Apple’s ‘Time Flies’ event: rumors, news and announcements

Apple angered many in the iPhone and iPad developer community yesterday when it announced that iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 would be available to consumers today. A single day’s notice is a big departure from the company’s usual approach, where developers are given about a week’s notice to put the finishing touches on their apps ahead of the major operating system release. 

The surprise comes as some iOS developers are already exasperated with the way Apple is exerting control over its App Store. Ben Thompson, Kara Swisher, and John Gruber all reported earlier this year that many are terrified about speaking up about policies they think are unfair. 

The new Apple Watch Series 6 includes a sensor that allows the watch to measure blood oxygen levels. The device is a long-awaited addition to Apple’s suite of health tools, but it tracks oxygen levels at the wrist, which can be less accurate than measurements typically gathered at the fingertip.

Most oxygen sensors, including Apple’s, measure the amount of oxygen in your blood using light. These devices are called pulse oximeters, and they typically clip on to your fingertip. A standard version sends both red and infrared light through the finger, where there’s lots of blood close to the surface. A protein in the blood absorbs more infrared light when it has oxygen and more red light when it’s doesn’t. A sensor on the other side of the finger calculates how much of each type of light travels through, providing an oxygen reading.

Even though Apple didn’t announce new iPhones yesterday, the event was a jam-packed hour. Apple announced four new hardware products, a major new service, and a new bundle. By any objective standard, that’s a big day. As I’ll note below, the most important products might not be the hardware, but Fitness Plus and the ability to make an Apple Watch a kid tracker.

Besides those announcements, the main thing that struck me is that Apple seems to be making a subtle but important shift in its product strategy this year. You may have heard of the “Good, Better, Best” pricing strategy — it’s been applied to Apple a bunch. I think what Apple is doing this year is making the “better” option ...better — and also a little more expensive. It’s the “better better” model.

Apple made an American Sign Language interpretation of its “Time Flies” event available on its website on Tuesday (via AppleInsider). There are two screens in the ASL-interpreted event replay — the left one shows the event video, while the one on the right shows someone interpreted what’s being said in ASL.

Apple is already well-known for its accessibility features in its products. iOS 14, the company’s next major iPhone update, gives users some significant improvements. It can alert you when your iPhone picks up certain sounds such as a dog’s bark, for example. Another new feature lets you double- or triple-tap the back of your phone to perform a custom task. And if you’re using sign language while on a group FaceTime call, iOS 14 can detect that and make your window more prominent for other people on the call.

Apple favors simplicity, and nowhere is that more apparent — other than product design — than in the company’s product lineups. But the newly announced iPad Air, which now features a screen designed like that of the pricier Pro with the added benefit of being the only device so far to carry the new A14 Bionic processor, is further complicating what was once the company’s most elegant product lineup.

The iPad lineup used to be simple: you wanted the big one or the little one, and then you had to choose how much storage and maybe pick a color. But starting with the introduction of the Smart Keyboard and the ill-fated 9.7-inch iPad Pro in 2016, the iPad lineup began to bloat.

In September 2019, Apple added a new feature to the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro without saying a single word onstage — and it did it again today with the Apple Watch Series 6.

The feature is Apple’s U1 ultra-wideband locator chip, which could let these devices find each other, find other gadgets equipped with similar tech, and even securely unlock your car and your door without ever pulling an iPhone out of your pocket.

Apple just finished its “Time Flies” event, its first fall event this year, and although we’re still waiting on new iPhones, the company took the wraps off new Apple Watches and iPads. And like this year’s WWDC, we got all of the news through a video streamed online; there was no in-person event to accompany the arrival of new products.

Our live blog, with commentary by Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn, has the whole play-by-play of the event. But if you just want to learn about the biggest announcements from the show, read on.

Apple announced a new iteration of its popular baseline iPad, now in its eighth generation. It’s $329 and ships with the A12 Bionic processor. You can preorder that model today, and it will ship this Friday, September 18th.

In terms of spec upgrades, the bump from the A10 with last year’s model to the A12 Bionic is a significant leap in speed. If you held out from buying the seventh-gen version, this new iPad seems fast considering its $329 price tag. It still ships with a minuscule 32GB of storage, and for $100 more, you can increase it to 128GB.

Apple announced two new Apple Watch models at its “Time Flies” online event today: the high-end $399 Series 6 and the more affordable $279 Apple Watch SE, which serves a step up from the $199 Series 3. Both will release this Friday, September 18th, and if you’re interested in buying one of them, you can place a preorder starting today.

