Analysis: Apple’s September 2017 Announcements (Premium)

The best and worst of Apple was on display at yesterday’s press event, a two-hour commercial for the company’s products and, in theory, its values.

These events are tough for non-sycophants such as myself. I don’t take everything Apple says at face value, as they would prefer. And I certainly don’t buy into the theory that the world’s most profitable company is in any way out to help humanity or make the world a better place. Apple makes great products, and it makes great amounts of money doing so. There’s no need to further glamorize a corporate conglomerate that, quite frankly, cares a lot less about you than you do about it.

So I’m going to skip over the hubris stuff, which was right up front and center at yesterday’s event, the ludicrous renaming of its retail stores to “town squares,” as if a monument to commerce could in any way replace the very real town squares that dot this country and other countries. Instead, I’m going to focus today on what really matters to me, and, I assume, to readers here. Whether Apple’s new products are worth a damn.

Some are. And some aren’t.

Here, I will offer a bit of commentary on yesterday’s announcements, and try to put what Apple is really doing in perspective. I’ll do so in the order in which the products were announced. Sorry.

Apple Watch Series 3

Almost 30 minutes into this rambling event, Apple finally got to its first new product of the day: A long-rumored, LTE cellular capable Apple Watch. Dubbed Apple Watch Series 3, this device utilizes exactly the same form factor as the Apple Watch Series 2, which is nice for those who “invested” in straps and accessories. But it was probably necessitated by the battery demands of this device’s new capabilities.

Apple Watch is pure Apple. By which I mean it’s a paradox, a weird combination of great style and horrific battery life. An expensive iPhone companion that is, at turns, the “best-selling watch” (whatever that means) but also not Apple’s Next Big Thing.

A couple of points about Apple Watch Series 3.

Cellular is optional. While you might assume that the very point of Series 3 is LTE cellular, it’s not. The devices replace Series 2 in the lineup (the comparatively ancient Series 1 is still available as a lower-priced, entry-level option for the less well-heeled), and only the higher-end version offers cellular capabilities.

Cellular usage is not “free” or included with your cell phone plan. Apple was cute to mention that using the new Watch over cellular wouldn’t require a new phone number (for some reason); it told the audience that it will share your existing iPhone’s phone number. What was not mentioned is that you will have to pay extra to use Apple Watch over cellular. On AT&T, for example, this feature—called NumberSync—will incur a $10 per month charge on top of your existing bill.

There’s no real onboard storage. Apple also touted how you can “stream 40 million songs from your wrist.” From Apple Music only (for now). And you have to stream, because there’s no real local storage on the Watch itself. Series 3 still provides only 2 GB of storage for music/audio.

Battery life remains an open question. Remember when Apple didn’t include 3G networking on the first iPhone because the required chips drained the battery too fast? Well, you’ll note now that Apple barely mentioned battery life during yesterday’s Series 3 intro. And when you consider that existing Watches delivers just a day of battery life, it’s reasonable to expect the LTE cellular version to be even worse. I’m curious to see real-world results.

Pricing is actually reasonable. I’d have preferred to see a Series 2 device as the entry-level $249 offering, but I suspect it is too close, performance- and style-wise to Series 3 and would draw unwelcome comparisons. That said, the pricing for Series 3—$349, or $399 for LTE cellular—is reasonable within the confines of Apple’s pricing structures.

Apple TV 4K

For me, the new Apple TV 4K is the only unadulterated win from yesterday’s event. I have been eagerly anticipating this device ever since Apple released the previous Apple TV—inexplicably without 4K support—in 2015, two long years ago. Better, this was literally the only part of the event that included an actual surprise.

A few points about the Apple TV 4K.

The form factor appears to be identical. Apple never really addressed it had changed the Apple TV firmware since the previous version, but it doesn’t appear so. Adding to this notion is the unchanged remote, the only downer in this announcement, as the Apple TV remote is terrible.

It’s not just 4K. Apple did talk this up at the show, but it’s worth pointing out that the new Apple TV 4K works with any HDTV or 4K/UHD television, but it also supports HDR for brighter, more realistic colors and greater detail. The new A10X Fusion chip in the Apple TV 4K helps make this possible; this is a big step up from the A8 in the previous-gen version.

Pricing is reasonable, storage is curious. Like its predecessor, the Apple TV 4K will be available in two storage versions, 32 GB for $179 and 64 GB for $199. Those are great prices, honestly, but the storage bit is curious as you pretty much just use it for apps. And maybe photos. You don’t download videos or TV shows to the device. I have the 32 GB Apple TV now and only use a tiny percentage of that storage.

The previous-gen Apple TV is still available. You can get the previous version of Apple TV (1080 only, no HDR) for $149 (32 GB is the only choice now).

4K content will not cost extra(!) In the only real surprise at the event, and what I will argue was, in fact, the best news of the day, Apple will not charge extra for purchased 4K/UHD/HDR content. That is, movies and TV shows in these formats will cost the same as Full HD/1080p videos did before (typically $15 or $20 for a new movie). And better still, if you purchased movies or TV shows from Apple in Full HD before, they will automatically be upgraded to 4K/UHD/HDR as those versions become available. Other service providers charge a lot of money for this kind of thing. For example, Google sells the movie King Kong: Skull Island for $19.99 in Full HD, but the 4K/UHD/HDR version is $29.99. For people who care about home entertainment, Apple’s pricing here is—yes, really—a game changer.

