On Tuesday, Apple hosted their big Apple Event 2019 and announced some pretty exciting new products and services. If you had time to watch it live, this time streaming on YouTube (whoa), then you’ve probably heard all of this before. But if you’re like me (aka a busy parent), then you might appreciate a helpful cheat sheet with just the important parts.
Sort of like our Cool Mom Picks Book Club.
So, here’s what you need to know about everything Apple announced at their Apple Event 2019. The TL;DR – hold onto your credit card.
Related: 5 apps we started using that totally changed our lives
iPhone 11, Pro and 11 Pro Max
The newest addition to the iPhone family, iPhone 11 (not XI – for those Roman numeral fans) made its debut with some fancy new features: WiFi 6 and a A13 Bionic processor, just to name a couple. The camera, though, is pretty exciting, with a dual-camera configuration, as well as the ability to take landscape selfies and videos (including slo-mo video). Just what you wanted: slo-mo selfies!
The iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max (aka the bigger Pro) have a Super Retina XDR OLED display, along with a tri-camera set-up, and a very cool looking matte finish. And wow, the cameras have an ultra-wide lens, with edge-to-edge focus pixels. It looks pretty amazing.
Pricing starts at $699 for the iPhone 11 (64GB), with the Pro at $999 and the Pro Max at $1099.
Related: How to use the Reminders app to make your life easier
Apple Arcade
Get ready! Apple is launching their own game subscription service, with exclusive games from Lego, Sonic, and Frogger (just to name a few). But because games won’t be available on other mobile gaming services, that might limit the more popular names (cough Minecraft cough) that you see on this platform.
There’s not a ton to say about this, other than keep an ear out for this with your kids. It starts at $4.99/month with a free month trial, which might be worth it to see what it’s got available.
Yes, there’s a new iPad. Yes, there’s a Watch Series 5, which drops the Series 3 down to $199; something to keep that in mind if you’ve got a tween or teen itching for an Apple Watch. But there’s nothing shocking or jawdropping about either for me to tell you anything other than that.
Related: Why we love the Siri shortcuts app
iOS 13
I’m not sure about you, but the new iOS announcement is what I always get most excited about. At least when I’m nowhere near eligible for a phone upgrade.
For me, the biggest iOS 13 standouts so far:
– Dark Mode, which makes your screen dark (to state the obvious), and makes things easier on your eyes
– Monochromatic effects with Portrait mode, along with a few other cool photo features
– Camera storage security
– Siri will now read your incoming messages out loud.
– Pairing 2 sets of AirPods to one phone. Yay!
– An all new reminders app, plus smarter smart lists.
– Text formatting tools in the Mail app.
You can update your iPhone to iOS13 starting on 9/19. Phone pre-order starts 9/13, with ship and in-store on 9/20.
