There used to be all these great reasons to buy Android phones like ubiquitous
120 Hz displays, flexible home screen customization, not to mention the
ability to sideloadad your apps. But it seems to me that as Apple has embraced
some of what makes Android great, Google has started to embrace what has made
Apple a restrictive walled garden. It's like they're trying to out Apple while
Apple is appling better than Apple ever has. We're at the point where even
before we saw the new AirPods Pros, the new Apple Watches, and the new iPhones
at today's event, my wife, a lifelong
Android dieard, had to flip a coin about
keeping her iPhone at the end of her 30-day challenge. And I got to say, it
looks like they're gunning for me next. I already use AirPods Pro 2os. These
things are great and the way that Apple has improved this product over time is
darn near unprecedented in this age of inification.
But come on Apple, I don't want to pay extra for a pro model phone just to get
a 120 Hz display. And now I don't have to. Man, if everything they showed off
today actually works like it's supposed to, I'm looking at you live translation.
Then a good deal of this stuff could be a day one purchase for me. Of course, it
is Apple, so I might need some help from our sponsor, Nexigo. Their Nova Mini
projector is lightweight, small enough to fit in a backpack, and can be powered
by a regular old power bank. Check it out using our link in the video
description. Let's start with the no-brainer for me. In a little under 2
weeks, I will be handing over 250 American buckaroos for what Apple is
claiming will be the world's best in-ear
active noise cancellation. They are claiming up to double the ANC power of
last gen while giving you two more hours of battery life. Like dude, that alone
is enough to get me to upgrade. But wait, there's more. They've also
redesigned the earbuds with what they're calling a new multiport acoustic
architecture, which widens the sound stage, adds more vocal clarity, and
delivers deeper bass. So, in short, they're also going to sound better. And
they even made them smaller and added another smaller ear tip size. That's
going to be perfect for my kids on the plane. And there's another big feature I
can't wait to experience. Their live translation system. Theoretically, this
is going to work like a real live babbleish in your ear that will enable
full-blown conversations with people who speak completely different languages.
And the best part is Apple hasn't paywalled this feature behind their
latest hardware, allowing anyone with at least AirPods 4s or AirPods Pro 2Os and
iOS 26 to give it a whirl. Also, if the
person you're speaking with doesn't happen to live in Apple land, you can
still translate what they're saying in your ears, then reply and have your
iPhone output it for you. Finally, I'm not 100% sure how well it's going to
work, but Apple has also squeezed heart rate sensing into the new earphones.
Anyone who already has a smartwatch, Apple or not, probably doesn't need
that. But I promise you, for everyone who doesn't have a smartwatch or doesn't
like wearing one, but still wants at least some level of fitness or health
tracking, it's pretty sweet. They're claiming it gives accurate data for up
to 50 different workout types and includes an IP57 rating for dust, sweat,
and water resistance, which is good cuz
I'm getting kind of some excited sweats going on here right now. And I haven't
even gotten into the new iPhone Air yet. Now, before I dive into the cool stuff,
I want to get the concerns out of the way. Number one, that camera bump. Oh,
Apple. It's more like camera stairs.
Now, I'm sure they have a good reason for it. Apparently, all the major
hardware is nestled in the plateau, but like Apple, come on. You've already got
an island. You got a port. How many more geographical forms do you need on your
phones? Number two is that it's not called an iPhone 17 Air. That means in 2
years we're going to have what? The iPhone Air 3 alongside the iPhone 19. I
know this is a nitpick, but this unintelligible naming scheme for the
company's flagship freaking product comes from the same people that just
simplified their iOS naming to iOS and
the year. Come on. Finally, complaint
number three. As some of you have already pointed out, it only has an
amplified earpiece speaker. no bottom
speaker. So, yeah, super thin phone,
super cool phone. But if you care about stereo imaging on your phone speaker, or
if you use your phone as a Bluetooth speaker while you're walking around the house, you might want to at least wait
for the reviews before you rush out and buy one. It's a pretty important thing
to do. Otherwise, how would you know that this RGB t-shirt from ltstore.com
is the favorite of three recent reviewers? Anyway, other than those
quibbles, the Air looks like it absolutely delivers on its promise. It's
a little on the taller side, in between the 17 Pro and the 17 Pro Max, but it
really is very slim at just 5.6 mm at
the thinnest point. And it features a titanium chassis to hopefully avoid a
new bend gate along with Apple's new ceramic Shield 2 coating on both the
front and the back to improve its durability. Now, at $1,000, it is
clearly positioned as a premium device. But even so, I was surprised to see its
price land lower than the Pro model, even though it uses a similar A19 Pro
chip. Uh, I say similar because it's the
A19 Pro, but it has one less GPU core.
