Question Apple Product Announcement Thread 2021

[ultimatebob]

So, what are we thinking about the new iPhones that Apple is announcing next week? The rumor sites are expecting new iPhone 13's in various sizes, along with a new Apple Watch.

I kinda miss the old Steve Jobs era keynotes, where he would announce "One more thing" that was unexpected. That doesn't seem to happen anymore, but maybe Apple will stun us with an electric self-driving car this year. 🙂

 

[Commodus]

It won't be a gigantic upgrade if you're coming from the iPhone 12 (or even an iPhone 11 Pro), but it'll be more compelling than last year's model if the rumors are true. A 120Hz always-on display and a smaller notch aren't that new on a basic level, but if you've been itching for those on an iPhone? Great. Also curious to see how sensor-shift stabilization, autofocusing ultra-wide and other camera upgrades work in practice.

I'm hoping to upgrade from an iPhone XS, so this also represents a catch-up on many other features (5G, UWB, ultra-wide cam and more).

As for presentations... Apple occasionally does "one more thing," but often shies away due to both the modern era (where leaks spoil the fun) and not wanting to simply rehash what Jobs did.

 

[ultimatebob]

As for presentations... Apple occasionally does "one more thing," but often shies away due to both the modern era (where leaks spoil the fun) and not wanting to simply rehash what Jobs did.

I'd argue that Tim Cook is a more cowardly CEO than Steve Jobs was, and Apple simply doesn't release brand new groundbreaking products anymore.

If a more aggressive CEO like Elon Musk had access to Apple's 200 Billion dollar bank account, we'd probably have self-driving electric cars on Mars by now 🙂

 

[Commodus]

I'd argue that Tim Cook is a more cowardly CEO than Steve Jobs was, and Apple simply doesn't release brand new groundbreaking products anymore.

If a more aggressive CEO like Elon Musk had access to Apple's 200 Billion dollar bank account, we'd probably have self-driving electric cars on Mars by now 🙂

I wouldn't call him cowardly so much as just what he is: an expert COO promoted to CEO. He's great at subtle refinements and optimizing production, but he's not a visionary like Jobs was. Very few CEOs are.

I'd say the Apple Watch and AirPods have been groundbreaking, just not on the same level as the iPod or iPhone. They both reshaped their respective categories, prompting a large part of the industry to follow suit — they just didn't produce a sea change in tech as a whole.

 

[repoman0]

New iPhones sound pretty good this time. Probably going to get a 13 Pro to upgrade from my XR. VRR, OLED, battery life, form factor and camera improvements .. should be a nice improvement all combined.

 

[Commodus]

New iPhones sound pretty good this time. Probably going to get a 13 Pro to upgrade from my XR. VRR, OLED, battery life, form factor and camera improvements .. should be a nice improvement all combined.

I'm in the same boat, now that I know what's involved. Wish Apple had introduced an always-on display, but coming from an XS just about everything will be significantly better. I'm most interested in macro shooting — I don't want to use the telephoto lens every time I want to get close to a subject!

 

[repoman0]

I'm in the same boat, now that I know what's involved. Wish Apple had introduced an always-on display, but coming from an XS just about everything will be significantly better. I'm most interested in macro shooting — I don't want to use the telephoto lens every time I want to get close to a subject!

Yeah that will be pretty neat! Looking forward to seeing how much closer this thing gets to me to my Fuji mirrorless with a thousand bucks worth of lens on it. I know it will never match it thanks to physics but a more capable camera that’s always with me is welcome.

Carrier deals are already up: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/carrier-offers

Nothing there that makes it worthwhile to switch off my $40 ATT prepaid plan so guess I’m trading in my XR for $200 and buying it outright.

 

[ultimatebob]

The new iPhone 13 models don't seem all that exciting, they're basically a spec bump from last year's model. Hell, they didn't even get rid of the camera notch like most Android phones did last year!

That said, my iPhone XR battery is going bad and 5G network coverage is finally available in my area. It's probably time to upgrade. I'd want the 256 GB model (I only have 40 GB left on my 128 GB phone), so that's going to cost me $900. Grr.

Maybe it's time for an honest iPhone commercial... "The new iPhone... it's nothing new and it costs too damn much, but you're too lazy to switch to Android at this point. Pony up, sucker" 🙂

So, what color are you going for? I kinda like the blue one.

 

[repoman0]

So, what color are you going for? I kinda like the blue one.

Blue for me for sure 🙂

Just realized that the pro max variants are actually only marginally wider (~1/3 inch) than my current XR and pretty much the same in the other two dimensions thanks to a much more minimal border. Think I’ll go for the big size this time, knowing that!

