APPLE has unveiled FOUR new iPhone models – including the most expensive model ever.
The tech giant also unveiled two new iPads and an Apple Watch at its special California Streaming event on Tuesday.
Headlining was the iPhone 13, which has the fastest mobile chip ever, 5G internet and a new low-light camera that can “see in the dark”.
This redesigned camera can also take “macro” photos – for shooting flowers and insects to impress on Instagram.
Storage on the iPhone 13 has doubled to 128GB as standard, so you can cram more photos in.
And the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a new 1TB storage option, making it the most expensive model EVER at £1,549/$1,599.
But pricing for standard iPhone 13 models is slightly cheaper at £779 – or £679 for the iPhone 13 Mini in the UK. In the US, the prices are $799 and $699 respectively.
And the iPhone 13 now comes in pink, a new addition this year.
Apple also unveiled a new entry-level iPad, with a chip that’s “three times faster” than Google Chromebooks, according to the firm.
And there’s a redesigned iPad Mini with a posh squared off look – and support for super-fast 5G internet.
Finally, there’s the Apple Watch 7, which has a slightly curvier design and a 20% larger screen.
Rumours of a blood glucose monitor were false, but the design is now tougher – and there are loads of new colours to choose from.
Read our iPhone 13 even live blog below for the latest updates as they happen…
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MINI ME
Apple has unveiled a brand new iPad Mini.
It’s got an iPad Pro style design with an edge-to-edge screen.
Touch ID is built into the top button, like on iPad Air.
It looks great, to be fair.
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SUPER SNAPPER
Apple is talking up huge improvements in low-light photography.
That means “you’ll get beautiful photos in any situation”, according to Apple.
There’s also better astrophotography when shooting the night sky with a tripod, as rumoured.
Apple has also added a new Macro Photography mode, letting you magnify subjects with a minimum distance of 2cm.
Example photos looked great.
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APPLE JUICE
You’ll get 1.5 hours more usage from the iPhone 13 versus the iPhone 12.
Apple says this battery life boost is partly thanks to the new A15 chip.
That’s great news! Who doesn’t like better battery life?
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SPEED BOOST
The new iPhone 13 is powered by Apple’s brand new A15 processor.
It’s a custom built chip with a 6-core CPU (four of which are high-efficiency cores).
And the processor is built on a 5nm process, which means more transistors can be squeezed onto the chip.
In fact, Apple says it’s got 15billion transistors – they’re the tiny electronic switches that allows computing to happen.
More transistors on a chip generally means more computing potential.
So expect the iPhone 13 to be wildly fast. Even speedier than the very nippy iPhone 12!
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WHAT’S NEW WITH THE iPHONE 13?
Base storage has doubled from 64GB to 128GB, and there’s a new top-tier model with a whopping 1TB of space on board.
And it comes in four variants: iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
The iPhone 13 is available to pre-order from Friday, September 17.
All four models will then start shipping (and turn up in stores) from Friday, September 24.
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I-SEE!
Face ID now fits into a 20% smaller space – slightly reducing the notch.
There’s a bigger battery (thanks to some internal re-engineering).
Apple has also created a smaller version of the iPhone 13 called the iPhone 13 Mini.
This is a similar format to last year’s iPhone 12.
Peak brightness on the iPhone 13’s screen is 1,200 nits – making outdoor use easy, even on sunny days.
Apple says the display has a high contrast ratio, so you can see true blacks.
That’s courtesy of a custom-built Apple OLED screen.
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PRO GO!
The iPhone 13 Pro has a 6.1 inch screen, rising to 6.7 inch for the Pro Max.
It starts at $999, or $1,099 for the Pro Max.
This year, there’s a new 1TB storage option – in addition to 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options.
Pre-orders are live from Friday for the iPhone 13, all of which are available from September 24.
Here’s the new iPhone line-up…
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WHAT ABOUT THE IPHONE 13 PRO AND PRO MAX?