The Series 6 comes in a few new colorways and finishes, and it has more power with its S6 processor and an improved always-on display. Apple noted that this Watch is 20 percent faster than the Series 5 Watch, and it has more sensors than previous models. Notably, it can detect the blood oxygen levels in your body. The Apple Watch SE is a more affordable option that looks similar to the Series 6, but it doesn’t have brand-new sensors or features. It’s simply a cheaper option that serves as a more affordable alternative that is more capable than the bottom-rung Series 3.

Apple revealed that it has sold more than 500 million iPads over the last 10 years. The announcement was made by CEO Tim Cook during Apple’s “Time Flies” live stream event, in which the company revealed a pair of new Apple Watch devices and an updated base model iPad and new iPad Air.

This is the first time Apple has disclosed how many iPads it’s sold after the company said in November 2018 it would no longer reveal unit sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs in its quarterly earnings reports.

Apple’s next major software upgrades for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV are almost ready. At today’s “Time Flies” event, the company announced that iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, along with the latest watchOS and tvOS updates, will start rolling out on Wednesday, September 16th. As of today’s event, app developers hadn’t yet received the completed golden master (GM) builds of these updates, so Apple’s software release schedule seems oddly rushed. But hey, new features are coming.

iOS 14 brings widgets to the iPhone home screen for the first time, gathers all of your apps into a new App Library, and adds picture-in-picture mode (which had already been available on iPads). There’s also a new Translation app. iPadOS 14 won’t let you put widgets anywhere you want on the home screen, but it does build upon what you can do with the Apple Pencil. The new Scribble feature of iPadOS 14 lets you “write by hand in any text field across iPadOS, and your words automatically convert to text.” Additionally, more of Apple’s native apps are adding sidebars and expanded menus to take advantage of the iPad’s bigger screen.

Apple is unveiling a new iPad Air today that looks very similar to the company’s iPad Pro. It’s a significant design change from the current Air, which was brought back to life last year to sit in between the iPad and iPad Pro. Last year’s Air has thick top and bottom bezels and a button for Touch ID, but this new iPad Air has much thinner bezels all around the display.

Apple’s new iPad Air looks like a refresh of the iPad Pro design, and it will be available next month priced from $599.

Apple has announced the eighth-generation version of its basic iPad: an update of its entry-level 10.2-inch tablet that upgrades the processor to a faster A12 chipset (last seen in the 2019 iPad Air and iPad mini models), while still maintaining the same $329 price point. Education customers will also be able to get the new iPad for a discounted $299.

The A12 chip brings Apple’s “Neural Engine” processing capabilities to its entry-level iPad for the first time, with a promise of twice the graphics performance. Apple says that the new model will still fit existing cases, including its keyboard case and those made by Logitech. It’ll also still work with the first-gen Apple Pencil, like the previous model.

The long-rumored bundle bringing together Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and iCloud storage is here. Apple will give customers different options to combine its streaming services in a new Apple One bundle.

There are three types of bundles: Individual, Family, and Premier. The Individual plan gives subscribers Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage (50GB) for $14.95 a month. The Family plan includes the same apps but with 200GB of iCloud storage for $19.95 a month. The Premier plan gives subscribers Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, 2TB of iCloud storage, Apple News Plus, and the newly announced Apple Fitness Plus for $29.95 a month. Fitness Plus is a new subscription service launching before the end of the year that includes training for yoga, cycling, running, core, and strength exercises, among other types of workouts. It’s $9.99 a month by itself.

Apple on Tuesday announced it would no longer be shipping USB power adapters with Apple Watch devices as part of an effort to reduce its environmental impact. The announcement was made by Lisa Jackson — Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives — during the company’s “Time Flies” live stream event, in which it announced the new Apple Watch Series 6 and cheaper Apple Watch SE.

Removing the power adapter means new Apple Watch customers won’t have access to the device that plugs into the wall, but they should still receive Apple’s custom Apple Watch cable that recharges the device wirelessly.

During Apple’s “Time Flies” event, it shared a new Family Setup feature coming to iOS 14 on September 16th that will allow just one iPhone to both set up and manage several Apple Watch smartwatches in a family. Previously, each Apple Watch had to be tied to an iPhone, but now a parent or guardian can do it all from a single iPhone.