 

[TheStu]

The new iPhone 13 models don't seem all that exciting, they're basically a spec bump from last year's model. Hell, they didn't even get rid of the camera notch like most Android phones did last year!

That said, my iPhone XR battery is going bad and 5G network coverage is finally available in my area. It's probably time to upgrade. I'd want the 256 GB model (I only have 40 GB left on my 128 GB phone), so that's going to cost me $900. Grr.

Maybe it's time for an honest iPhone commercial... "The new iPhone... it's nothing new and it costs too damn much, but you're too lazy to switch to Android at this point. Pony up, sucker" 🙂

So, what color are you going for? I kinda like the blue one.

So long as the 'camera' notch also contains the IR emitter for FaceID (and all the other components), there's only so small that they can shrink it. Maybe they can eventually do like the Fold 3 and hide it behind the OLED panel?

 

[Commodus]

So long as the 'camera' notch also contains the IR emitter for FaceID (and all the other components), there's only so small that they can shrink it. Maybe they can eventually do like the Fold 3 and hide it behind the OLED panel?

That's rumored to be the plan. Next year's model will supposedly adopt a hole-punch camera, and presumably the rest is either hidden under the screen or tucked in what little bezel is left.

 

[manly]

New iPad already $30 off:

64GB Apple 10.2" iPad WiFi Tablet (2021 Model) (Gray or Silver) $299 + Free S/H (Pre-Order)

Walmart has 64GB Apple 10.2" iPad WiFi Tablet (2021 Model) (Gray or Silver) on pre-order/on sale for $299. Shipping is free. Thanks to community member wwphil for finding this deal Note ...

slickdeals.net

Should be around $270ish for Black Friday if you can wait. The storage bump is great and the A13 is a 2019 flagship SoC. They did gimp it with just 3GB of RAM.

 

[repoman0]

I got mine today (a blue 13 pro max 256GB), replacing XR 128GB. Feels like an incredibly large upgrade, and the phone is somehow physically similar in size to the XR. I knew this already from my gaming monitors but 120Hz is so smooth and nice, even just for scrolling text. Hard to go back to the 60Hz IPS. I will be keeping this one for a long time.

 

[Aikouka]

I found out an interesting thing about iPhone upgrades yesterday. So, I've pretty much always used back-ups to instantiate my new iPhones, and even though I always use them, I almost always forget that some apps don't have their data persist with back-ups. For example, Google Authenticator does not share data with back-ups. (Unless there's some option that I don't know of.) So, when I went to the iPhone 13, I used the typical iCloud Backup, and yet again ran into the same problem of having to log back into everything and realize that I wiped my phone without restoring Google Authenticator. (To note, it only had two unique account keys that weren't already in 1Password and/or Authy, which both have back-up options.)

So, what's the interesting thing? My girlfriend does not have a paid iCloud account, so the 5GB storage is too small and doesn't do computer back-ups. So, we used the other option available... iPhone-to-iPhone transfer. I was rather surprised to see that using that method required no logging into accounts/apps and it retained data. While it takes a bit longer than an iCloud or iTunes restore, it seems like the better route. (I'm assuming it uses WiFi, so you probably want a good WiFi network.)

As for the phone itself, I went with one of Apple's cases this time, which I haven't used in many years. (I think I had one back with the 4S?) My only complaint is that the case doesn't have that nice lip that wraps around the front of the screen, so the case can slip off somewhat easily... or at least easier than the third-party cases. I do have a Spigen case that's the same as the one on my 11 Pro Max, but I'm tired of that case leaving marks on my phone's back.

 

[manly]

Apple will now lend you some extra storage for migrating to a new iPhone:

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-borrow-icloud-storage-for-free-to-transfer-data-1847717103

 

[repoman0]

The iPhone to iPhone data transfer was so seamless for me that I don’t get why you’d need to bother with the old school backup and restore method. It took 15 minutes over my local wifi (or maybe it’s point to point wifi, I don’t know) and it looks like everything is exactly as it was on my old phone. It even detected my AT&T prepaid account and number and offered to transfer the account to the new phone in esim format. Granted that failed and told me to call AT&T but I do blame the carrier for that one. In the end I just switched my regular sim over.

I did make the same mistake as @Aikouka and wiped my old phone before transitioning my Duo, Authenticator, and Steam Guard two factor over, but I figure I’ll be able to deal with each of those headaches later 🙄

 

[Aikouka]

The iPhone to iPhone data transfer was so seamless for me that I don’t get why you’d need to bother with the old school backup and restore method. It took 15 minutes over my local wifi (or maybe it’s point to point wifi, I don’t know) and it looks like everything is exactly as it was on my old phone. It even detected my AT&T prepaid account and number and offered to transfer the account to the new phone in esim format. Granted that failed and told me to call AT&T but I do blame the carrier for that one. In the end I just switched my regular sim over.

