It’s that time of the year once again. The time of year when all eyes turn to one of the biggest technology events of the year – The Apple Conference. The invitations to this years conference have been delivered and technology industry insiders will be flocking to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on the 7th of September.
The Apple Conference will kick off at 10AM Pacific Time (6PM GMT) and what an exciting event it will be. Most people are looking forward to the announcement of the newest generation of iPhones, but that isn’t the only announcement people are getting excited about. There have been rumours of an Apple Watch 2 announcement all year but it seems as if this announcement is now just round the corner.
What to Expect From the Apple Conference 2016
As is tradition for Apple’s September conference, the biggest announcement is expected to be the latest iPhone. The Apple iPhone 7 – as it is likely to be called – is not the first new iPhone to be released in 2016 as the iPhone SE was released in March. This takes a bit off the shine of the newest iPhone announcement but any new iPhone announcement is still a very big deal.
With last years iPhone release being an “S” upgrade, this years new iPhone is expected to be a very big leap forward. The 2014 iPhone range brought fingerprint recognition, Apple Pay and the “Phablet”-sized iPhone 6 Plus. While many of these new features were predicted prior to the announcement, much less is known about the iPhone 7.
Leaks have been few and far between this year, but there are still a few things which have managed to slip out. The design of the iPhone 7 appears to be very similar to the the very popular iPhone 6S design – with one big difference. The iPhone 7 is expected to be doing away with the headphone jack, which should allow the device to be even thinner than previous models. How the device will allow you to listen to music is as yet unknown, but it is expected that there will be some kind of wireless headphone solution.
The larger variant of the iPhone 7 is expected to include a dual-lens camera system, which will make for better photographs. Otherwise there is very little known about the new Apple devices.
In terms of new Apple iPhone launches, this appears to be one of the least exciting yet. The question is whether that is because there really isn’t much to get excited about or whether it is because Apple have managed to stop features leaking out.
We hope it is the latter!
What is much more exciting is the prospect of an announcement of a new MacBook Pro. It’s expected that the new MacBook Pro will include an OLED touch panel which will replace the function key row and Touch ID functionality. This new touch panel is exciting because it allows for the device to display different options which can change depending on the program running at the time. If this turns out to be true then the new MacBook Pro will be a very exciting indeed.
But never mind iPhones and MacBooks, what about the Apple Watch 2 announcement?
Will There be an Apple Watch 2 Announcement?
The truth is, nobody knows! But all information indicates that the conference will centre around the Apple Watch 2 announcement and the iPhone 7. The fact that WatchOS 3 is due to roll out shortly lends a lot of credence to this rumour. It’s expected that Apple would want the Apple Watch 2 to hit shelves in time for Christmas, which they narrowly missed with the original Apple Watch.
But what exactly should you expect to hear in terms of features from the Apple Watch 2 announcement? Other than fasting processing power, which isn’t the kind of feature which will have most people reaching for their wallet, the Apple Watch 2 will hope to provide an improved battery and GPS functionality.
Neither of these features are likely to convert non-believers to the smartwatch cause. But Apple will hope that they can convince smartwatch lovers who didn’t buy into the Apple Watch the first time around. The worry may be that this Apple Watch 2 announcement does not include the one issue that put many people off the initial Apple Watch – the lack of independence from an iPhone. While many smartwatches are becoming more and more independent from a phone connection, it appears as though the Apple Watch 2 will still rely on a connection to an iPhone for most features. This may prevent the Apple Watch 2 from becoming the breakout hit that Apple have hoped for.
Of course, Apple are known for surprises and their, now clichéd, “One More Thing”. It would be unwise to rule out an industry changing announcement on September the 7th. Which is why First Class Watches, along with the rest of the wrist watch industry, will be watching the conference with great interest to see just what Apple do next!
Images: Martin Hajek, Mike Deerkoski