Apple also discussed the iPhone 13 Pro in detail.
It’s also got an A15 Bionic chip but has a Super Retina XDR display.
You can get the Pro with a 6.1inch screen or the Pro Max with a 6.7inch.
It comes in a range of colours including a new blue design.
The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max provides an impressive camera system and pro-level video. It’s got the most powerful camera system ever in an iPhone.
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IPHONE 13 PRICE LIST IN FULL
Here’s the starting prices of all the new iPhone 13 models:
iPhone 13 Mini – $699 (around £505)
iPhone 13 – $799 (around £580)
iPhone 13 Pro – $999 (around £725)
iPhone 13 Pro Max – $1,099 (around £800)
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MINI, BUT MIGHTY
This new iPad Mini is 40% faster on CPU performance and 80% faster on GPU performance, according to Apple.
The tech giant is selling the iPad Mini’s ability to play video games – and perform powerful machine learning tasks.
That includes the new Translate app in iPadOS 15, which automatically translates foreign-language conversations in real-time.
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IT PAYS TO BE IN THE UK
APPLE’S top-end iPhone model has had a price cut for TWO years in a row in Britain.
Each year Apple has shaved £50 off the price of the high-end Pro model – including for this year’s iPhone 13 Pro.
Here’s how iPhone Pro pricing has changed over the past two years in the UK:
- iPhone 13 Pro – £949
- iPhone 12 Pro – £999
- iPhone 11 Pro – £1,049
And here’s how iPhone Pro Max UK prices have fallen:
- iPhone 13 Pro Max – £1,049
- iPhone 12 Pro Max – £1,099
- iPhone 11 Pro Max – £1,149
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LUCKY 13
The iPhone 13 Mini starts at $699, while the iPhone 13 costs $799.
That’s identical to last year’s pricing.
Base storage is doubled to 128GB up from 64GB – that’s a big coup for buyers.
And there are 256GB and 512GB options too.
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WATCHING TIME
One of the biggest announcements tonight could be the Apple Watch Series 7.
This mystery device could feature a new design – possibly squarer, in line with newer iPhone and iPad models.
A faster chip powering the device looks certain.
And there will inevitably new health and fitness features, but they remain a mystery for now.
There was early talk of a blood sugar monitor being built into the Apple Watch 7, but this may not arrive until the Series 8 in 2022.
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APPLE UNVEILS IPHONE 13 RANGE ALONGSIDE NEW IPADS AND APPLE WATCH
Apple has unveiled the iPhone 13 range, which will come with bigger batteries and better cameras, and boss Tim Cook hailed them as the “best iPhones we have ever created”.
After a major redesign of the popular smartphone last year, Apple has instead made a series of incremental changes across the four versions of the handset, most notably improving battery life by at least 1.5 hours on each of the devices.
The technology giant said it had also revamped all the cameras across the range, with a new cinematic mode allowing users to film higher-quality, cinema-like videos, while the infamous camera notch on the front of the phone has been made smaller.
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APPLE WATCH 7 REDESIGN (CONTINUED…)
The display has also had an upgrade and is easier to use thanks to its increased size, and optimised apps.
What’s more, it’s 70% brighter when your wrist is down, for ease of use when checking out the time. It is a watch, after all.
The battery life offers the same 18 hours, but charges faster than the Apple Watch 6 – 33% faster in fact.
A 45-minute charge will juice up your Apple Watch 7 to 80% battery from empty.
The Apple Watch 7 is available in midnight, starlight, green, blue, red. There’s also the Nike and Hermes editions.
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APPLE WATCH 7 GETS STUNNING REDESIGN
AFTER months of speculation and rumours, the newest member of the Apple Watch family has been revealed.
The Apple Watch 7 is upping the ante on the fitness front this time around, by detecting when you’re riding a bike and prompting you to start your workout.
There’s also improved support for e-bikes, and fall detection.
The big news is the redesign, which sees a larger screen that’s around 20% larger than last year.
