Top Stories: Apple Event Recap With iPhone 15, New Apple Watches, and More

What a week! Things are finally beginning to settle down after a flurry of announcements at Tuesday's event involving the usual suspects of iPhone and Apple Watch. All of the new hardware is now available to order, with launches happening next Friday.

top stories 16sep2023 1
Don't forget about Apple's software updates, with iOS 17, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17 all coming on Monday and macOS Sonoma debuting on September 26. Read on below for all the details on the biggest announcements from this week's event!

Everything Announced at Apple's Event in Six Minutes

Apple hosted its annual iPhone event this week, and it was packed with announcements as usual. New products unveiled include the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and USB-C AirPods Pro.

Everything Announced at Apples Wonderlust Event Thumb
There are also new iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands with a "FineWoven" material instead of leather, wired EarPods with a USB-C connector, and several other new accessories, so be sure to check out our recap of everything announced at Apple's event to learn more.

Apple Announces iPhone 15 Pro With Titanium Design, Action Button, A17 Pro Chip, and More

As widely expected, the iPhone 15 Pro models are equipped with a USB-C port instead of Lightning, providing users with a more universal charging standard and faster data transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps.

iPhone 15 Pro Lineup Feature
Other new features for the Pro models include a lightweight titanium frame, the A17 Pro chip, a customizable Action button, slimmer bezels around the screen, Wi-Fi 6E support, increased RAM, and more.

Apple Announces iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus With USB-C Port, Dynamic Island, and More

The lower-end iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models also feature a USB-C port, and the Dynamic Island first added to iPhone 14 Pro models last year.

iPhone 15 Colors pink
Other new features for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus include an upgraded 48-megapixel main camera lens with a new 2x Telephoto zoom option, the A16 Bionic chip, a frosted glass back, brighter displays, a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, and more.

Apple Watch Series 9 Unveiled With S9 Chip, 'Double Tap' Gesture, and More

The next-generation Apple Watch Series 9 is official, with new features including a faster S9 chip, a "Double Tap" gesture for interacting with the watch without touching the screen, an increased 64GB of storage, a pink color option for the aluminum case, a brighter display, faster on-device Siri, Precision Finding for iPhone, and more.

Apple Watch Series 9
For the first time, Apple said customers can choose a carbon-neutral variant of any Apple Watch.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 Features Faster S9 Chip, Brighter Display, and More

Apple Watch Ultra 2 is here, with a handful of new features added, including the same S9 chip and Double Tap gesture from the Series 9, a brighter display with peak brightness of 3,000 nits, expanded altitude range, and more.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 hero feature white
Unfortunately, the rumor that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 would be available in a new Black Titanium finish was incorrect, with only Natural Titanium offered.

Apple Introduces Updated AirPods Pro and EarPods With USB-C and More

In addition to the iPhone 15 models getting a USB-C port, Apple announced that the second-generation AirPods Pro are now available to order with a USB-C charging case for $249, and the wired EarPods headphones now come in a USB-C version as well.

AirPods USB C Port Purple Triad
On an accessory-related note, Apple discontinued the MagSafe Battery Pack and MagSafe Duo Charger, both of which used Lightning, following the iPhone 15 event.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...

Top Rated Comments

Gudi Avatar
11 months ago
I actually have a hard time to remember what was new about the watches? A new processor and new watch faces and bands, but in terms of new features. Ah yeah, double-tap − okay − what else. ?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ned1 Avatar
11 months ago
I’ve just received my Evergreen FineWoven iPhone 15 pro case (£59.00 in the UK) - what an absolute disappointment, especially when Apple are hawking it at the same price as the now discontinued premium leather iPhone case. I will be returning it and hunting for something that will actually complement the 15 pro.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogi Avatar
11 months ago

I’ve just received my Evergreen FineWoven iPhone 15 pro case (£59.00 in the UK) - what an absolute disappointment, especially when Apple are hawking it at the same price as the now discontinued premium leather iPhone case. I will be returning it and hunting for something that will actually complement the 15 pro.
Looks terrible on reviews.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProfessionalFan Avatar
11 months ago

I’ve just received my Evergreen FineWoven iPhone 15 pro case (£59.00 in the UK) - what an absolute disappointment, especially when Apple are hawking it at the same price as the now discontinued premium leather iPhone case. I will be returning it and hunting for something that will actually complement the 15 pro.
It's the worst phone case I've ever tried and I tried some cheap crap over the years. Huge miss for Apple on this one.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kulfon Avatar
11 months ago
As a standalone product, iPhone 15 Pro is a very solid device, but I have to admit that it the least interesting update over previous generation (year ago, iPhone 14 Pro).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
t0rqx Avatar
11 months ago
Watched it. To be honest nothing impressive. 10% improvement for iPhones over 14-series with 3nm. Double tap with fingers on Series 9, but that was already possible in Series 8 and older. Lot of marketing gimmick. Apple knows it, even trying to say the Watch Ultra 2 has 72-hours standby. Mind you by even disabling MORE features to reach that number, which they only mention in the small print. Is this the Apple we knew and loved?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)