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September has a special kind of importance, particularly in the northern hemisphere. The ninth month of the year means the return to school, the change of seasons, the autumn equinox. From an early age we are in tune with these rhythms, and then, sometime in adulthood, all the Other Things that occupy our brain space silence them. Unless you work in technology, like to read about technology, or are employed to write about technology. In that case, September is for tech events: Apple events.
For more than a decade, Apple has hosted a “special event” in September, capitalizing on those feelings of starting from scratch and introducing its new products long before the critical holiday shopping season. The scene stealer is supposed to be the iPhone. Over the years, more product categories have appeared on stage, such as watches, headphones, tablets, and a smart speaker. But the iPhone is September and September is the iPhone.
I probably don’t need to tell you that this year is different. There are no predictable rhythms. We are groping our way through a global pandemic, while millions of people are in financial distress and the western United States, Apple’s backyard, is literally on fire. Apple executives have already warned that this year’s new iPhone would be delayed for a few weeks until October. The information, shared in the company’s latest earnings call, was unsurprising and symbolically jarring – one more “thing” for the pandemic era.
Still… Apple is hosting an event next week. The event will be live streamed and hosted virtually, like the software conferences we attended at Zoom and WebEx and Teams this spring. The event is unlikely to focus on the new iPhones, but there are other products that Apple will want us to pay attention to, with what little attention we have left.
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The digital invitations sent by Apple contained the phrase “Time flies,” a not-so-subtle reference to clocks. Bloomberg It has also reported that new Apple watches are in the works.
Yes, watches in the plural: Expect a new watch that showcases some kind of new technology and ranks at the top of the Apple Watch price structure; as well as a lower cost model, which could replace the Apple Watch Series 3. The Apple Watch has become, in a relatively short period of time, one of the best-selling watches in the world and is an important part of suggest that all your gadgets should work perfectly. But it’s also a popular health tracker, with this year’s top model rumored to include a blood oxygen sensor.
A new iPad is also expected to be revealed, a next-generation iPad Air with a design that looks more like the iPad Pro. Apple’s notable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that some kind of 10.8-inch iPad It would hit the market in the second half of 2020, along with a new iPad mini in the following months.
The big question is how, exactly, will Apple distinguish something like this sleek new Air from the 11-inch iPad Pro. Reports suggest that Touch ID will get some kind of makeover, be it an in-screen touch sensor or one built into the iPad’s touch power button. (Ideally the new iPad would also have a centered front camera when the iPad is in landscape mode, which would make it much better for video chats, but that’s just one feature on my personal wish list and is not based on any evidence).
September is also usually when Apple releases the final versions of the new software it showed off at WWDC in the spring. At this point, the official release date for iOS 14 is unclear, as the new iPhones won’t be released until October. But millions of people will continue to update to the latest version of iOS on their “old” phones, so Apple may keep the software version consistent with previous years.
