Apple announced a slew of products in the Apple Keynote 2021 and the company’s conspiracy to legally rob us off our money is now set in motion.
With the iPad 9th Gen, iPad Mini 6, Apple Watch Series 7, iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, Apple has once again managed to hoodwink us into checking our bank balances and wondering whether bills are as important as people claim they are.
But whether you plan to stock all the items or not, you need to know what these products bring to the table. What they really bring is bankruptcy, but for the sake of journalism, here’s everything that Apple announced and what you get for your hard-earned pennies.
Let’s dive in.
iPad (9th Gen)
The iPad has been refreshed and sports the same trusty design of the previous base iPad lineup. However, the engineers went inside the iPad and that’s where the party is, making this model perhaps one of the best bargain for your money.
The iPad will ship with the following new features:
- A13 Bionic processor (20x faster performance)
- 12MP front facing camera
- Ultra-wide viewing angles with support for Center Stage
- True Tone for various lighting conditions
- 64GB base storage
iPad 9th-generation is available for order with shipments starting next week.
Wallet damage: Starting at $329
iPad Mini 6
The iPad Mini has finally met the treatment it deserves. With a complete design overhaul and the latest A15 Bionic chip, this is the iPad for those who want the power without the size.
Design wise, it’s now similar to the iPad Air 4, which inherited its design from the iPad Pro 2018. This means the iPad Mini has an all-new chassis with thinner bezels and no home button. Yes, it’s a modern iPad Mini and we’re all in love with it already.
Like the outside, the iPad Mini has been shown plenty of love on the inside as well.
- A15 Bionic processor with 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine
- 8.3 inches display (up from 7.9 inches while retaining the same overall footprint)
- Display with 500 nits of brightness
- P3 Wide Color and True Tone
- Apple Pencil 2 support
- USB-C
- 12MP rear camera with Focus Pixels & larger aperture
- 12MP front camera with Center Stage enabled
- Landscape stereo speakers
- 5G
The iPad Mini is now in the iPad Air and iPad Pro league. This is the iPad i’m most excited about and you can start ordering today with shipments starting next week.
Wallet damage: Starting at $499 for Wi-Fi only & $649 for Wi-Fi + Cellular
Apple Watch Series 7
If you were hoping for a flat Apple Watch design, you’re in for a rude awakening: Apple doesn’t do redesigns that easily.
Nevertheless, the Apple Watch Series 7 brings incremental changes over the series 6, and if you were on anything below series 5, the Apple Watch 7 is the one to get now.
It now comes with a bigger screen thanks to the bezels that have been pushed further outside. It has about 20% more screen real estate and 40% thinner bezels than last year’s Series 6.
- Bigger screens and size (41mm & 45mm)
- Up to 18 hours of battery life (same as Series 6)
- Same processor and sensors as Series 6
- Faster charging
- Five colors in total; black, gold, blue, red, and dark green
- WatchOS 8
You may have noticed that it took some effort to make the list above look like a list. That’s because Apple decided not to bother too much about the Watch and do something significant with it. But it’s okay; we’ll get over it soon after giving them all our money.
The Apple Watch Series 7 will available this fall.
Wallet Damage: Starting at $399
iPhone 13 & 13 Mini
The star of the show was iPhone 13, of course. A redesign might have sent us all in a frenzy, so thankfully there wasn’t one. The iPhone 13 & 13 mini, nonetheless, have some serious tricks up their sleeves, and I’m switching.
Here’s all you need to know about the starting lineup of iPhone 13 series:
- iPhone 13 mini (5.4 inch)
- iPhone 13 (6.1 inch)
- Super Retina XDR display (1200 nits of peak brightness)
- A15 Bionic with 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU & 16-core Neural Engine
- Wide camera with 1.7 µm pixels
- Cinematic video mode
- 20% smaller notch
- Bumped up battery life (1.5 hours & 2.5 hours longer than respective predecessors)
- New colors
- 128GB base storage
- New 512GB storage option
The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are the real superstars of the iPhone lineup. While the Pros will go for the Pro iPhones, the iPhone 13 and 13 mini are for the masses and I’m super excited to get my hands on it as soon as possible.
Preorders for iPhone 13 are starting this Friday and will be available to the public on September 24.
Wallet damage: iPhone 13 mini starting at $699 & iPhone 13 at $799.
iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max
ProMotion has come to iPhone. I repeat: ProMotion is now on the iPhone! The Super Retina XDR with ProMotion itself is a huge motivation to consider the iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max, but my bank balance would like to disagree.
Seriously, though, the 120Hz with variable refresh rate on the iPhone is a huge deal. To top that off, Apple is slowly and gradually putting the Pro in the Pro lineup and we’re all glad for that. For example, the camera on the iPhone 13 Pro is just insane and opens up a whole new world of possibility.
Here’s everything else the iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max will bag you:
- A15 Bionic
- 20% smaller notch
- 1200 nits Super Retina XDR display
- 120Hz ProMotion
- 6.1” and 6.7” Pro and Pro Max
- New stainless steel colors
- New triple cameras + macros from the ultrawide
- 4K 30fps ProRes video
- Bumped battery life (1.5 hours & 2.5 hours longer than respective predecessors)
- 128GB base storage
- New 1TB storage option
That sounds like a Pro smartphone. Personally, I can’t wait to see what film makers and videographers worldwide do with this camera setup.
Preorders for iPhone 13 are starting this Friday and will be available to the public on September 24.
Wallet damage: iPhone 13 Pro starting at $999 & iPhone 13 Pro Max at $1099
Can’t decide if you should Upgrade to the iPhone 13? Here’s a simple guide:
