California Streaming recap: Everything you need to know

September 14, 2021

As you probably know, Apple announced a lot of new stuff today. We have the rundown on all the major products and announcements.

Did you see the presentation? I thought it was pretty fantastic. What a great showcase for California it was. I actually live here, and it's always surprising how much better it looks on video.

I really enjoyed the product videos, which were as jaw-dropping as ever. Apple just can't be matched in this arena. The videos are always amazing, with superb cinematography, transitions and effects. I mean, just check out the opening shot of a zipper in this iPad mini promo. The humor is great, too. A couple of them made me LOL.

Out of everything, I personally was most impressed by Cinematic mode, a new AI-powered focus effect for video on iPhone 13. Don't get me wrong, the new hardware looks amazeballs, but the AI smarts built into the camera heralds a brand new era in AI, and I'm all for it.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

Apple surprised us several times during its September product launch event. There was a lot to love ... but not everything. Here are the high and low points of Tuesday’s “California Streaming” event.

The wait for iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max is over. Apple unveiled its newest flagships with faster ProMotion displays that can reach 120Hz, an even faster A15 Bionic chipset, and big camera improvements for both photos and videos.

These are not the simple “speed bump” updates some expected. Apple built significant enhancements into these two models, including a smaller notch, better cameras, more storage and a faster processor. And all without increasing the prices.

The depth-of-field effect creates amazing focus transitions between subjects. Apple basically built an AI cinematographer into the iPhone 13.

As expected, the new Apple Watch Series 7 features a bigger, brighter display and slimmer bezels. Fortunately, that’s about the only thing the rumors got right. Mockups suggesting the new wearable would come with clunky, flat sides turned out to be way off the mark.

Apple caught many people by surprise by launching the iPad 9 on Tuesday. The budget tablet packs twice the storage capacity of its predecessor and a faster processor, too. Plus, an upgraded front-facing camera makes this a better option for video conferencing.

It sports a gorgeous new design inspired by iPad Pro, an edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display, and a blazing-fast A15 Bionic chip with 5G connectivity. It’s the only compact tablet worth your hard-earned cash.

If there’s one thing you can expect from a new Apple product release, it’s a lot of impressive facts and figures.

The moment we’ve been waiting for since June is almost here. Apple seeded Release Candidates for iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and tvOS 15 to developers Tuesday. This means the beta-testing process is almost over. The final versions could reach users in a week.

Tweet o' the day

One more thing ...

"You're asking, where does aesthetic judgment come from? With many things -- high-performance automobiles, for example -- the aesthetic comes right from the function, and I suppose electronics is no different. But I've also found that the best companies pay attention to aesthetics. They take the extra time to lay out grids and proportion things appropriately, and it seems to pay off for them. I mean, beyond the functional benefits, the aesthetic communicates something about how they think of themselves, their sense of discipline in engineering, how they run their company, stuff like that." -- Steve Jobs

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