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Two good: Apple unveils biggest iPhone, ECG-capable watch

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Philip W. Schiller, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing of Apple, speaks about the new Apple iPhone XR at an Apple Inc product launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.- Reuters

Philip W. Schiller, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing of Apple, speaks about the new Apple iPhone XR at an Apple Inc product launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.- Reuters

Apple Park, California - New flagships, including 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max, to have up to 512GB of storage.

Published: Thu 13 Sep 2018, 12:00 AM

Updated: Tue 23 Oct 2018, 1:49 AM

  • By
  • Alvin R. Cabral

Amid all the speculation on more products that could be announced, Apple kept it rather simple this time: it was all about two products "that are with us all the time".
The tech giant on Wednesday unveiled new iPhones and Watch, bringing the curtain down on speculation that started almost instantly after the launch of last year's iPhone X.
As expected, Apple rolled out three new flagships, starting with the iPhone XS and XS Max, which have an OLED display of 5.8 inches and 6.5 inches, respectively. The latter is now Apple's biggest smartphone by far. The direct successors to last year's 10th anniversary edition iPhone X have the new A12 Bionic chip, the first 7-nanometer chip on such a device.
Apple promises more powerful performance; while the A11 chip could perform 600 billion operations per second, the A12 has the ability for five trillion.
Token upgrades were made to its dual-SIM camera, with the most notable additions being the ability to adjust the depth of field of a picture after it is taken, and the news Smart HDR feature, which basically takes multiple shots of a scene then picks the best ones and merges them.
It will come in three storage configurations, 64GB, 256GB and a new 512GB option. The iPhone XS will start at $999, while the XS Max will start at $1,099. Pre-orders start on September 14 and shipping begins on September 21. Once again, the UAE will be one of the first markets to get first crack at the devices.
Meanwhile, the iPhone XR was touted as a more budget-friendly device. The new Liquid Retina display, which Apple described as the best LCD on a smartphone, was one of the new innovations on it.
Upgrades were also made to its interface and camera. It comes in three storage options - 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. It ships on October 26 and starts at $749.
Apple also unveiled its newest wearable, the Apple Watch Series 4. But in a little surprise, it was bigger than speculated: they now come in 40mm and 44mm - against the earlier 38 mm and 44mm - with screens 35 per cent and 32 per cent bigger, respectively, more than double the anticipated 15 per cent.
A key addition to the new watch is its electrocardiogram (ECG) capability, making it the first over-the-counter ECG device for consumers. It will now be able to also measure low heart rate and detect falls - which would then contact emergency services - plus have a new processor that promises two times faster performance.

iPhone XS

>Made of surgical steel, gold finish on metal and glass back
>New A12 bionic chip made on 7nm processor    
>Gigabit Lte, dual SIM-card support  
>5.8-inch screen on XS and Max with 6.5-inch display    
>Can accommodate up to 512GB of internal storage    
>Improved augmented reality features  
>E-SIM technology that currently is in Apple Watches, cellular iPads

Apple Watch Series 4

>Can start an emergency call after a fall is detected    
>Can detect irregular heartbeat, low heart rate    
>Allows users to take electrocardiogram 

iPhone XR

>Made of aluminium in white, black, blue, coral, yellow and red finishes    
>Features edge-to-edge screen    
>6.1-inch display    
>Single-lens camera system  
>64GB, 128GB and 256GB
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com
 
(Reporting from Apple Park, Cupertino)
 



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