Apple CEO Tim Cook raised the curtain on the next suite of smartphones, the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and a super thin iPhone Air that’s one of the biggest advances in the company’s signature product in years. Redesigned AirPods and upgraded Apple Watches were also featured at the company’s annual product launch today.
The iPhone Air is just 5.6 mm thick. The newest member of the iPhone family is extremely powerful but so thin and light it seems to disappear in your hands, Cook said in a presentation at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park. The company unveils its new September rollouts this time each year from its Cupertino, California headquarters.
The iPod Air is made of titanium, 80% recycled, polished to a high gloss and extremely durable with ceramic shield protection around the whole phone. It has a larger 6.5-inch display and a new modem that uses 30% less power.
The 17 Pro is the most powerful iPhone ever, the company said. Cameras includes a separate telephoto lens and something called Center Stage, which switches automatically from portrait to landscape without having to rotate the device. It also allows users capture video from the rear and front camera at the same time. A new technology diffuses heat to make the phone cooler to hold during extended use.
Battery life is longer on all three new models, durability is greater. The Pro retails for $1,099, the iPhone 17 for $799. The Air sits in between at $999. All will be available Sept. 19.
Apple has made a big push in health and wellness features over the years. Among other offerings, the AppleWatch SE 3 tracks overnight data like heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep duration and wrist temperature — the latter helpful in a Cycle Tracking app that can “provide a retrospective estimate of when you likely ovulated, which can be helpful for family planning,” the Apple website notes. The new model features alerts if it detects signs of hypertensions, or high blood pressure.
There are new band styles from Nike and Hermes.
AirPods Pro 3, the latest, feature enhanced in-ear active noise cancellation, enhanced sound quality and also now offer live translation across languages. So if someone is speaking to you in another language the pods will translate directly into your ear. They have an improved battery life and a new heart rate sensor to use during workouts. The pods fit better after much new research into the various shapes of the human ear canal, Apple said.
While Apple remains a juggernaut, it has not had as many dramatic leaps forward in terms of product innovation during the leadership of CEO Tim Cook compared with the Steve Jobs era. Since taking the helm of the company in 2011, Cook has presided over the launch of new offerings like the Apple Watch and AirPods, but neither has moved the needle the way the original iPhone, iPod or iPad did in years past. The Vision Pro virtual reality headset, which debuted in early 2024, has been a flop.
