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The leaves are changing, the weather’s finally cooling down, there’s a crisp feeling in the air: it’s iPhone season once again!

Apple’s annual September iPhone event marks the first of their usual two (sometimes three) fall events. The focus, of course, is the new iPhone 13 series, but the company also unveiled a few other new hardware pieces. In this article, I’ll run through everything announced and discuss how relevant each is to you as Andrews students.

iPhone
Apple announced the same four configurations of iPhone as last year: iPhone 13 ($799) and 13 mini ($699), and iPhone 13 Pro ($999) and 13 Pro Max ($1099). The regular 13 models come in five new colors, while the Pro phones are stuck with their classic trifecta (silver, graphite, gold) plus unique “Sierra Blue.” The Pros can also now be upgraded to 1 TB of storage, should you wish to drop an extra $500 on an already thousand-dollar phone.

When it comes to new features, this really is an “s-year”, even though Apple abandoned that naming scheme with the iPhone 12. If you aren’t familiar, an “s” generation usually corresponds to improvements rather than massive new features. So these 13s get better batteries (by 1.5-2.5 hours), better screens (high-refresh rate on the Pros), better cameras (improved low-light capability, optical image stabilization, Cinematic Mode, and macro-photography on the Pros), and a generally better processor (although Apple didn’t say quite how much better).

And that’s basically it; there isn’t anything revolutionary to make you rush out and buy a new iPhone. That being said, these are still amazing–not to mention beautiful–smartphones, with arguably the fastest chips and best cameras on the market. If you’re sitting on an older phone and itching for something new, the 13 is an awesome upgrade. If however, you’ve got an iPhone 12 or just don’t feel any need to upgrade (or you’re a broke college student), maybe consider waiting another year.

Apple Watch
The Series 7 Apple Watch was the most disappointing announcement of the event. It has smaller bezels and charges faster–that’s essentially it. No departure from the same design the Watch has had since its inception, no big new health features. The slightly bigger wrap-around screen is nice, I suppose, but there’s really no reason to upgrade from a Series 6 (even a Series 5, really).

Nevertheless, I still recommend the Apple Watch if you don’t already have one. Being able to see and potentially respond to texts or other notifications without pulling out your phone is a huge convenience, especially in class (and especially with those super-strict profs). And as a busy student, getting enough exercise can be a challenge, so the health tracking and reminding features of the Watch are very useful to guilt you into going to the Andreasen Center and to assist you once you’re there. 

iPad
This event saw a standard update to the baseline iPad, potentially the most student-relevant announcement of the day. Remaining the cheapest iPad at $329, it now has the A13 (a two year old chip, but still very fast), a True Tone display, and an Ultrawide front camera that supports Apple’s new Center Stage FaceTime feature. It also starts with 64GB of storage, which still isn’t enough (come on, Apple, you can do better ಠ_ಠ), but it’s something.

The iPad (no modifiers) is great for students for two reasons: it’s cheap (a relative term), and it supports the Apple Pencil. Many students have now gone digital in their note-taking endeavours, and although the baseline iPad only supports the first generation Pencil, it’s still quite capable for note taking. And if you’re an artist, aspiring or otherwise, it also fully supports Procreate, one of the best drawing/painting apps there is.

iPad mini
The iPad mini holds a special place in my heart: although I’ve sadly never had reason or funds to purchase one, I love the idea of it. Unfortunately, the mini hasn’t gotten a lot of love from Apple in recent years, having lagged behind the top of the line iPad (besides the Pros, of course) and only receiving sporadic updates. Because of that, this year marks an important step for the iPad mini.

The mini is now once again as it should be: a smaller iPad Air. As such, its updates essentially just bring it up to par with the Air. The most obvious change comes with its physical appearance. Apple has slowly been rolling out its industrial, square-edge design across its product line, and now it comes to the mini, as well. This new slightly larger, edge-to-edge display finally sees the removal of the home button, in favour of Touch ID in the power button. The flat sides now allow the Apple Pencil 2 to magnetically attach, granting the mini its benefits, as well. Apple also gave it the new A15 Bionic chip, the same as in the iPhones 13, which actually puts it a generation above the Air in terms of raw chip performance. Rounding off the feature list are four new colors, stereo speakers, a 5-core GPU, 5G, USB-C, an Ultrawide front camera supporting Center Stage, and a single rear camera with True Tone flash.

This is a great update, and I’m thrilled to see it, but, like I said, it is sometimes difficult to see the purpose of the iPad mini. It’s ultra-portable, so if you’re used to taking notes in a small notebook, you may be able to utilize the mini for note taking, though I would caution against that practice if you aren’t already used to something small. It’s awesome for reading, watching videos, and the like–a so-called “consumption iPad”–but as students, is that really worth $499?

Even though I struggle to find a demanding use-case for the iPad mini, the product itself is magnificent, and I’m very happy to see Apple respecting its miniature line of products.