Apple Keynote 2018 Recap

Miss Apple’s 2018 keynote event? Find out what new tech you can look forward to here.

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Apple’s annual event unveiling the latest in their consumer tech lineup featured big announcements for iPhones and Apple Watch. Featuring their expected flair and polish, the event was kicked off with a genuinely entertaining video of Tim Cook’s clicker being delivered by a sprinting employee that tied into a real-world tweet from the Apple CEO.

New Product Highlights

Apple Watch Series 4 is a major evolution for the oft-touted smartwatch. Featuring design refinements such as a larger display in a slimmer package, the real highlight of this release is the commitment to health tracking. The new Apple Watch features the ability to detect irregular heart rhythms, warn of possible problems due to low heart rate, detect and alert emergency services or contacts in case of a severe fall, and even run an EKG on its wearer. Series 4 watches will launch on September 21st and cost $399 base or $499 for the cellular version.

 

New iPhones were the real star of the show. While an “S” release year typically features gentle design tweaks and performance upgrade’s, this year’s iPhone XS (pronounced “ten ess”), iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XRrepresent a significant shift in their premium and “low-end” hardware. The XS line features Super Retina OLED displays with Face ID, improved processor and battery performance over last year’s iPhone X, and impressive cameras. The XR is the “low-end” model that makes design and software features more accessible in a package similar to the iPhone SE (which was far overdue for an update), but does come with some trade-offs; namely only one rear-facing camera and a less vibrant screen LCD screen Apple refers to as “Liquid Retina.” Those upgrades come with increased starting prices ($999, $1099, and $749, respectively) and begin pre-orders on September 14th for the XS and XS Max and October 19th for the XR.

New Software Release Dates

We’ve been eagerly looking forward to iOS 12 and macOS Mojave for some time now and today we were pleased to learn they will be available on September 17th and September 24th, respectively. We are even more excited to announce that our upcoming release of FileWave 12.9.1 has been tested, and is fully compatible with the latest pre-release versions of iOS12 and macOS Mojave. We will update here when that release is available with a link to more information.