Published on Sep 23, 2018
Topic: Apple
Once again, I have to start out by commenting on how well-shot the opening sequence is. Great use of lighting and camera angles. Though it wasn’t particularly funny or appropriate, it really is great from a technical standpoint to the point that even someone as pedestrian as me can see it.
iPhone
Three new models of iPhone were announced - the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR. At least the silly tone of Apple’s opening video matches the silly naming of these phones - sounding like they’re supposed to be sports cars. What’s that? You say it’s a roman numeral, and the way to say it is “ten”? Sorry, but you’re wrong. The tenth iPhone was the iPhone 7, and in Apple’s naming scheme, they skipped 9, so there’s no reason why X would be a 10. Fight me.
The iPhone XR is best described as “the iPhone XS, but less” so I’ll leave it for after I’ve gone into detail about the XS.
As with the iPhone X, the display and the Face ID are the stars of the XS. The display uses OLED, which is generally considered to be a better (but more expensive and more prone to issues) display technology than LCD. The displays are also bigger than the previous generation, at 5.8” for the XS and 6.5” for the XS max. The phones themselves are roughly the same physical size as the 8 and 8 plus, but by taking space from the bezels and turning it into screen space they can increase the screen size. For reference, the previous generation of phones had sizes of 4.7” and 5.5”. The displays also have higher pixel density.
I feel that further increasing pixel density is a marginal improvement, and at this point the more qualitative improvements in the screens are more effective than the increase in pixels, since pixel density is already so high.
The XS of course has a more refined processor, with up to 50% more power efficiency and up to 15% more maximum speed, depending on usage. The GPU performance has a more marked performance improvement, around 50%, over the previous generation in use in phones. One of the main focuses of this processor upgrade, however, is the Neural Engine, which is designed to optimize for machine learning applications for both Apple’s apps and third-party apps using the CoreML framework. Performance increases in this area are much more dramatic, being roughly 9x more performant while using roughly 10x less energy.
The processor improvements were also used towards the end of creating a more sophisticated image processor for the camera, able to be more intelligent about how pictures are taken. This allows for integration of machine learning at the image capture level, so that the phone can do things like detect the subject of the picture and apply appropriate filters (like red-eye, for a face). It was also used to do various other things in automatically detecting highlights and lowlights, taking dealing with motion during HDR photos better, and better controlling exposure while taking video.
The battery has also had some marginal improvements for all models, and Dual-SIM support was added (if you need it, you’ll know).
The iPhone XR is more or less like the iPhone XS, but with features taken out to save money and enhance profit margin. It has an LCD display instead of the OLED, no 3D-touch, and a single camera instead of the dual cameras that the XS and XS Max sport. It also has a 6.1” display, in the middle of the iPhone XS and XS Max. Other than that, it has one camera instead of two, and I don’t think it supports Dual-SIM like the XS does. Another thing to note is that, in terms of physical size, it’s closer to the XS Max than to the XR.
The price points are as follows:
| Model | Display Size | Physical Size | Processor | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 7 | 4.7” | 2.64” x 5.44” | A10 Fusion | $449 |
| iPhone 7 Plus | 5.5” | 3.07” x 6.23” | A10 Fusion | $569 |
| iPhone 8 | 4.7” | 2.65” x 5.45” | A11 Bionic | $599 |
| iPhone 8 Plus | 5.5” | 3.07” x 6.24” | A11 Bionic | $699 |
| iPhone XR | 6.1” | 2.98” x 5.94” | A12 Bionic | $749 |
| iPhone XS | 5.8” | 2.79” x 5.65” | A12 Bionic | $999 |
| iPhone XS Max | 6.5” | 3.05” x 6.20” | A12 Bionic | $1099 |
Takeaways
This really is a marginal improvement on the previous generation in many ways (not that that’s a bad thing), but it does show some interesting focuses from Apple. The focus on supporting machine learning better, while interesting, may not pan out quite like they hope. It seems more like they’re catching up the capabilities of the phone based on the doors they’ve previously been opening in AR and machine learning than adding new ones, which again, is not a bad thing.
That said, from a subjective standpoint, the display looks really good. The screen going edge-to-edge means that there’s less physical clutter on the device, and aside from being aesthetically pleasing, seems much more useful and user-friendly than the alternative of having a few square inches of the interface that do nothing.