The feature lets you adjust who each family member can call and message from their Apple Watch, and you can also set up location alerts so that you stay in the know of your family’s whereabouts. There’s a Schooltime feature that works similarly to a Do Not Disturb setting, and the Family Setup function is also optimized for older adults.

Apple is launching a new subscription service for virtual fitness classes called Fitness Plus, the company announced during its presentation today. The service integrates with iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV, but Apple says it’s built for the Apple Watch. Access to the service will cost $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year, and you’ll get three months free with the purchase of a new Apple Watch. It also comes bundled as part of Apple’s new Apple One subscription. Apple says Fitness Plus will be available before the end of the year.

Many of the workouts require just a set of dumbbells or no equipment at all, Apple says, which should give you the flexibility to do them wherever’s convenient for you. There are 10 different workout types available, including cycling, treadmill, yoga, core, strength, rowing, and HIIT routines, and there’s a program built in for absolute beginners. You can select workouts based on their duration, and Apple says it plans to add new workouts every week.

Apple has announced the Apple Watch SE, a successor to the three-year-old Apple Watch Series 3. The device starts at $279; cellular models start at $329. It’s available this Friday, but you can order it today.

The model shares some of the features of the new Apple Watch Series 6, including a built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, and always-on altimeter, as well as sleep tracking, fall detection, and hand-washing detection. Cellular models can be used to make emergency calls, even internationally, with the Emergency SOS feature. There’s no always-on display, which was a highlight of the Series 5, ECG functionality, which arrived with the Series 4, or the blood oxygen monitor that’s coming to the Series 6.

Apple has announced the Apple Watch Series 6, the latest in its line of popular smartwatches. The Series 6 model maintains the same overall design introduced with the Apple Watch Series 4 and continued with the Series 5, but it adds a variety of new sensors to allow for things like blood oxygen monitoring and better sleep tracking.

Apple says the Series 6 can measure blood oxygen levels in about 15 seconds, using both red and infrared light. The company says it’s partnering with health networks to start large-scale studies using the new blood oxygen measurement feature, including testing to see if it can detect if a person is infected with COVID-19.

Apple has announced one of its usual fall events, but this event is unusual for Apple. Instead of leading with iPhones in September, all expectations are that they’ll arrive in October.

This month, as hinted in the “Time Flies” announcement, we’re expecting Apple Watches. In fact, there may even be two of them: the Apple Watch Series 6 and a new lower-cost version. The headline feature is rumored to be blood oxygen monitoring on the top-tier models, while the inexpensive models might be given the “SE” moniker.

No, Apple’s latest event isn’t about iPhones or even Macs. However, it is likely about iPads and Apple Watches, and if those are things that interest you — or if you want to know what else Apple may have up its sleeve — then you’ll want to watch the live stream of today’s events.

What can you expect? Rumors abound. In answer to the “Time Flies” moniker, you can probably expect two new Apple Watches: one high-end successor to the Series 5 (probably the Series 6), and one less expensive version to replace the Series 3. Another possibility is a new, redesigned iPad Air. There is talk of a new, more affordable HomePod and new subscription bundles. And who knows what else?

Apple’s first big fall event is happening on Tuesday, September 15th, but it may be much different than previous September events.

Let’s address the elephant in the room up front: it doesn’t seem like there will be new iPhones. Typically, Apple’s September events mark the arrival of Apple’s latest and greatest smartphones, but you shouldn’t expect to see them on Tuesday, according to The Verge’s editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and other well-connected journalists. And Apple has already said that the new iPhones won’t go on sale during their usual late-September timeframe.

Apple has announced an event for September 15th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Normally, Apple announces new iPhones in September, but this year, there have been rumors of the phones being delayed. Instead, the event’s tagline, “Time Flies,” suggests we’re looking at a new Apple Watch.

The event is taking place later than the usual September announcement for Apple’s fall lineup, likely due to delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Apple confirmed that it wouldn’t ship its new phones in September during its most recent earnings call.

Apple is planning to ship between 75 and 80 million 5G iPhones this year, according to a new Bloomberg report. The figure is in line with or slightly higher than iPhone launch shipments for the last couple of years, suggesting that Apple doesn’t expect the coronavirus pandemic to dampen demand — even though the company has already said the phones will be delayed into October.

Bloomberg’s report also contains a broad roundup of what Apple is said to be planning for its fall hardware announcements. Here’s what Mark Gurman and Debby Wu expect: