Apple announces iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4 and more

Apple just announced the iPhone 16, which it says was built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence.

The new iPhone has:

• Aerospace-grade aluminum
• 85% recycled content in the enclosure
• Two size options, 6.1 inches for iPhone 16 and 6.7 inches for iPhone 16 Plus
• Customizable action buttons (for example, flashlight at night and calendar during day)
• All-new camera control to provide instant access to camera with one click, as well as the ability to adjust various camera features using a finger
• A brand-new A18 chip created for iPhone 16, optimized for running large generative models and with a 2x faster neural engine

Apple said the new A18 chip created for iPhone 16 has 3-nanometer technology and four efficiency cores, which are used in nearly every experience on iPhone, including Apple Intelligence. It’s up to 60% faster than the CPU in iPhone 12, and the speed challenges high-end desktop PCs, Apple said, adding that the GPU on the iPhone 16 is up to 40% faster than the GPU in iPhone 15.

— Hayden Field

Apple marketed AirPods Pro 2 as a product with “incredible health capabilities,” including three dedicated health features.

Hearing protection, which is turned on by default across listening modes, will be available to all users. Since 80% of U.S. adults have not had their hearing checked in the last five years, per Apple, the company introduced a clinically validated hearing test with AirPods Pro and iPhone that takes just five minutes to complete, the company said.

AirPods Pro will also have a clinical-grade, over-the-counter hearing aid feature. After users take the hearing test, AirPods Pro can easily turn into a personalized hearing aid, Apple said. The resulting “hearing profile” will be automatically applied to music, movies and phone calls across all a user’s devices.

Apple said the features will receive clearance from the FDA and other regulators soon.

— Hayden Field

Apple announced updated AirPods Max with USB-C charging and three new colors, like orange, purple, and starlight. They’re still $549 and are available to order beginning Monday before they launch on Sept. 20.

— Todd Haselton

Apple just announced the AirPods 4.

Apple said it used 3D modeling and laser topography to develop the shape of its “most comfortable AirPods ever.” They are powered by the H2 chip.

The company said the headphones are a massive improvement in audio quality, and the “best sounding AirPods ever.” They also have personalized spatial audio, and Apple said they will be able to help reduce environmental noise.

The AirPods 4 charging case is compatible with USB-C, and it is the smallest case ever. You can also charge the case wirelessly.

AirPods 4 will be available for $129, and AirPods 4 with active noise cancelling will be available for $179.

— Ashley Capoot

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has the “most accurate GPS in a sports watch,” Apple said, marketing it as the perfect companion for workout enthusiasts.

As a reminder, the watch offers:

• Depth gauge for scuba
• Dual-frequency GPS
• Advanced positioning software
• Pacing features
• Custom workouts
• Automatic stroke detection and lap count for swimmers
• Advanced compass app that includes latitude, longitude, waypoints and backtrack, as well as offline maps with turn-by-turn directions even when iPhone isn’t nearby

The watch starts at $799, and customers can preorder it today. It will be available on Sept. 20.

— Hayden Field

Apple said its Apple Watch Series 10 will be able to alert users to sleep apnea, which is a disorder that can cause people to stop breathing while they are asleep. The condition affects more than one billion people worldwide, Apple said.

The company said 80% of people with sleep apnea are undiagnosed. Apple’s Series 10 uses an accelerometer to measure breathing disturbances while users are sleeping, and it analyzes this data every 30 days.

This feature was built using an extensive dataset, Apple said, and the company expects clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators “very soon.”

— Ashley Capoot

The Apple Watch Series 10 launches Sept. 20. You can preorder it beginning Monday. It starts at $399. It starts at $499 with cellular.

— Todd Haselton

Apple just announced the Apple Watch Series 10 with the thinnest design ever — 10% thinner than Series 9 — and the biggest display yet.

“Today we’re building on the advanced technologies pioneered with Apple Watch to make it even more useful, essential and intelligent,” CEO Cook said of the Apple Watch Series 10.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams introduced the model, which he said will have the “biggest wearable display we’ve ever built” — even bigger than the Apple Watch Ultra — and has up to 30% more screen area. It will also have an additional line of text visible for messages, mail or news.

