by John Cusick
On Sept. 7, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced four new major Apple products that are going to be released in the coming weeks. These include the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus, AirPods and the Apple Watch 2. All of these items will be available for pre-order Friday, Sept. 9 and will start to ship out on Sept. 16 for those who pre-ordered.
Beginning with the new iPhones, two new colors are available: matte black and jet black. The iPhone 7 will also include several new features, including a 12-megapixel camera that has optical image stabilization, f/1.8 aperture, and quad-LED true tone flash. The added f/1.8 aperture now allows for 50 percent more light to the camera sensor allowing for low light photos. The camera now shoots videos in 4k resolution and allows for filming in slow-motion with 1080p and 720p high definition quality.
The iPhone 7 Plus has a dual camera function and both are entirely new. With the addition of the 12-megapixel camera, Apple has also installed a telephoto lens on the phone. This allows for optical zoom up to two times and digital zoom up to 10x. Another new feature, known exclusively to high-end DSLR cameras, is the ability to use depth, keeping a subject sharp and blurring the background.
Both phones have a new processing chip, the A10. This creates a performance that is twice as fast as what the iPhone 6 was running. The new chip also makes this iPhone the most powerful generation yet and allows two more hours of battery life between charges.
New speakers are also being introduced on the phones. With new stereo speakers, on both ends of the phone, music can now be louder and can be heard further away. The headphone jack, a staple of iPhones and mobile devices since their beginning, is absent from this generation. With this change they have created new Bluetooth headphones that can connect through the lightning port and also come with a 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. Coming in late October are new wireless earbuds called AirPods, which are currently listed at $159. The AirPods include sensors that can pause music when they are removed and lower volume when you’re speaking to accommodate conversation.
The new Apple Watch 2 has added built in GPS capabilities, a feature absent from the previous iteration. Along with the GPS, a heart rate sensor has been incorporated along with water resistance up to 50m underwater.
Apple has announced that it was not going to release their opening weekend sales of the iPhone. This has investors skeptical that Apple’s phones have reached peak popularity. After peaking yesterday, Apple’s stock has had a rapid decrease in the last 24 hours and it now sits at $105.24. Apple claims that they know that the demand of their phone was enough to sell out so releasing their first weekend numbers would not be necessary. Apple usually faces this problem after the Worldwide Developers Conference where they announce new developments. Within the next 30 days the company sees a regain of 100 percent and sometimes even more.