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Lost in all the hoopla around every annual iPhone upgrade is that Apple really milks its product designs. The firm only offered three designs over the iPhone’s entire first decade, and the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus use the same tired design that debuted way back in 2014 with the iPhone 6. That’s four years now with the same design.

This is particularly problematic when you consider that Apple is also selling a much more modern looking iPhone X now too (see below). And that Apple’s competitors, especially Samsung, are selling much more impressive and future-leaning designs as well. Even in the context of Apple’s design creep, these new iPhones lack any punch at all.

Some further thoughts about the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

They should have been called the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus. Given their derivative designs, these devices are incorrectly named. But I think I know the reason: It would have been weird for Apple to sell two families of new iPhones with version numbers (7 and 10) that far apart. When you make it 8 and 10, it’s more reasonable, and Apple can argue that the iPhone X was such an advance it necessitated that they skip 9. (I know they’re not really version numbers. Relax.)

They include more storage. Where iPhone 7/7 Plus came in 32 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB options, iPhone 8/8 Plus only offers 64 GB and 256 GB options. I am A-OK with that, to be honest. Except for one thing…

They’re more expensive. Odd that Apple never mentioned this one, but each iPhone 8 model is $50 more expensive than the iPhone 7 model it replaces. Doy! So it looks like that bump in storage isn’t free. You’re paying for it. So much for benefiting from the drop in component costs that you know Apple experiences.

There are fewer color options now. The iPhone 7 family of products shipped in Jet Black, Black, Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold versions. For iPhone 8, two of those mysteriously and silently disappear, and your only choices are Black, Silver, and Gold now. (Actually, the Product RED version is gone now, too.)

But it does have a glass back. I’m not personally a fan of glass backs, but the iPhone 8 has one. It’s for a good reason: It enables wireless charging.

Wireless charging is not included. I give Apple some credit for adopting the Qi wireless charging standard. I give Apple no credit for doing so years after everyone else adopted it. And no credit for not including or even selling its own wireless charging peripheral. It also took the odd step of showing off a future multi-device wireless charging pad it may or may not ever sell. Weird.

There are minor updates to the displays. The iPhone 8s do at least include True Tone and support a wide color gamut (but not HDR), which should improve the accuracy of the display colors. This is technology that debuted on iPad Pro and, I gotta be honest, I never notice it making a difference.

The camera is a non-event. Apple is boasting of camera improvements that include a larger, faster sensor, a new color filter, and deeper pixels.” But it’s the same 12 MP unit as last year, and OIS is only available on Plus, again. I found that camera to be really disappointing, and lighting effects in Portrait Mode, while interesting, will almost certainly just be as inaccurate from an edge detection perspective as ever.

It’s not just yesteryear’s design, it’s last year’s specs. Internally, the iPhone 8 family is basically identical to last year’s iPhone 7 family: The displays are identical beyond the True Tone bit (and low-res compared to Android flagships), the cameras are identical, Touch ID is identical, and so on. Only the CPU gets a single generation bump, from A10 to A11.

Upgrade? Put simply, if you own an iPhone 7/7 Plus, there is absolutely no reason to upgrade to this thing. But from a bigger picture perspective, I’m actually wondering now whether this will be the first generation of iPhone devices that do worse than their predecessors. The good news for Apple? The iPhone X could make up the difference.

iPhone X

The iPhone X is the iPhone everyone has been expecting for years, with an edge-to-edge OLED display and a taller aspect ratio. And there is some good news here and some bad news.

A few points.

Ignore all the nostalgia, but the iPhone X does, in fact, complete a circle of sorts. When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone, he lauded the huge touchscreen display. That tiny display is laughable today, as are its huge bezels. But the iPhone X actually realizes the dream of that original iPhone by making the front of the device, basically, all display. It also realizes Steve Jobs’ minimalist ideals by removing yet another button, the Home button, in the process.

Late to the game. Apple calls the iPhone X the future of the smartphone, but in reality, this is just Apple playing catch-up. In this case, Apple is years behind its competitors when it comes to using a next-generation edge-to-edge display with a taller aspect ratio. It’s also really late in using superior OLED technology for that display.

Not as impressive. Worse, Apple’s edge-to-edge display isn’t as technically impressive as what we see on Samsung’s Galaxy S8/S8+ and Note 8 designs, which feature curved edges too. In fact, Samsung has been doing curved edges for several years now.

Finally, a true Retina screen. Apple has been abusing the term “Retina” for years with its low-res iPhone displays. But the iPhone X finally bumps things up a notch with its 5.8-inch 2436 x 1125 display. It also features HDR, True Tone, OLED, and wide color gamut capabilities.

Facial recognition sucks. And it remains to be seen whether Apple can get this right where others (Nokia, Microsoft, Samsung, many others) have failed. I would be worried about trusting this until reviews from non-sycophants come in. (Thankfully, the old guard—Mossberg, Pogue—are long gone. We’ll get to the truth of the matter on this soon enough.)

I may not get one. I’ve only skipped two iPhone generations so far, the awful iPhone 4—thanks, Antennagate—and the iPhone 5. But I may skip out on this one too. Fortunately, I have time to make my decision, as pre-orders are over a month and a half away, and this device will be in short supply. But so far, I’m not super-impressed here. We’ll see if that changes once I get my hands on one.