Both the display and case have a wider aspect ratio and rounded corners, Williams said.

The Series 10 display will also be up to 40% brighter when viewed at an angle in order to improve visibility, he said. The display will update once per second when in Always On mode instead of once per minute like before.

Apple also introduced the first-ever glossy aluminum finish for Apple Watch in jet black. It is polished using silicon nanoparticles to result in a specialized surface shine. Other options for the device include rose gold and silver aluminum. The aluminum finishes weigh up to 10% less than the previous generation, Williams said.

A new titanium finish option weighs up to 20% less than previous models and is “carbon-neutral,” Williams said. It is replacing the stainless steel finish in previous generations.

The device also still incorporates up to 50 meters of water resistance.

In 30 minutes, users can charge their watches to up to 80% battery, making Series 10 the fastest-charging Apple Watch to date, Williams said. It also has 18-hour battery.

To improve phone calls, Apple incorporated a neural network into Series 10 that suppresses background noise to make conversations sound clearer, he added.

When it comes to fitness, Apple Watch introduced new ways to track workouts. For kayakers, canoers and rowers, Apple Watch’s workout app can track routes and rowing activity, introducing a Tides App and new depth and water temperature sensors.

Prices start at $399, and customers can preorder today. The Series 10 will be available on Sept. 20.

— Hayden Field

Cook said Apple will talk about new iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches today. So, there you go. Expect to see upgrades to all three of those product lines.

— Kif Leswing

Apple CEO Tim Cook just took the stage. There was a standing ovation for him. Cook said this is “without a doubt, our biggest event of the year,” and referred to the keynote film that is starting now. Let’s go!

— Kif Leswing

Apple’s event has started streaming on YouTube, and there are more than 686,000 people, including CNBC, watching live.

— Ashley Capoot

We are inside Steve Jobs Theater ready for the event to kick off. Some of the executives are down in front. Apple’s big “It’s Glowtime” logo is on the screen. Lots of folks are filing in and taking their seats. We should be kicking things off at right about 1 p.m. ET.

— Kif Leswing

The Apple Store is down ahead of the iPhone event. This always happens when Apple is set to announce new gadgets. It will return shortly after the presentation ends with information on the new products. The iPhone 16 and Apple Watch seem like a lock. New AirPods could make an appearance, too.

— Todd Haselton

Apple needs to convince people to upgrade to the latest iPhones and prove to Wall Street that an iPhone upgrade cycle is underway. One way it will try that is with Apple Intelligence, which the company announced in June. It is artificial intelligence that customers can use to generate emojis, email messages, notes and more. It will tap into OpenAI’s ChatGPT, too. Some of those features will not launch until the end of the year, though, and AI gadgets have, so far, been a bust.

Apple’s iPhone sales declined 1% year over year to $39.29 billion during the company’s fiscal third quarter, or about 46% of the company’s total sales. “On a constant currency basis, we grew year on year. And so that’s sort of how we look at it from an operational point of view,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach in June, noting that Apple has “redeployed a lot of people to AI that were working on other things,” and that Apple increased spending for AI and Apple Intelligence.

— Todd Haselton and Steve Kovach

Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the two most important things to watch on Monday are iPhone pricing and Apple Intelligence availability. The iPhone Pro has had the same $999 starting price in the U.S. since 2017, but the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max had a $100 price increase over the iPhone 14 Pro Max — at least it came with twice the storage. Apple Intelligence is currently in a preview beta version and some of its best improvements, such as a smarter Siri, are expected later this year or next.

— Todd Haselton

I noticed this “Free Speech Area” sign on my way in. Past Apple events have drawn protests ranging from the company’s China policy to how it handles child sexual abuse material, or CSAM. In June, for example, CSAM demonstrators showed up at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Also, protestors staged a hunger strike outside the Apple Park Visitor Center in December 2022 to speak out against changes that limited Apple AirDrop in China.

— Kif Leswing

We just arrived at Apple’s Cupertino campus and we are walking over to the Steve Jobs Theater. It is where Apple typically announces new iPhones on its campus, in contrast to events such as the Worldwide Developers Conference that is held outside. It is a cloudy day.

Update: It is no longer cloudy. That is California weather for you.

— Kif Leswing