of the surrounding environment naturally even when wearing headphones, and automatically reduces noise based on changes in the environment.

The price of AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation has also soared, with a starting price of 1399 yuan, while the regular version of AirPods 4 is priced at 999 yuan.

The 'most experienced' AirPods Max series has finally received an update (although a very minor one), with the addition of a USB-C interface and a few new color options.

The price of AirPods Max remains unchanged at 3999 yuan, with pre-orders starting today and sales beginning on September 20th.

The new feature added to AirPods Pro is the health feature, which helps users prevent, recognize, and assist in detecting hearing loss, and can also serve as your personal hearing aid. Hearing tests and hearing aid features will be launched in over 100 countries and regions worldwide this autumn.

Conclusion: Apple takes small and steady steps in innovation, while Android AI moves rapidly.

Although Apple's autumn conference this time seems a bit 'relaxed', its competitors are very active and iterate quickly in terms of products and technology. For example, Huawei's foldable screen has already reached 'three folds', which has aroused widespread discussion in the industry. The scalpers on third-party platforms have pushed up prices to more than 10,000 yuan. On the other hand, the CEO of Honor also made comments on Apple.

The Apple conference ended at 2:40, and the Huawei conference will start at 14:30 in the afternoon, with only 12 hours apart. The competition between the two giants can be said to be full of tension.

Apple's new product release this time is more about steady progress, making the overall product experience better, such as a larger screen, thinner and lighter body, longer battery life, faster charging, and smoother use of AI functions. These are all very practical upgrades, but naturally the eye-catching level may be lower.

Overall, Apple's products and technology still demonstrate a consistent industry-leading standard. However, in the key battle of AI phones, Apple's performance is not impressive. The progress of AI features has lagged far behind the Android camp. Whether Apple still has more surprises for the industry and consumers, and whether it has the ability to bring us more breakthrough innovations, may be a question that Cook and all executives need to seriously consider.

A retrospective of the past generations of iPhone:

Editor/Emily