So, make of that what you will. We'll talk more about Apple's latest piece of
silicon goodness when we get to the 17 Pro and the Pro Max. If you don't care
about thinness at any cost, the Air's new form factor may come with some
trade-offs that you're not comfortable with, like a smaller battery, less
robust rear camera system, and less cooling for the hot new chip that Apple
acknowledges is hot in a literal sense.
Finally, as sexy as a slim phone might feel in the hand, if you're a case kind
of person, what difference does it really make? Oh, by the way, all the new
phones are coming with a ton of new case options, including a new cross body
strap that is compatible with other iPhones from the 17 lineup. That is, as
long as you've got the right case. Finally, finally, the Air is e SIM only.
So, if you need a physical SIM card, this is not the phone for you. Moving on
to the rest of the lineup. Oddly, they barely even mentioned the iPhone 17 Pro
Max, which seems to be becoming a bit of a pattern. Hey, it's still impressive
what Apple can build at this price point with up to 2 terb of storage along with
their biggest screen and best battery life by a healthy margin. But back when
I picked a member of the iPhone 16 family, I ended up with the regular one
in the plus size because it just felt way more practical. And it seems like a
lot of Apple's customers must feel the same way. As I mentioned before, both
the Pro and the Pro Max have transitioned backward to an aluminum
unibody design, which along with a new vapor chamber cooler supposedly helps
dissipate heat a lot better. So much for
all the titanium talk we heard last year. Not to mention when they were
talking about the air. Anyway, this move
is to help cool the A19 Pro chip that's
inside of these bad boys. Apple claims that their new six core CPU, two
performance cores, four efficiency cores, is the fastest CPU in any
smartphone thanks to improved branch prediction, more front-end bandwidth,
and extra ecore cache. Also, while there
still might not be a ton of AAA games for iPhone, the six core GPU has gotten
some upgrades, promising a 40% increase in sustained performance over last
generation. Maybe more important than that though is Apple's new N1 networking
chip, which is a common part for the entire 17 lineup. This chip nets us
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread Smartome support and will work alongside
the revised C1X in-house modem chip
that's going to handle cellular more efficiently with up to a 2x boost in
performance. Now, I have my own thoughts as to why we're getting a C1X rather
than a C2, but I'm going to wait for more details before I start spewing
potential BS across the internet. Also, another point, this video is getting a
little long. So, if there's anything from the event that you're excited about
or upset about that we didn't mention, hey, leave a comment down below for the
folks who are more into reading comments than watching entire videos. One thing
that I'm sure most of you are excited about is the 48 megapixel sensors across
the board on the Pro lineup. This is sick. I'm talking 48 megapixel main
shooter ultrawide and their new telephoto with up to an equivalent 200
mm focal length and a 56% bigger sensor.
