At the Time Flies event which took place on Tuesday 15th September, Apple announced a collection of new products including the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE, Solo Hoop, iPad Air, and two new subscription services; Fitness+ and Apple One.

Apple kickstarted the event with the introduction of the Watch 6 Series which features a new blood oxygen monitoring feature. Apple claims that the Series 6 can measure oxygen saturation of your blood in fifteen seconds and can be checked periodically as you rest. Furthermore, the Series 6 includes a new S6 chip which is more power-efficient and charges 20 percent quicker. The display screen is 2.5 times brighter than on the Series 5, and it will support 5GHz and Wifi networks. However, Apple confirmed that the Series 6 won’t include a power charger because they assume that consumers will be upgrading to a new wearable, therefore they can use their current charger.

The Apple Watch Series 6 launches today and will retail from £379.00 in a variety of colours, including a blue aluminium case, gold stainless steel, grey stainless steel called graphite and Product Red.

In addition Apple also showcased an entry-level version of its reputable fitness wearable. Despite being cheaper than its predecessor, the Watch SE will still come equipped with heart rate and fitness tracking, fall detection and last year’s S5 chip. The display screen on the Watch SE is the same size as the new Series 6, which is excellent! The only thing missing from this device is the ECG feature and the new blood oxygen measuring feature, which is new to the Series 6. The Apple Watch SE is available to purchase from today and retails from £269.

Apple also announced a range of stylish watch straps called Solo Loop which enables consumers to accessorise their Apple watches. The Solo Loop is a continuous stretchable silicone loop that’s available in seven different colours (Deep Navy, Ginger, Cyprus Green, Pink Citrus, White, Black and Product Red) in twelve different sizes for an “ultra-comfortable” fit. Customers are required to use the printable tool on Apple’s website to identify the best fit before purchasing. The Solo Loop retails at £49.00 and is available to buy now on Apple’s website.

Apple has also created a “Braided Solo Loop”, which comes in the same style but is made out of recycled yarn and comes in five colours (Atlantic Blue, Inverness Green, Pink Punch, Product Red, Charcoal.

Both the Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop accessories are compatible with the Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 4 and above. The Solo Loop retails at £49.00, and the Braided Solo Loop retails at £99.00.

Apple’s new iPad Air resembles a sleek iPad Pro design but this time comes in five unique colours including blue and green hues. The iPad Air provides a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with 2,360 by 1,640 resolution. Furthermore, it will also utilise Apple’s True Tone technology and its new A14 chipset. Apple has incorporated a new fingerprint sensor located at the top of the device, which is built into the power button. The iPad Air will also support the second-generation Apple pencil along with the recently released Magic Keyboard.

Other new features include;

USB-C outlet

Single 12-megapixel camera with f/1.8 aperture lens

Redesigned tablet speakers

Apple anticipates that the iPad Air will be released sometime in October and will retail between $599 and $729 depending on the model  you select (storage capacity and connectivity).

Fitness+ is a new health and fitness premium subscription that integrates with iPhones, iPads, and Apple TV. However, Apple says that it’s primarily developed for the Apple Watch. The service offers ten different types of exercises including cycling, yoga and dance. New exercises will be uploaded weekly, and we can expect to see a release by the end of the year. The Fitness+ subscription fee costs £9.99 per month, or you can subscribe for a full year for £79.99.

Apple One is a new subscription service from Cupertino tech giant that consolidates Apple’s popular products into one affordable package. The Apple One subscription includes Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV and iCloud storage across three separate price plans;

Individual 

Includes Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV and 50GB of iCloud storage for £14.95 per month.

Family plan 

includes Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV and 50GB of iCloud storage for up to six members for £19.95 per month

Premier plan

includes Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple News+, Fitness+ (coming late 2020) and 2TB of iCloud storage for £29.95 per month

The individual and family plans will be available in over 100 nations across all Apple devices. However, the premium plan is exclusive to the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Apple didn’t announce a release date for Apple One, but they did say that they will be offering a free 30 day trial for new customers.

Unfortunately, the tech giant didn’t reveal the upcoming iPhone 12 at the event, which left many of us discombobulated since we are so used to seeing a new Apple smartphone on the market in September. However, we believe that the global pandemic caused a delay in production since many of its stores and offices were closed down in China. Therefore we suspect there will be a four to six-week delay, with hopes that it would be ready for launch in October or November (fingers crossed).