By: Ali Addington, Editor-in-Chief
On Tuesday September 14, 2021, Apple announced their new lineup of products and users are not impressed to say the least.
The new iPhones are essentially the same as last year. There’s an Iphone 13 pro featuring a 6.1” screen coming in at a starting price of $999 as well as an Iphone 13 pro max with a 6.7” screen display with a base price of $1099. If that doesn’t cost enough for you, increased storage can make the 13 pro $1499 and the 13 pro max $1599. These two are available in gold, silver, graphite, as well as a new gorgeous Sierra Blue. The budget friendly options that we have seen the past few years are still available as well. The iPhone 13 starts at $799 with a 6.1” display and iPhone 13 mini starting at $699 with a 5.4” display. These two come in red, white, black, blue, and a new light pink.
So, you’re probably thinking they cost so much money, they must have some amazing features! However, unfortunately, this is the 4th year in a row that we have seen Apple release essentially the same phone for the same price. The major difference is a smaller notch at the top of the screen, a faster processor, and a slightly better camera. The 13 pro/13 pro max offer some additional camera and battery life features not seen in the 13/13 mini however, they are not worth the big price tag unless those are features that matter to you.
Apple also released a new iPad mini (finally!) If I buy anything from this drop, the new iPad will certainly be it. Users have been waiting for the full screen display to reach the minis and Apple certainly delivered. Coming in at an 8.3” display, the new tablet is offered in Space Grey, Pink, Purple, and Starlight (gold.) The base model of 64GB is offered for $499 while the 256GB is being sold for $649. With a 40% faster performance, 5G connectivity, a better camera, and all day battery life this is truly the whole package.
In addition to the iPad mini, they also announced a brand new iPad. Starting at the affordable price of $329 ($499 with upgraded 256GB storage,) the new iPad comes in a 10.2” display and is available in silver and space grey. Since this is a more affordable tablet, we can’t expect all of the crazy features seen in some of the more luxury designs. That being said, it is not full screen and still has the original home button. There is still a decent camera and it is able to use the famous apple pencil as well. Definitely the most utilitarian out of all of the products dropped, however for the low price it is a great deal!
Finally, Apple released the long awaited Apple Watch Series 7. Anyone somewhat familiar with the previous Apple Watches will notice a big difference, the new watch has a 20% bigger screen and a border decreased by 40%. This gives users the most screen for their watch. In addition to this, Apple claims that it is their most durable watch ever, however this is sort of a random claim to make without giving any other explanation, so it will be interesting to see if that is really true after users begin to use (and drop) their watches. Additionally, the watch allows users to check their blood-oxygen levels and typing for texting is also now available which is something never seen in one of their watches before. The watch will be available in midnight, starlight, green, blue, red, silver, graphite, and titanium.
While this may sound like a lot of products with cool features, it is nothing we haven’t really seen before. The iPhones are very similar to their predecessors and the iPads as well as watches haven’t changed much either. I think that there are some cool features to be excited about such as battery life, full screen iPad minis, and all of the cool colors these products come in. These, however, are not breakthroughs in technology that everyone needs and are essentially the same as the previous products.
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