The use of machine learning on a phone, at least in the way Apple wants to use it, is a bit iffy. To work, machine learning needs a substantial supply of data and a well-built model, and even then is better suited to replicating difficult-to-describe tasks that humans are good at, but computers are not. Apple is choosing to refine the machine learning capabilities of the device and hope that that’s enough to make it effective, when in reality there just aren’t too many good applications of that for a phone. It comes down to a basic principle of software design that people keep trying to disprove: That software is easier to use when you tell it what to do than when it guesses what you want. While we probably will get there, we’re just not there yet, and machine learning on a phone doesn’t have terribly many useful applications. Basically, machine learning is better as a tool than as an assistant, and I feel they keep trying to shoe-horn in assistant capabilities using machine learning.
A counterargument to that is the evidence of what Apple’s been able to do with the camera and image signal processor, which utilize machine learning very effectively to make pictures look good. But those kinds of applications seem, to me, to be few and far between.
The augmented reality improvements that can be made, however, are much more interesting. And while machine learning can be used to augment this, Apple does occasionally showcase these applications in between features of boring AR games that seem to think that a gimmick is a substitute for making a good, playable game.
Should I Buy?
In general, I like the iPhone XR, coming from an iPhone 7. Face ID is a more secure and better form of authentication than Touch ID, the displays are still good, just not as as good as the XS, and the only other things really missing are the second camera, 3D touch, and dual-SIM. That said, if those things are a benefit to you, you may want to opt for the S line. While I love huge screens, I just don’t know that there’s much value added by the S for me personally.
This probably would be a good time to take the plunge, depending on how old your current device is. The increase in screen size means they likely won’t try to make further changes to the overall size for a few years, so now is the best time to reap that benefit. Since FaceID is more affordable via the XR, if that’s something you want, it is likewise a good time.
Apple Watch
The Apple Watch line, overall, seems to be refining and improving upon the previous successes and goals of the product line, rather than broadening the scope of its features (a wise choice).
Matching one of the recent upgrades for the iPhone, the Apple Watch is shedding its bezels to offer up more screen size in the same package. This amounts to a roughly 30% increase in total screen area, which is quite substantial on such a small screen. They’re also adding and refining watch faces that take better advantage of the increased screen real estate.
It seems that the primary focus of this release, however, was increasing the scope of the watch’s health features. One of the drivers behind this is the new S4 chip, which is roughly twice as fast as the previous generation S3 chip. This is there to support collecting more health data, via a higher sampling rate.
The first of these health features is due to a more sophisticated accelerometer and gyroscope in the S3 chip. Apple claimed to have conducted a study on falling to be able to detect falls and facilitate contacting emergency services in the event of a fall. The gist is that if you take a fall and the watch detects it, the watch opens a screen to facilitate using the “Emergency SOS” feature. If it detects that the user is not moving for at least a minute, it activates the SOS automatically.
The other features added were more in line with Apple Watch’s traditional strength - heart health. The watch can now detect additional anomalies, a dangerously low heart rate and atrial fibrilation. This is most likely due to the heart study they ran, where they collected enourmous amounts of samples in order to learn how to better detect issues. The other feature uses a pair of electrodes added to the range of sensors the watch already has to perform an electocardiogram (ECG) on-demand.
Starting price for the watch remains at $279.
Takeaways
I was afraid about what Apple would try to do with their watch line. It’s inherently a very simple device with a few core strengths, and stepping outside those could easily stretch the product thin and make it not good at much of anything.
Increasing the screen size is pretty much a given, considering the same was being done across the iOS line. More interesting are the additional health features, which refine work previously done and are continuing to show more and more promise.
I am somewhat curious about potential later reception to the fall detection though; tith the cost of ambulance services and hospital stays in the United States, I suspect that if not there will be some complication of the matter from people who are unable to pay for that level of medical expenses, as often comes up in discussions of hospital stays and ambulance rides.
Should I Buy?
If you saw a feature that’s a dealmaker for you, then yes. If you didn’t, then probably not. Apple Watch doesn’t generally have particularly interesting releases at this point, because it doesn’t need them. If you have an apple watch, there isn’t much that’s accomplished by upgrading.