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Tim Cook with the iPhone 13 Pro Max
Photo: Brooks Kraft / Apple Inc
CEO Tim Cook announced three hours before the start that this show should be different from Apple's previous streaming events.
Garnished with a photo that made you think of the Mojave Desert, he tweeted: "Good morning from a place that is a little different this time."
Ultimately, however, he was only standing in front of a screen in the Steve Jobs Theater, on which photos of Californian landscapes were shown.
His colleagues, however, who presented the new iPhones, iPads and the new Apple Watch over the next 75 minutes, skillfully staged themselves in front of this backdrop.
There was probably little live there, everything seemed too perfectly rehearsed for that.
The new iPhones
The stars of the evening were of course the new Series 13 iPhones, whose design is identical to that of its predecessor, apart from the details - and the colors.
Nothing has changed in the formats of Apple's mobile phones either: the iPhone 13 Pro Max still has a 6.7-inch screen, while the iPhone 13 mini has a very small 5.4-inch screen.
In between are the iPhone 12 and the 12 Pro, each with 6.1 inches.
While the screens of the iPhones 13 and 13 mini are only slightly brighter and at the same time more economical, the displays of the two Pro models can now show twice as many images per second as before, namely up to 120. This should allow for smoother scrolling and faster reactions care for.
The additional power consumption of the technology referred to by Apple as ProMotion is to be reduced by the screen dynamically adapting its refresh rates to the respective use.
This technology was previously reserved for the iPad Pro.
Smartphones from other manufacturers, such as Samsung's Galaxy S21 and the Vivo X60 Pro, have comparable technologies on board.
But the displays of the Pro iPhones have also become brighter.
They are specified by Apple with up to 1000 nits, which is 25 percent more than before.
The new chip
There is also more with the chip: After Apple was able to rightly advertise last year that the A14 Bionic chip of the iPhone 12 series is "the fastest chip in a smartphone", the A15 Bionic in the new models will be replaced.
It goes without saying that it should deliver more performance than its predecessor.
With its almost 15 billion transistors, it should bring up to 50 percent more speed in some areas.
And again the company praises its new chip as "the fastest chip in a smartphone".
The memory
At the extreme ends of the spectrum, Apple has increased storage space.
The Series 13 no longer has a model that only contains 64 gigabytes (GB).
Instead, 128 GB is now the standard.
At the other end of the scale, the two Pro models are now equipped with up to a terabyte of memory.
Anyone who thinks they need so much space in a smartphone has to be able to afford it: Apple has traditionally paid dearly for memory upgrades, which is no different here.
The large amount of storage space could be used by those who record a lot of videos with the devices.
With the new »Cinematic Mode«, for example, which enables a professional video effect that allows rapid focusing from the foreground to the background and vice versa.
In addition, the "Pro Res Video" and Dolby Vision modes in 4K resolution require an enormous amount of storage space.
The cameras
The cameras on the iPhone 13 and 13 mini are now arranged diagonally.
This could have been necessary because the wide-angle camera has got a larger sensor chip, which is also suspended in a moveable manner to compensate for wobbling and to enable better photos in low light.
All three cameras are new in the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
The wide-angle camera has a larger sensor, which should benefit recordings in poor lighting.
The telephoto camera now has a triple zoom, the ultra-wide-angle camera offers a new macro mode for extreme close-ups.
The prices of the new iPhones start at 799 euros for the iPhone 13 mini and 899 euros for the iPhone 13. An iPhone 13 Pro is available from 1149 euros, the Pro Max from 1249 euros.
The Apple Watch Series 7
The rumors about a new, flat design for the Apple watch have not come true.
Instead, the edges of the screens became smaller, so that the screen area could be increased by 20 percent.
Thanks to IP6X and WR50 certification, the new model should be particularly well protected against dust and water.
Above all, however, it is now able to automatically recognize and start training sessions on the bike.
Of course, this fits in perfectly with the current trend towards buying bicycles.
Apple has also promised an e-bike mode.
However, the company did not announce the start of sales until later in the fall.
The new iPads
In addition to the iPhones and the Apple Watch, two new iPads were also announced.
Thanks to the A13 bionic chip, the new basic model should now be faster and better suited for video conferences with a 12 megapixel camera.
It is available from 379 euros.
The design of the new iPad mini has been adapted to the Pro iPads and now has a true-tone screen and the A15 chip of the iPhones, so it is very powerful.
Here, too, there is now a 12-megapixel camera for video chats in the housing.
Prices start at 549 euros.