Apple Inc. today unveiled a powerful new mobile chip called the A17 Pro, based on cutting-edge three-nanometer silicon technology, that will power its new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max lineup.

Alongside the new chip and the “prosumer” phones, the company also announced at its “Wanderlust” press event today the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, which will be powered by the A16 chip, as well as the next generation of Apple Watches, the Series 9, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with larger more rugged displays.

The A17 Pro chip

Described as a truly “pro-class” silicon chip, the A17 Pro chip is being brought to power the top-tier prosumer iPhone 15 lineup that Apple said is the industry’s first three-nanometer process chip.

It contains more than 19 billion transistors and features a new six-core central processing unit design with two performance cores. Apple said the entire chip has been redesigned from the A16, representing a 10% performance increase in performance over the last generation’s CPU.

A great deal of attention was also put into the chip’s graphics processing unit. It enables new features such as hardware-enabled ray-tracing that unlocks high-performance gaming capabilities that are four times faster than software-based ray tracing.

The A17 Pro also includes specialized hardware engines for media decoding such as an AV1 decoder, which enables better smoother video streaming on device. It also has a dedicated ProRes engine that works with the iPhone 15 Pro’s camera system. By combining this processing capability and the chip’s other capabilities, it can deliver stunning photography visuals and video.

A new onboard USB controller also makes it possible to move data faster at USB 3 speeds when connecting a USB cable. It allows users to support transfer speeds and video output up to 4K at 60 frames per second using high definition.

That’s because USB-C connectivity is coming to the iPhone 15 family after Apple has been long reluctant to adopt it in its phones over the Lightning connector. The change was expected to come soon as European legislators forced the issue in October with a vote calling upon all manufacturers to use USB-C charging on portable devices by the end of 2024.

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro lineup

The new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus start off the consumer-focused models Apple announced today and feature color-infused back glass with a matte finish built on an aluminum enclosure. The new phones also now take advantage of the “Dynamic Island,” a design feature first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro.

The dynamic island feature removes what was the “notch” at the top of the phone that contained the front-facing selfie camera and sensors and transforms it into a pill-shaped region that is part of the display. It’s dynamic because now developers can use it to display and reveal important information – for example, notifications, battery power of other devices and flight information.

The two phones are available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes for iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, respectively, along with a Super Retina XDR display with a peak high-definition resolution brightness of 1600 nits. And when it’s bright and sunny outside, peak outdoor brightness is capable of reaching up to 2000 nits, which is twice as bright as the previous-generation screen.

The line has an emergency capability that can connect to satellites with the Emergency SOS system, currently available in 14 countries, that is being expanded to Spain and Switzerland later this month. The same system is being expanded to allow users without cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity in the U.S. to call for roadside assistance in partnership with the American Automobile Association. The new service is included for free for two years with a new iPhone 15.

As mentioned above, the iPhone 15 lineup has a new way for people to charge and transfer data via USB-C connectors, which is the new universally accepted standard. The same cable already works for Mac, iPad and the updated AirPods Pro, which means that users can connect to and charge with these devices with their new iPhone 15.

All models of the iPhone 15 also feature a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, which enables high-precision location finding using the Find My feature. Two iPhones equipped with the chip can locate each other in a crowd with an easy-to-read interface that displays a direction finder and a distance.

The iPhone 15 and Plus have a 48-megapixel main camera that is capable of capturing high-resolution photos using a quad-pixel sensor with fast-autofocus. Using the A16 processor and computational photography, it can provide 24-megapixel super-high-resolution photos at a reasonable file size. The phone also features a new Portrait mode that uses machine learning to detect if there’s a person, dog or cat in the frame, or when a person taps to focus, the iPhone automatically captures depth information, which can be adjusted after a shoot.

The iPhone 15 and Plus comes with a price tag of $799 and $899 respectively. They can be pre-ordered on Friday and will become available starting September 22.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are prosumer models that are made out of aerospace grade titanium, a strong, but lightweight metal frame. The new model also changes an old feature, the “ring silence switch” on the side into an action button instead. Users can now press the button to choose state and it responds with a haptic bump to confirm. The button can be personalized to choose between different actions such as quickly accessing the camera, activating flashlight, voice memos, focus mode or other features.

Comping later this year, the iPhone 15 Pro will enable users to capture “spatial video” that can be replayed in the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality goggles. Users will be able to use their iPhone to record immersive videos in three dimensions and then don their Vision Pro and watch them when the device is available in the U.S. early next year.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max also now support Wi-Fi 6E, which allows for increased wireless performance, which means much faster data transfer speeds when connected to home and business networks. The phones are also equipped with the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, and use ultra precision finding with the Find My network.

The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $999, with upgrade options for higher memory, and iPhone Pro Max starts at $1,199. Both phones are available for pre-order on Friday and will ship on Sept. 22.

Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2

Continuing its dedication to health and fitness, Apple today introduced it’s Apple Watch Series 9, the newest in its lineup that includes the new S9 SiP chip that introduces new features and increased performance including a double-tap gesture.

The new Series 9 is powered by all-new custom silicon, the S9 SiP, a watch chip that contains a four-core Neural Engine. Apple said that it can process machine learning tasks twice as fast compared to the Series 8 and provides power efficiency to maintain all-day 18-hour battery life.

Apple Watch already enables a lot of different gestures, but what makes the new Series 9 so interesting is the new “double-tap” gesture. Users simply tap their index finger and thumb together twice rapidly without touching the display and it performs an action as if hitting the primary button on an app. That’s made possible by using machine learning algorithms within the S9, which processes data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and blood flow sensor to detect subtle changes in wrist movements.

The watch also comes with a much brighter display than before, capable of reaching 2000 nits, double that of the Series 8, which makes it much easier to see the display even in bright sunlight. Also, in dark rooms or early morning, the display can be lowered to an extremely dim one nit of brightness.

With the power of the S9 chip, it is also possible to do machine learning functions on device, which means that Siri no longer needs to rely on the cloud for the first time for many requests. For example, requests for starting a timer or a workout, Siri no longer need access to Wi-Fi or a cellular network, which means a faster more reliable response.

The use of on-device processing also means that that personal data is more secure and Siri can be used to access health and fitness data without users worrying that it’s being shared with third parties when asking Siri questions about it. This means that users can query Siri about how well they slept the previous evening, their weight or their fitness progress and not need to worry that their information is being sent out to the cloud or being perused by a corporate entity.

The Apple Watch Series 9 comes with a price tag of $399 and can be ordered today, with availability in stores starting Sept. 22.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the much more ruggedized version of the Apple Watch and it also features the S9, with everything that provides to the Series 9. Alongside that it gets a much longer 36-hour battery life on regular use and up to 72 hours in low-power mode.

The Ultra 2’s display is even bigger than before and brighter. It can reach a maximum brightness of 3,000 nits, which is 50% brighter than the original Ultra, which means that it should be easily visible even in the harshest and brightest sunlight. And, just like the Series 9, it can be dimmed down to one nit for dark rooms so that it doesn’t disturb other people.

Apple also designed a new watch face that takes advantage of the larger display called Modular Ultra. It uses the outermost edge to display real-time data for users including seconds, altitude or depth information. For the type of rugged, power users who might go out camping, climbing and adventuring it offers the most complications of any Apple digital watch face that can be customized for sports, outdoors and other activities.

And speaking of those activities, Apple boasted that it has been tested for high altitudes up to 9,000 meters and down to 500 meters below sea level – as well as up to 40 meters of depth in water.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 costs $799 can be ordered today and will be available in stores starting on Sept. 22.

Images: Apple