Next week witnesses Apple’s latest media event and we are expecting to see new iPhones, final updates to iOS 9 and Mac OS X El Capitan plus an all new Apple TV.
With the strap line “Hey Siri, give us a hint” it is clear that voice activated assistant will be playing a key role in the event.
In fact if you ask Siri the question you will receive a number of playful responses from “What, you can’t tell from my colour wavey words?” to “Look deep within yourself and you will find the answer. Especially on September 9.” Who says tech giants don’t have a sense of humour?
So if Siri will not give us the answer to the event what do we know. History tells us that the September event is dominated by the iPhone. So expect to see an iPhone 6s incorporating a thicker shell and the Force Touch technology, which is on the MacBook and MacBook Pro with Retina Display models, plus an improved camera.
Aside from the iPhone the big emphasis seems to be on the newly designed Apple TV. You may recall that the invitation to WWDC in June strongly hinted at Apple TV being the cornerstone of that announcement but it was clearly delayed. There seems to be a lot of opinion that next week’s event will see the launch of a new Apple TV that will incorporate Siri, App store and possible a touch pad remote control.
The biggest news regarding the Apple TV is that Apple are working on their own content in an attempt to challenge Amazon Prime and Netflix. Details of how and what Apple would show are somewhat sketchy at the moment but next week might provide more clues.
For Mac users we will get to see the latest updates to Mac OS X El Capitan. The focus of the updated software is better performance and faster speeds. That’s done by bringing Metal, the core graphics technology used in newer iPhones and iPads, to the Mac, offering a welcome boost to app rendering performance. Split View and a smarter Spotlight search will also feature.
As for hardware rumours still persist for a Retina 21.5” iMac and the iPad Pro is also being mentioned on some rumour sites. Whether Apple will announce these products in the September event or wait to the traditional October iPad event is unclear.
