Apple’s September 10th event is official, and although Apple didn’t include much on the invite apart from a cryptic “This should brighten everyone’s day” tagline, it’s next to confirmed that the company will be launching new iPhones at the event.
But as we know, Apple queues up a lot of announcements for a single event, and here’s what we can expect from the event based on all the rumors and speculations we’ve heard so far.
Stats and Numbers:
Apple tends to reveal key numbers during quarterly financial results and at special media events. So we expect Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to be the first to take the stage and reveal a lot of stats and numbers related to the entire ecosystem of Apple’s products. Apple didn’t launch any major product at WWDC to consumers apart from the MacBook Air, so we expect these numbers to focus on Apple Stores, and the overall momentum of iOS and Mac in their respective markets.
iBooks
A few days ago, the iBooks preview page suggested that iBooks Author books might soon work on the iPhone, in addition to the iPad. If this is indeed true, we expect Apple to announce a major iBooks update for iPhone at the event, with its shipping date aligned with the release of iOS 7.
iOS 7
iOS 7 is Apple’s biggest change to iOS ever since the introduction of the original iPhone, with a complete visual overhaul and a number of feature additions like smarter multitasking, Activation Lock etc. A preview of the OS was given at WWDC in June, and registered developers were given early access to the betas so that they have their apps ready for iOS 7 when it’s publicly released.
We expect Apple’s marketing chief Phil Schiller or software chief Craig Federighi to briefly talk about iOS 7 and its features, and announce a release date for the update, which will likely be around the time the iPhone 5S goes on sale.
iTunes and iTunes Radio
iTunes Radio is Apple’s brand-new free but ad-supported music streaming service. The service was announced at WWDC, but hasn’t shipped yet to users. We expect Apple to publicly release a new version of iTunes, currently in beta, with iTunes Radio, support for the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C and other iOS devices running iOS 7.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, will most likely take the stage to talk about these features.
Apple TV Software
A rumor earlier this week suggested that Apple could introduce new Apple TV hardware at its September 10th press event, but what’s more likely is that the company announces new software for the device, which is already in beta. The release includes support for iTunes Radio, a new conference display mode, an easy NFC-like pairing mechanism with iPhone and more.
New iPhones
For the first time ever, Apple is rumored to announce not one but two new iPhones at an event. The first one is, of course the iPhone 5S, the successor to the iPhone 5, which will come with these features and improvements:
- An 8MP camera with an improved f/2.0 aperture for better low-light photos. A dual LED flash, and a separate chip for motion tracking.
- A key differentiator of the iPhone 5S from the iPhone 5 will be the fingerprint sensor, which will let users unlock their phones without entering passcodes.
- Leaked components have suggested that in addition to white and black, the iPhone 5S will also be available in graphite and gold.
For more, check out our detailed iPhone 5S rumor roundup.
In addition to the iPhone 5S, Apple is also rumored to launch an all-new mid-range iPhone with a plastic body to be a part of the growth this segment is poised to witness. Here’s what we know about the iPhone 5C
- The device will feature a polycarbonate casing to keep costs low, but not lose out on the premium feel associated with the iPhone.
- It will most likely come with the same internals as the iPhone 5 — an A6 chip with 1GB RAM, an 8MP rear camera, 4G support etc.
- Colors will be an important feature of the iPhone 5C. In fact, the “C” in the iPhone 5C is said to stand for color.
- Although Apple’s said to want a share of the exponential growth seen in the budget smartphone category, the iPhone 5C will actually be a mid-range device priced around $400 off-contract.
For more info on the iPhone 5C, check our detailed iPhone 5C rumor roundup.
Ever since Steve Jobs passed away, Phil Schiller has been in-charge of coming up on stage and announcing new hardware products, and we think this time won’t be any different. If there are some iPhone 5S-only features in iOS 7, we expect Craig Federighi to come up on stage and talk about them.
This will be the largest section of the event, and will be concluded with pricing and availability information, and possibly a video led by Jony Ive talking about the plastic on the iPhone 5C.
What won’t be announced
There have been a lot of product-related rumors in these past months, but Apple is unlikely to announce any product refreshes for the following categories:
- iPads: A lighter and narrower iPad 5 and a new iPad mini are expected to be unveiled later this year, but not during this event.
- OS X Mavericks: While Mavericks was announced alongside iOS 7 at WWDC, lack of engineering resources have pushed back the new OS X release to October.
- As we noted above, an Apple TV hardware upgrade is unlikely.
- Mac: There have been a few rumors about a MacBook Pro refresh with newer Haswell processors in September, but the frequency and certainity of these rumors aren’t as high as those for the iPhone. It’s also not clear when will Apple put the new Mac Pro on sale.
- Rumors haven’t included any pointers to new iPods either. And don’t get your hopes up for the iWatch or the full-fledged Apple Television.
Wrap up
We expect the event flow to be very similar to previous events, where Tim Cook starts off the event by talking about numbers, calls up Phil Schiller to announce new products, who in turn calls Craig Federighi to talk about software, followed by a video featuring Jony Ive, Bob Masnfield talking about the just-announced hardware. The event is then concluded by Tim Cook, who summarizes all that was announced in the past hour and talks about the uniqueness at Apple which enables the company to ship such products.
