Apple event – as it happened: iPhone 13, new Watch and iPad unveiled as devices hit by major problem
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Your support makes all the difference.Apple has unveiled a host of new products in another of its live streamed virtual events.
The headliner of the 14 September Apple Event was without doubt the new range of iPhones – iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max – which Apple described as its best and most powerful handsets to date.
The new Apple Watch Series 7 was also revealed, featuring a screen that curves around the edge of the watch face, as well as a new iPad.
New updates to Apple Fitness+ and new shows for Apple TV+ were also unveiled, plus details about the new operating systems for the Apple Watch, iPad and iPhone.
Rumours suggested that the company was preparing to launch new AirPods, though these did not materialise.
The online live stream of the event can be viewed right here, as well as covered, as it happened, in our live blog below.
Apple event begins
And we’re off. We open to a violinist on a sand dune, before switching to a drummer on a broadwalk.
“California Soul” is playing and every shot is a different view of the beautiful state.
Apple event stream is live!
And just like that, the stream goes live.
There’s just the usual ambient music for now, playing over an image of a glowing Apple logo floating over a lake.
It’s slowly zooming out.
Apple event stream countdown begins
Apple has begun the official countdown for the live stream launching. You’ll find it just above this blog if you scroll up slightly.
There’s roughly five minutes to go.
Protests cloud Apple’s biggest event of the year
Privacy campaigners have been making their voices heard ahead of today’s event, with a number of protests taking place outside Apple Stores last night.
They relate to controversies over privacy and monopoly power – in particular the Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) system that was set to be implemented in iOS 15.
Protesters held up signs saying ‘No spyware on our phones, ever’, and ‘Hey Tim #NoSpyPhone’.
Here’s what one of the leading advocacy groups had to say:
The night before Apple’s much-hyped iPhone 13 rollout tomorrow, the company is facing protests at its retail stores across the US. Organized by Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a network of volunteers, the protests are demanding that Apple permanently shelve their dangerous proposal to install photo and message scanning malware on millions of people’s devices. The company already announced it was delaying the misguided proposal after widespread backlash from security experts and human rights experts. Protesters are calling on them to publicly commit to never implementing it.
We’ll find out soon if Apple have an update on any of this.
T-minus 30 minutes
Less than half an hour to go until the event gets underway...
Tim Cook posts from... somewhere?
Tim Cook always posts on the morning of the Apple events. But he doesn’t usually post like this:
What does it mean? Is the video going to move from the usual Apple Park location?
It’s a little redolent of the invitation, which also included an outdoor, Californian vista, as well as the tagline “California Streaming”:
It’s a mystery. But one we probably won’t have to wait more than a couple of hours to solve.
Apple Store goes down
As is tradition, the Apple Store has gone down ahead of the event. Visitors are just told to come back later:
Apple always does that before a siginficant new product launch, so it doesn’t tell us anything much. (It only means something is coming...)
It will probably go back online as soon as the event is over, probably with new details about the iPhone and everything else.
Cheaper iPad rumoured to be arriving today
There’s only a few hours before we actually find out, but the rumours are still coming fast. The latest is that the cheaper iPad will be getting an update today, too.
That’s according to the the Weibo account @PandaIsBald, which has accurately leaked Apple information in the past, and reported by Macrumors.
None of the changes are likely to be especially exciting: it will probably get a speed bump and other small improvements, while keeping its current design, which is rounded with a TouchID button, unlike the rest of the iPads.
The update and the timing would make sense given that event comes as people are headed back to school, and the model has traditionally been focused on students and others who are keen for a relatively low-cost entry into the iPad range.
With just hours before the event begins, Apple has released an urgent security update for all of its devices. The patch fixes a flaw that could allow take over an iPhone, iPad or Mac – without the user even needing to do anything.
Even before the latest news, Apple has had a busy run up to today’s event. A couple of weeks ago, it said it was delaying a very public – and much criticised – plan to fight child abuse on its platforms by scanning images; days ago, the judgement in its trial against Epic was released, which Apple hailed as a win but is nonetheless not entirely positive.
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