Apple's big annual "It’s Glowtime" event for 2024 has just concluded, giving brand enthusiasts and technology fans a preview of the new and upcoming Apple products about to hit our shelves. The main event this year was the new iPhone 16 line, plus upgrades to the basic AirPods to include noise-cancelling, the Apple Watch Series 10 with a bigger display, tweaks to some existing lines, iOS18, and a lot more Artificial Intelligence. Here at BetterRoaming we watched the whole show so you don’t have to, and here are your need-to-know highlights.
Meet the new iPhone - iPhone 16
The biggest hardware launch was the iPhone 16, arriving in a fanfare of eye-catching new colors, a new camera, an action button, and overall bigger screens.
This new premium flagship smartphone will be available as a regular base edition, as well as Plus, Pro, and Pro Max variants – the primary difference being size and screen quality. The iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch screen and the Pro Max a 6.9-inch, both significantly bigger than previous generations, which Apple CEO and host of the Glowtime event Tim Cook enthusiastically called “by far our best iPhone displays ever.”
Less is More
Cook also said the new iPhone has the “thinnest borders on any Apple product... the titanium is nearly half the weight of stainless steel and is more scratch resistant than other forms of titanium others have used.”
Bigger screens on thinner phones usually mean a tradeoff in battery life, but apparently that’s not a problem for this new gen, as Tim added that the iPhone 16 Pro Max has “the best iPhone battery life ever.”
Processing Powerhouse
Under the hood, the new iPhone Pro models will be running an A18 Pro chip with second-gen 3-nanometer transistors and a new 16-core neural engine. That probably doesn’t mean a lot to most of us, but this is the hardware that Apple says handles all the new AI features, specifically the generative workloads. We’ll take a closer look at Apple Intelligence in just a minute. The A18 Pro chip is also what enables the enhanced photo features, including the new 48-megapixel ultrawide ‘fusion camera’ which can take a photo in half the time of the previous models, and can telephoto zoom up to 5x for more detail in your closeups and wide shots.
For videos, the iPhone 16 boasts 4K at 120 frames per second, which is the highest resolution and frame rate on an iPhone yet, which is great if you want maximum details and don’t mind giant file sizes. If you’re shooting your masterpiece movie, then the Pro model also comes with four built in ‘studio quality’ microphones that can use AI to identify and record different elements (such as speech, music and background) as different tracks.
Smart Operator
Along with new hardware, a big part of Glowtime 2024 was dedicated to the new Apple iOS 18. This has been around for a few months as a beta, but the show confirmed it would be fully released later in September. The update is set to add many new features and improvements to existing iPhones, including added customization options for the home and lock screen and Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging compatibility.
SIMs Here to Stay. For now.
Something that we at BetterRoaming were quick to spot about all four new iPhone models is that they all still come with nano-SIM card trays. Two years ago, Apple revealed the iPhone 14 which removed the physical SIM entirely in the U.S. market, giving a big boost to the adoption of digitally embedded SIM (eSIM) cards. Apple took the bold move to switch to eSIMs for the advantages in security over a physical SIM, the ease of carrier switching, and a host of other eSIM benefits that BetterRoaming will be happy to tell you all about. However, as certain parts of the world still restrict the use of eSIMs, Apple has since gone back to including physical SIM trays, as it does with the iPhone 16. As eSIMs increasingly become the standard form of connecting devices to networks, you can expect future iPhones to eventually do away with the SIM tray altogether. Just not quite yet.
Apple Intelligence
Arguably the biggest excitement at Glowtime 2024 was not even hardware related but was about the new artificial intelligence features branded as ‘Apple Intelligence’. These features are being launched with the iPhone 16 series but are set to spread to almost all of Apple’s devices ‘wherever you type’ as Craig Federighi, Apple Vice President of Software put it. Commentators thought that Apple Intelligence might have been a new subscription-based tier of iCloud, but it was revealed at the show by Craig that it’d be free to all users of compatible iPhones from 16 onwards, and would be available on iPad with the iPadOS 18.1 update, Mac with the M1 chip, and later on the macOS Sequoia 15.1 update.
Apple Intelligence tools include a smarter and more contextually aware Siri, automated notification summaries, powerful generative writing-assistance tools, and automatically generating unique emoji as you type which Apple is calling ‘Genmoji’.
Apple Watch 10
Fans and enthusiasts were excited to see that the new base-model Apple Watch 10 offers a bigger and brighter screen, a thinner body, finer bevel, new colors, and a titanium finish. While not a massive departure from previous generations of Apple Watch, it has had some general quality-of-life improvements, including an updated design that makes the whole body thinner while expanding the face by another precious millimeter. Slightly less impressive was the feature of enabling the Apple Watch 10’s very tiny speakers play music and podcasts out loud.
Though the highly anticipated Watch Ultra 3 didn’t debut, the Ultra 2 got a sleek new finish and an exclusive Hermès strap. For parents thinking about safety and connectivity, BetterRoaming’s Apple Watch For Your Kids cellular plans offer an excellent solution. With seamless eSIM connectivity, these plans allow your children to stay connected during school, sports, or even at play, which gives you peace of mind while they enjoy their new Apple Watch.
Noise Cancelling AirPods
There was also an upgrade for the base-model of Apple’s AirPods, which now comes in two versions. The regular AirPods 4 seem to promise performance and features closely comparable to the previous gen, with some comfort and charging-case improvements. However, the AirPods 4 earbuds will also come in a slightly-higher-tier model with Active Noise Cancellation, which is the first time ANC has been available at the more affordable end of Apples audio range. This is a feature that’s been tried with mixed levels of success by other brands for ‘hard’ earbuds without silicone tips, so it will be interesting to see how well the AirPods 4 deal with noisy environments. AirPods Max are also getting a minor update, with five new colors and a handy (and EU friendly) USB-C charging port. Meanwhile, the AirPods Pro 2 are broadening their appeal with a new built-in Hearing Aid feature, with accompanying Hearing Test app for calibration.
Glowtime – Apple Event 2024 in Summary
From a consumer perspective, the overarching theme of the show was that Apple Intelligence will be everywhere, along with sleeker hardware, more comfort, and better battery life – all of which is good news for the everyday user. Being able to move, work and travel with ever greater ease is ideal, although even the best Apple devices are only as good as the network connection backing them up.
Travel eSIMs for your new iPhones
For digital natives, frequent travelers, or just people who want to get the best out of their iPhones and wearables, BetterRoaming eSIMs are a game-changer.
No more dropped networks, unstable data rates, hunting for Wi-Fi while travelling or painful roaming charges. A BetterRoaming eSIM downloaded directly to your iOS or Android smartphone allows you to switch to a fast local data plan, at home and aboard. This means you can enjoy affordable internet access, stay connected with loved ones back home, and use all your gadget’s most advanced features without breaking the bank. Plus, you can keep your home phone number active for calls and texts, ensuring seamless communication.
Check whether your iOS or Android smartphone is eSIM compatible, check our guide on eSIM compatible devices.
