Apple is expected to unveil a new line of iPhones with improved battery life and camera capabilities at its much-anticipated annual September product launch event on Tuesday.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will begin at 1 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on Apple’s website, as it was last year.
Apple has released a new iPhone model every September since 2013, though last year’s event was postponed until October due to production delays caused by the pandemic.
According to reports, the Cupertino, California-based tech giant will introduce four new iPhones this year: the iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
After last year’s relatively significant upgrade, when the company released the redesigned iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, as well as 5G connectivity for the first time, the latest smartphones are expected to include a handful of technical upgrades.
Customers are likely to see an improved camera, with an expanded Portrait mode feature that allows it to be used on video, according to Bloomberg.
To mimic professional-quality DSLR photography, the Portrait mode focuses on faces while blurring the background.
The enhanced camera is is also rumored to include astrophotography support to take pictures of the night sky, they reported.
The iPhone 13 is also expected to have a larger battery, which will allow it to last longer between charges, according to the outlet.
Apple could introduce new Apple Watch and AirPods models in addition to the latest iPhones. Apple Watch updates are released once a year, and the most recent update to AirPods was released in 2019.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported over the weekend that Apple will hold a second event in “several weeks” at which new Mac and iPad models will be unveiled.
The event comes just days after a California judge ruled that Apple must stop prohibiting developers from directing users away from in-app purchases, a move that could allow developers to avoid Apple’s 30% cut on some sales.
The decision, which Epic Games is appealing because it also ordered the company to pay millions of dollars in damages to Apple for violating the App Store payment rules, could jeopardize billions of dollars in commission revenue for Apple.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers avoided labeling Apple a monopoly in her decision, stating that “success is not illegal.”
But, she added, the company “is engaging in anti-competitive conduct under California’s competition laws.”
“The Court concludes that Apple’s anti-steering provisions hide critical information from consumers and illegally stifle consumer choice,” Rogers wrote. “When coupled with Apple’s incipient antitrust violations, these anti-steering provisions are anticompetitive and a nationwide remedy to eliminate those provisions is warranted.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook will make his first public appearance since the ruling on Tuesday.
