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Why Apple’s iPhone event felt like a cornucopia

There was a time—it went on for years and years—when a large percentage of Apple’s product strategy was about outsourcing. Most famously, it doesn’t matter if you’re happy to plug in your wired headphones. The company went ahead and removed the headphone jack in 2016, noting that doing so was a bold move. It seemed logical that its long-term goal was to turn the iPhone into a soft, portable screen with no holes or buttons at all.

Lately, Apple has been more open-minded about adding things instead of removing them. But its additions have often been the catalyst for splurging on a high-end product rather than getting a lower-priced model or (God forbid) sticking with the one you already have. For example, if you got excited about last year’s Action Button—I did!—you had to get an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max to get it.

Which brings us to Apple’s launch event held on Monday. (As usual these days, it was a highly polished video stream rather than an actual live event; I attended the in-person viewing event and hands-on show at Apple Park.) up. It didn’t hold back much of the budget-priced variant, either. And a large percentage of the event is dedicated even to new capabilities of existing Apple products. Everything felt like a cornucopia in a way that I found completely surprising and refreshing.

Case in point: The new Camera Controller. It’s yet another button—you can press it with varying degrees of pressure and swipe to take photos, zoom in and out, and apply filters, among other photo functions. You can also use it to get AI-assisted information on things in the camera’s view, such as restaurant reviews or the type of dog you meet. Third-party developers like Snap have access to the button as well, allowing them to build unique features into their apps.

In my brief time with Camera Control at Apple’s demo station, its full body made the iPhone feel more like a camera than when you interact with it entirely by pointing at its screen. But the way Apple is already using the feature as a gateway to Apple Intelligence and opening it up to other app creators shows its potential to be much more than just a shutter button. It sounds like the future, and introducing it as an iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max special would probably make perfect sense.

Instead, Apple puts Camera Control on all new iPhones from the $799 iPhone 16 and up, giving you an iconic image, a distinguishing feature across the line. In addition, the company is adding last year’s Action Button to non-Pro iPhone 16 models, further erring on the side of tricking entry-level and high-end iPhones.

In the meantime, you do you need to buy an iPhone Pro to get the 5X zoom camera that debuted on last year’s iPhone Pro 15 Max. This year, however, this feature has migrated to the smaller iPhone 15 Pro as well, dropping the starting price of the iPhone 5X-zoom from $1,199 to $999.

There is more. Last year, anyone looking for an Apple Watch with a larger screen had to pony up for the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 2. This year, Apple put an even bigger display on the $429 version of the Apple Watch 10. It’s sitting in the audience. for Apple’s event, I thought this meant that the launch would include the large Apple Watch Ultra 3, which retains the bragging rights of the most expensive model of the watch. But no: For now, at least, there is no luxury tax on Apple’s largest screen watch. The company also replaced the Apple Watch’s central stainless steel case with titanium, something that was reserved for the Ultra.

On the AirPods front, Apple is launching a new version of the AirPods 4 that includes active noise cancellation—previously an AirPods Pro-only benefit—for $179. That’s $50 more than the basic AirPods 4 but $70 less than the AirPods Pro 2. Offering two variants of the AirPods Pro 4 deviates from Apple’s historical focus on keeping purchasing decisions simple, but gives price-conscious consumers the ability to get ANC at a new affordable price. the point.

Based on the traditional emphasis of Apple’s September product event on notable applications, this year’s program highlighted several new features that do not require the purchase of new hardware. Sleep apnea detection comes to last year’s Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and newer models. And the 2-year-old AirPods Pro 2 will be able to work as over-the-counter hearing aids and work with a new iPhone-based hearing test. It’s not surprising in itself that Apple continues to improve the performance of existing gadgets, but it promotes these behind-the-scenes improvements with the same exciting show as it would when selling points for its latest products.

There can be unusual fluctuations at work on mature products like the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. People like to express their displeasure with new translations: In an the Atlantic In a report titled “Another iPhone, Dear God,” Ian Bogost wrote that he found no reason in this week’s news to upgrade to his iPhone 12 Pro. According to TD Securities, iPhone buyers are now holding on to their phones for about five years, a much longer career journey than in the old days.

You could have worse problems than being satisfied with a device you got years ago (and, hopefully, paid for long ago). That’s constant satisfaction is something challenge for Apple, however. By spreading new features more widely, it can make upgrades more attractive. But it also reflects a growing enthusiasm for renewed interest in older products—something more likely than planned obsolescence is sometimes suspected of being programmed.

You were reading Plugged In,fast company’A weekly tech newsletter from me, global tech editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this issue to you—or if you read it on FastCompany.com—you can check out past issues and sign up to receive it every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Email me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters.




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