Here’s everything Apple announced at its iPhone 14 event

Cupertino, California: Apple launched its new iPhone range, a new rugged Apple Watch Ultra and the latest generation of its wireless earbuds Airpods Pro in Wednesday, unveiling upgrades to some of its most popular devices at its first in-person product launch since the Covid-19 pandemic began.The new phone, iPhone 14, includes upgrades to cameras, including a machine-learning based image processing feature that the company said improves low light photography capabilities by 49%, and autofocus in the front camera. The iPhone 14 Pro series gets a new 48-megapixel camera.New features unveiled on the iPhone 14 are a crash detection and a significant new satellite communication-based emergency alert system. The prices of the iPhone 14 start at Rs79,900 while the iPhone 14 Pro series costs Rs1,29,900 onwards.The iPhone 14 models will test Apple’s ability to make money at a time when inflation has been high in many markets. The iPhone 14 Plus model will have a larger screen like Apple’s iPhone Pro models but the same A15 processor chip as the previous iPhone 13.The emergency SOS service will allow people to update their location or communicate with emergency services using satellite connectivity even when they have no mobile phone or WiFi network. For the feature, the company has set up a new emergency response infrastructure, which will relay SOS messages to the nearest first responders. This will go Live in the US and Canada for now, with two years subscription bundled. Global rollout is not clear.The iPhone 14 Pro now features a pill-shaped cut-out in the screen for front camera and sensors, and will integrate with apps for notifications and functionality, which should help it merge better with the interface.The company also upgraded the Airpods Pro, the wireless earbuds with active noise cancelling. The new generation product now includes an H2 chip with new low distortion drivers and amplifiers. The earbuds now feature improved noise cancellation, including a new personalisation option that the company said takes into account user ear shapes, and a new adaptive “transparency mode” that cuts out harsh ambient noises.Another brand new product is the Apple Watch Ultra, a rugged watch for athletes and outdoor adventure enthusiasts. The larger 47mm watch features a titanium case and has special features for divers, a dual-frequency global positioning system (GPS) link. The new watch is set to cost Rs89,900 in India.But significant upgrades were also announced in its existing Apple Watch line-up, which now introduces the Series 8. These included a new car crash detection, which uses new accelerometers and multiple motion sensors to determine when someone has suddenly experienced a physical impact typical of a car crash.The watch will then proceed to call emergency services. Apple says the algorithms have been trained on a million crash test data sets.Additionally, the company rolled out new health tracking features in the Series 8 aimed at helping women better track their menstrual cycles. The new version of the existing Watch line-up features new temperature sensors that will help determine ovulation retrospectively.Apple said it does not have the key to decrypt health data such as cycle tracking.

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Vishal Mathur is Technology Editor for Hindustan Times. When not making sense of technology, he often searches for an elusive analog space in a digital world.
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