The bezel has been shrunk by 40%, coming in at a barely-there 1.7mm. The watch face design sports a softer look, with rounder edges.
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iPHONE 13 PRO MAX HAS LONGEST EVER BATTERY LIFE
The iPhone 13 Pro Max also has the longest battery life ever in an iPhone.
Compared to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro Max users should have 2.5 hours longer battery life throughout the day.
Users of the iPhone 13 Pro should get 1.5 hours more battery life than iPhone 12 Pro users.
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WILL APPLE BE TAKING PART IN CYBER MONDAY?
With retailers each to catch buyers when they’ve still got deals on their mind, Cyber Monday always takes place on the other side of the weekend that follows Black Friday.
Apple itself rarely takes part in the sale itself – but don’t despair, you’ll still find plenty of exceptional iPhone deals from UK network providers like Fonehouse, Affordable Mobiles, Mobiles.co.uk, Carphone Warehouse, and more.
That said, these retailers aren’t likely to save all their deals until then: we suggest you keep an eye on this page for great deals on the iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and others in the range from the beginning of Black Friday week (November 22).
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DO APPLE PRODUCTS GO ON SALE ON BLACK FRIDAY?
Yes. Apple products go on sale via retailers and mobile networks during the period.
Apple doesn’t usually launch a ‘Black Friday’ sale itself, although it tends to unveil an exclusive Apple event which can mean discounts.
Previously savings have been for existing Apple users looking to trade-in for upgrades.
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WILL THE IPHONE 12 PRO MAX BE ON SALE ON BLACK FRIDAY?
Our guess? Yes.
This ruling handset is soon to be knocked off the throne by its equivalent in the iPhone 13 range, and prices are likely to quickly fall.
Currently costing a hefty £1,050 on Amazon, this won’t become a cheap handset… but with any luck, a little bit cheaper.
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iPHONE 13 SUPPORTS DOLBY VISION HDR VIDEO RECORDING
Apple says the iPhone 13 Pro supports Dolby Vision HDR video recording.
It shows off the focus-changing Rack Focus feature in Cinematic Mode we saw on the iPhone 13.
Example footage looks great – it’s so good, it’s actually hard to believe it’s shot on iPhone.
You can even film in Macro mode, which is cool.
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WHO HAS THE BEST BLACK FRIDAY DEALS ON IPHONES?
Phone deals are always subjective – some people prioritise low monthly costs; others want to pay as little upfront as possible; others still are after data boosts.
Whatever’s most important to you, we suggest you take a look at this selection of leading retailers:
Don’t forget to check network-specific deals from the likes of Three, O2, EE and Vodafone.
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WHAT TO EXPECT FROM BLACK FRIDAY iPHONE DEALS?
In a nutshell: it’s the iPhone 12 that will likely appear the most among all the deals that we’ll see during Black Friday 2021.
With the imminent release of the iPhone 13, the iPhone 12 will no long have flagship status, and so retailers will lower prices across their contracts.
Don’t be put off by the fact it’s no longer top-of-the-line: we’re hearing whispers that the 13 isn’t a major advance on its predecessor, and as you can read in our Tech Editor Sean Keach’s iPhone 12 review, this is a superb handset that offered users a huge range of new capabilities.
It’ll be Fonehouse, Affordable Mobiles, Mobiles.co.uk and Carphone Warehouse that are likely to lead with the best deals. But like we say, we recommend you stay abreast of what they’re offering at least a week ahead of Black Friday.
And if you want to check out great deals on handsets from Samsung, Sony, Huawei and others, head to our pick of the best Black Friday phone deals here.
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EXPLAINED: WILL THERE BY BLACK FRIDAY DEALS ON THE iPHONE 13?
We doubt it. While the iPhone 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max and 13 Mini will have hit shelves by that point, we’re not expecting any contracts that you might class as deals per se.
Similarly, it’s all-but-impossible that Apple will reduce prices on a series of handsets that have only been on sale for a couple of months.
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