By the way, with their new dual capture video feature, you can use the rear
camera and the front camera at the same time to record your reaction behind the
camera alongside whatever's up front. Honestly, kind of shocked it took this
long to implement that considering how long we've had FaceTime. And for more
professional recording, like the entire Apple event, which featured a ton of
greatl looking lowlight scenes, by the way, you are now getting the ability to
record in ProRes RAW, which is, I guess, where 2 TB of storage might come in
handy. How long before we get an iPhone that has like a like a freaking SD
Express slot in it? Never. I know. Before I get to the nonpro models, let's
talk about the front-facing camera that the entire line is getting because this
thing is awesome. It's got a new square
sensor and a feature called center stage. Want to take a portrait style
selfie, but suddenly a couple of friends hop in? Boom. Apple intelligent steps
in, adjust the framing, and now it's landscape because you're a civilized
human being. I'm just kidding. Portrait is actually totally fine for photos. The
point is just that this whole process of switching between landscape and portrait
takes zero effort, and I freaking love it if it gets implemented well. unlike,
you know, a lot of Apple intelligence things. Now, let's change gears and talk
about the regular iPhone 17 lineup, or should I say the iPhone 17. That's
right, my friends, the Plus has gone bust. Most people probably won't care,
but personally, I thought it was kind of a sweet spot of great battery life and a
big screen while not overpaying for pro features that I didn't need. Anyway,
even with just A19 nonprilic, the iPhone
17 looks like kind of a beast, and Apple seems to be precision targeting iPhone
users who have been waiting for a worthy upgrade. I'm talking 120 Hz display, new
ceramic shield 2 on the front, a 6.3 in Super Retina XDR display, 30 hours of
video playback on battery, fast charging, the same 18 megapixel center
stage front cam, and a 48 megapixel Fusion main camera and Fusion ultrawide
rear cameras along with Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 6, 5G eSim. Oh, and did I
mention it starts with 256 gigs of
storage? Yeah, finally. Right. So,
unless you desperately want the slimness of the Air or need the big screen on the
Pro Max, this is 100% the way to go in my opinion. And it starts at 800 bucks,
which is a lot, but it's the same as the entry-le iPhone 16, which is what we
call a 2020s decade W.
Finally, the Apple Watch Series 11 got a couple of neat upgrades. The first of
which is the ability to detect hypertension or high blood pressure.
That's neat. And the second of which is the ability to give you a sleep score.
Also neat. Its new display is allegedly twice as scratch resistant as the last
gen. Neat. Cubed. And now the SE3, Ultra
3, and Series 11 have all got 5G connectivity and fast charging. You'll
love to see it. Oh, and if you also love to save a buck, the SE is going to be
$250 and sports the S10 chip with a
1000nit display. It doesn't do the hypertension notifications. can't use
the ECG and blood oxygen apps and has a smaller battery. So, I can see why some
folks might lean toward the Series 11 for $150 more. That one has all the cool
new features and can go up to a full 24 hours without charging and doubles the
display brightness to 2,000 nits. Finally, if you really want to ball out,
but you don't have the taste or budget for a real watch, which to be clear, I
am very much throwing stones in glassouses here, the Ultra 3 is double
the price at 800 bucks with a giant 42-hour battery, a bigger, brighter
display, and the potentially life-saving ability to communicate with satellites
for emergency communication. Is that worth the giant price tag? Hard to say.
I mean, I don't know what your life is worth. You could be the next Hitler
watching this video right now for all I know. And frankly, if you are, I'd
rather you saved the money and then went on a long and dangerous expedition.
Speaking of which, it's time for a long and dangerous segue to our sponsor,
Nexigo. Experience a portable package of pure projection power with Nexigo's Nova
Mini. It's only about 2 in thick and weighs in at about 3 lb, meaning it's
small enough to fit into most backpacks. And it's no slouch when it comes to
power and output either. Screens of up to 150 in in size can be projected with
up to 12,200 lmmens of brightness at a 1080p resolution. And they even threw in
some 8watt speakers, making it a great all-in-one solution. And the best part,
there's no outlet required. Just plug in a battery bank to its USBC power port,
and you'll be up and running in no time. Click our link in the video description
to pick one up for yourself today. If you guys enjoyed this video, maybe check
out our iPhone 30-day challenge. It's a two-parter, but really offers some
useful insight into what it's like to switch from Android to iPhone.