I did make the same mistake as @Aikouka and wiped my old phone before transitioning my Duo, Authenticator, and Steam Guard two factor over, but I figure I’ll be able to deal with each of those headaches later 🙄

It’s interesting to hear that it does seem to transfer more over (e.g. logins), but it doesn’t seem to transfer over those. Maybe because they have some specific tie to the phone itself? Not sure.
Although, not sure if you’ve tried it yet, but Authy is so much better than Google Authenticator.

Also, Steam Guard was surprisingly easy to fix. I suspected I’d have to deal with customer support and prove my identity, but nope.

 

[ultimatebob]

I got mine today (a blue 13 pro max 256GB), replacing XR 128GB. Feels like an incredibly large upgrade, and the phone is somehow physically similar in size to the XR. I knew this already from my gaming monitors but 120Hz is so smooth and nice, even just for scrolling text. Hard to go back to the 60Hz IPS. I will be keeping this one for a long time.

I'm trading my XR for a Blue iPhone 13 256GB model, but I'm honestly not all that excited about it. Other than the upgraded cameras, it doesn't seem like it's going to be a big improvement over my XR when it was new. I'm really just getting it for more practical reasons, like the battery on my XR is dying and I'm going to run out of storage soon.

 

[repoman0]

I'm trading my XR for a Blue iPhone 13 256GB model, but I'm honestly not all that excited about it. Other than the upgraded cameras, it doesn't seem like it's going to be a big improvement over my XR when it was new. I'm really just getting it for more practical reasons, like the battery on my XR is dying and I'm going to run out of storage soon.

They are pretty mature products now so the actual experience difference even skipping two generations is not that great. The OLED 120Hz displays in the pro are the biggest change in the actual experience for me, along with similar practical things that you mention. My battery was degraded, fingerprint resistant screen coating long gone, camera lens hazy .. but the phone in newer condition would still be pretty much equally usable and high quality as the new ones for most people.

 

[ultimatebob]

My blue iPhone 13 arrived today. The new camera didn't really impress me that much, but the overall responsiveness of the device did. It seemed especially better when using Apple CarPlay... the combination of the faster processor and 5G made responses from Siri much faster.

The battery life is good as well. I finished my second day of use with 89% battery remaining. I doubt that will last, but it's still nice to see.

 

[Commodus]

My blue iPhone 13 arrived today. The new camera didn't really impress me that much, but the overall responsiveness of the device did. It seemed especially better when using Apple CarPlay... the combination of the faster processor and 5G made responses from Siri much faster.

The battery life is good as well. I finished my second day of use with 89% battery remaining. I doubt that will last, but it's still nice to see.

I'd say the camera will most impress with ultra-wide shots. There are times when you just can't fit everything in the frame, or when you need that extra bit of drama.

 

[Aikouka]

I turned off 5G on mine. I noticed larger-than-desired battery usage even when the device sat dormant at work, which I never noticed on my older iPhone 11, which didn't have 5G. Also, given that 5G doesn't really provide much benefit in most situations, I didn't care.

I am kind of annoyed with some of the bugs though. The fact that unlock with Apple Watch doesn't work is a pretty poor showing for Apple given that it's a pretty recent feature. (It states that it cannot connect to your watch when trying to enable it.) This morning, I went to call into a meeting only to find out that all of my call history had been deleted.

I can say that the phone does seem to have better connectivity than my last phone. With my iPhone 11 Pro Max, I would have times when using my Air Pods Pro that the audio would just cut out for 3-5 seconds. I haven't noticed anything like that yet with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Although, I do still run into the car connectivity problem with the 13. Tesla uses the phone as a key, and there are times when the phone will refuse to connect to a device until you either wake the screen or unlock the device. This means that I will sit there trying to unlock my car, but absolutely nothing will happen.

Although, the worst thing is this problem that I keep noticing among all of my cellular devices, and I'm curious if anyone else is seeing it... abysmal connectivity with full signal. Essentially, I have all four bars, but I cannot do anything requiring connectivity. Trying to load Google will just sit there and eventually timeout. It reminds me a bit of an issue that I had many years ago when setting up a Wink Hub. I just could never get the thing to connect no matter how hard I tried, and when I spoke to Wink about it, they told me to move the unit away from the router, which worked just fine. (I didn't even unplug it; I just moved it.) It makes me wonder if the same thing could be happening with the phone?

 

[ultimatebob]

The iOS 15 CarPlay bugs are getting my nerves, personally. Pandora occasionally locks up and stops playing music until you restart the phone, and the voice search for Google Maps doesn't seem to work at all.