By Jason Snell

September 4, 2024 5:26 PM PT

Apple’s September event: The delight will be in the details

When Apple was a small company that few people cared about, it leaked like a sieve. Sources like MacWEEK printed the company’s plans far in advance. These days, Apple is much bigger and more important, and journalists like Mark Gurman and analysts like Ming-Chi Kuo are experts at relaying the details of Apple’s future products around the world instantaneously.

Even so, there are always surprises at Apple events. On Monday, I’ll be sitting in the Steve Jobs Theater watching the same video the rest of you are watching at home, and while we can probably all sketch out the broad scope of the event, there will inevitably be little stuff that will make us scratch our collective heads. When all the big reveals are expected, the delight is in the details.

Leaks from the supply chain mean that we tend to know certain basic physical things about new Apple hardware: the shapes, the sizes, and the components with their accompanying specs. But it’s harder (not impossible, but harder) to get all the details of the software that Apple’s planning to take advantage of that new hardware.

A great example this year is the rumor of the Capture Button, a touch-sensitive area on the side of the iPhone 16 that will apparently let you open and control the Camera app. But the details are a bit hazier on exactly how it will work and what it will do. Will it control modes (video, still, etc.) or allow you to zoom or control autofocus? Will those gestures be at all customizable?

I’m looking forward to the story Apple tells around the Capture Button. This brings me to another feature of an Apple product roll-out that is very hard for leaks to get right: the narrative that Apple spins around its products. Yes, it’s all marketing, but the design choices are a part of the storytelling. Why did Apple decide last year to add a physical Action button and this year to add another button dedicated to the camera? Why is this feature different? What problems is it trying to solve for its users? The stories Apple tells around features like this tend to be quite informative about how Apple’s approach and philosophy. I find it interesting and helpful, a rare (albeit self-serving) peek behind the curtain.

Back in June, Apple spent a lot of time talking up Apple Intelligence. I’m sure a lot of people are wondering if there are going to be further Apple Intelligence announcements to come, perhaps tied specifically to the iPhone 16. I can’t see it. I think Apple is working hard to play catch-up when it comes to AI, and it played all its cards at WWDC. In fact, it played all its cards, and showed some other cards it’s planning on playing next year. If there was some other feature left in the tank, I think we would’ve seen it in June. What we’re getting is what we already know.

However, one area of Apple’s AI strategy was suspiciously vague back in June: where third-party chatbots fit in. In Apple’s world, the company’s own models use their knowledge of your personal context to help you on your device or by using Apple’s private cloud. But if you want to search for what the company calls “world knowledge,” it has said that it will (optionally) kick you out to a chatbot like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

But the unveiling of that ChatGPT relationship was underwhelming, given that it was plastered with disclaimers, warnings, the ability to turn it off… and the fact that Apple executives kept insisting that it was merely the first partnership to be announced and that support for other chatbots would undoubtedly come in the future. They even mentioned Google Gemini once or twice, which is not something that’s usually done unless you have some confidence that you’ll get a deal done.

So here’s a possibility for Monday: Might Apple have some additional chatbot relationships to announce? Is it possible that Google Gemini or Anthropic’s Claude might be added to the list of chatbots coming soon to the iPhone? It would be a bit of a shot to OpenAI’s confidence, but given the flak Apple’s taking in the EU for not offering consumer choice, launching its chatbot functionality with a bunch of choices might be a smart move.

Monday marks the tenth anniversary of the original Apple Watch announcement, and I expect at least some interesting Apple Watch news. There’s plenty of heat around the idea that the new Apple Watch models will be bigger, and I’m really interested in hearing Apple’s storytelling about why this is a good thing. I know people enjoy having a smaller watch, and if Apple’s expanding the small watch to be the size of the (current) large model, what does that mean? Does it wear differently? Will it not seem huge? Or does Apple just have confidence, based on its market research, that it can make the Apple Watch larger and people will still buy it?

I’m also fascinated by the rumor about the Apple Watch SE, which might be getting a revision that could potentially include some lighter and cheaper materials, such as plastic. Would Apple, a company that mostly gravitates toward muted colors (or no colors at all), dare to make some eye-popping, brightly colored plastic watches, perhaps targeted at younger people?

Among the most opaque areas for Apple reporters who are trying to break news are the ones that come from a small group of people deep inside the marketing group: product names and prices. The Apple Watch SE price is a bit of a mystery, but an interesting one. Could Apple possibly get an Apple Watch under $200 for the first time? Or will it just slide into the existing price point?

And with all the buzz about Apple Intelligence, what’s Apple’s story regarding A.I. and the Apple Watch? Obviously, the hardware can’t support it in the same way as other devices and probably won’t be able to for years to come. But is there some sort of mitigation that Apple could promise for the near future? Will the Apple Watch be able to talk to an iPhone that’s powered by Apple Intelligence and use it to relay queries to a more intelligent assistant than on-device Siri? No idea, but Monday would be an opportunity to provide some reassurance, if any is on offer.

Finally, there’s the question of the blood-oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch. This will mark the first launch event after Apple was prevented from selling the device in the U.S. with the oxygen sensor turned on. Does the company really want to launch new models without being able to use that feature in its home market? Does it have any choice?

I see three possibilities: Apple could use Monday to announce that it’s reached a detente with Masimo, and that the oxygen features are once again available. It could announce that it’s somehow built a new oxygen sensor that its lawyers feel does not infringe on Masimo’s patents. Or it could just… do nothing, ship the new watches, not talk about the oxygen sensor, and people buying new Apple Watches in the U.S. will actually take a step back, assuming they’re upgrading from an older model with the oxygen sensor intact.

One last hardware marketing detail I’ll be looking for is how Apple defines the AirPods line, assuming some new AirPods are on the way. How many AirPods models are going to be for sale? Are there new low-end models that are replacing older models, or are we doing the tried-and-true Tim Cook thing of selling the older model for a cheaper price while the new model slots in at a slightly higher one? And what AirPods Pro features might creep into the lower-end model AirPods? What differentiates a “low-end” set of AirPods with noise cancellation from the AirPods Pro, and does that differentiation make sense?

One of the final mysteries of most Apple events comes from timelines. Only Apple knows exactly when the new iPhone preorders will go online, when the devices will ship, and when all the new OS versions will drop. Hopefully, we’ll hear all those dates on Monday—along with, if we’re very lucky, a better idea of when Apple Intelligence will ship to the general public.

In any event, there’s plenty to watch for on Monday, even if the big points have been spoiled. I look forward to watching the video, getting my hands on the products afterward, and relaying it all to you when I’m back home from my day trip to Cupertino.

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