Apple Event Recap: iPhone 11 Pro, Apple Watch 5, New iPad and More

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The biggest announcements from Cupertino

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Apple's big Sept. 10 event is in the books, giving us our official look at the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, all of which are focused on delivering the best photography you can find in a phone. We also saw a new Apple Watch, a refreshed entry-level iPad and official prices and release dates for Apple Arcade and Apple TV Plus.

There's a whole bunch to digest from Apple's big event, and we've been on the ground covering every big announcement. Here's a recap of everything you missed from Apple's September showcase, as well as our archived liveblog for all of the announcements as they happened.

iPhone 11 event highlights: all the big headlines

iPhone 11 live blog

2:46 pm: And that's a wrap folks! Thanks for hanging out with us, and stay tuned for our hands on impressions of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, Apple Watch Series 5 and more.

2:37 pm: Apple's now shouting out its retail employees and talking in-store stuff. You'll soon be able to customize your own Apple Watch in stores, which is neat. Apple is also introducing monthly payments for trade-ins. Also, Apple's fancy new 5th avenue store reopens on Sept. 20, the same day the iPhone 11 comes out. I'm sure it won't be mobbed at all.

2:34 pm: Okay, not as bad as we expected. iPhone 11 Pro will start at $999, with the Pro Max starting at $1,199. They'll launch alongside the $699 iPhone 11 on Sept 20. 

2:31 pm: A techy trailer is playing. I'm kind of nervous to see how much this thing costs.

2:25 pm: Apple's playing a dramatic, great-looking video shot and edited entirely on iPhone 11 Pro. One editor says he's waiting for Bruce Wayne's parents to be shot. Filmmakers are on stage discussing how the iPhone 11 Pro gives them similar tools to what they use on set. The ability to shoot from all of the iPhone 11 Pro's cameras at once -- front camera included -- looks nuts.

2:17 pm: Time to see those fancy cameras. The iPhone 11 Pro packs a wide camera, a telephoto camera, and an ultra wide camera, which should all combine to offer the kind of high-end photography you'd typically need a professional shooter for. We're seeing some examples of photos shot by professionals on the 11 Pro, including a strikingly detailed close-up of a man's eyes as well as a chaotic portrait of a person with water splashing all around them. 

This thing looks like it'll capture skin tones, facial detail and shadows really well. A monochrome shot of White Pocket, Arizona looks like it came from something way more expensive than a smartphone.

2:14 pm: We're getting a deep dive on the powerful A13 Bionic processor, which Apple says will offer the best machine learning in any smartphone. The CPU is also built to be more power efficient, which should mean more battery life -- 4 to 5 hours more than iPhone XS and XS Max, according to Apple. 

2:10 pm: Okay, time to talk Pro. That triple-camera array sure is chunky. The iPhone 11 Pro is made of surgical-grade stainless steel in a glass unibody design. It'll come in midnight green, space gray, silver and gold in 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch variations. Phil Schiller is touting that the same display tech going into the iMac Pro is going into the iPhone 11 Pro's "Super Retina" screen.

2:07 pm: The iPhone 11 will start at just $699, which solicited a whole bunch of whoa! and wow! in our newsroom. That's quite aggressive for Apple.

2:06 pm: We're seeing a pretty funny and trippy trailer touting the iPhone 11's durability, showing the phone get dropped to the bottom of a car, smacked off a table by a cat and doused in soda, among other things. That alarm sound is giving me PTSD from this morning.

2:00 pm: Time to talk performance. Apple is calling the A13 the fastest CPU in a smartphone (duh), and showing how the iPhone 11 tops both the iPhone XR as well as top Android competitors in a series of performance charts. We're getting a look at mobile game Pascal's Wager running on iPhone 11, which looks impressively smooth and console-like (if we're talking last-gen consoles, at least). In terms of battery, Apple says you'll get an hour more than the iPhone XR.

1:58 pm: The front camera is getting slo-mo video, because why not? Apple is showing a pretty funny video of someone taking a dramatic slo-mo selfie (or what Apple calls a Slofie -- ugh), which I'm sure will take over Instagram Stories this fall.

1:55 pm: We're now seeing the first video ever shot on iPhone 11. It looks pretty dang good! We're seeing a bunch of colorful cars driving around in the snow, and both the wide angles and the richness in color are impressive. It certainly doesn't hurt that the iPhone 11 can shoot in 4K at 60 frames per second. Apple is calling this the highest quality camera on a smartphone. But could there be something better?

(Image credit: Apple)

1:50 pm: Again -- look at these colors! First up is the iPhone 11, which has a boxy dual camera module and comes in a six colors, including a purple, green, yellow and a bold red. The phone's glass design is built to be extra sturdy, and it packs a 6.1-inch Retina display. It's also got spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support. 

The phone's dual 12MP camera setup includes an ultra wide lens for more immersive shots. This thing looks really impressive on the stage demos, particularly in a comparison shot that shows much more of a massive canyon on the wider lens. Other camera upgrades include a high-key mono feature for dramatic black and white portraits, and an improved Night mode for low-light goodness.

1:47 pm: "Let's talk about iPhone," says Tim Cook to thunderous cheers. Okay, Tim. Let's do it.

1:40 pm: Look at those colors! The Apple Watch 5 will come in a variety of shades and materials, including gorgeous titanium and ceramic with finishes that include red and gold. The Watch 5 will start at $399, and will launch on Sept. 20. If you're on a budget, the Series 3 is now just $199. My colleague Henry Casey is bummed that there's still no sleep tracking.

1:37 pm: Apple Watch Series 5 reveal time! A fancy trailer is showing a dancer flailing around with the new watch on her wrist. The watch features an always-on Retina display so you can always see things like time and workout data no matter your position (even if you're doing advanced ballet dances!). Even with the always-on feature, Apple is promising the same 18-hour battery life. 

1:34 pm: In the wake of Apple's strides with heart research, the company is conducting studies for things such as hearing and menstrual cycles in order to suit a wider range of users. Folks who want to participate in these studies can check out the Apple Research app later this year.

1:29 pm: Up next is Apple Watch. Apple is showing off clips of users talking about how the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor has improved their lives -- or in some cases, saved it.

1:22 pm: The new iPad is official. The upgraded 7th-gen iPad has a larger 10.2-inch display with nearly 3.5 million pixels, as well as an A10 chip that Apple says is two times as fast as comparable Windows laptops. It'll be the first standard iPad to support a full-on keyboard, and, like the iPad Pro, will benefit from the multitasking muscle of iPadOS. Like the previous 9.7-inch iPad, the new new 10-inch model will cost just $329 when it arrives on Sept. 30.

1:19 pm: Price and release date time. Apple TV Plus is coming on Nov. 1, and will also cost just $4.99. That's just a few days before Disney Plus launches on Nov. 12 for $6.99, so this fall's streaming wars should be interesting. Also, you'll get a free year of Apple TV Plus if you buy any new Apple hardware.

1:14 pm: Time for Apple TV Plus. Tim Cook is boasting about how The Morning Show is one of the most anticipated TV shows of fall, and debuted the first trailer for Jason Momoa's See. The apocalyptic fantasy series seems to focus on a pair of magical babies with special abilities, whom Momoa and crew must protect from an evil tribe. Not totally sold, but I'll watch most things with Jason Momoa in them.

1:12 pm: Finally, a release date and price. Apple Arcade is coming on Sept. 19, and will cost $4.99 for an entire family plan. You'll be able to get a one-month free trial at launch.

1:10 pm: OK, this is the coolest Arcade exclusive yet. Sayonara Wild Hearts is a strikingly colorful music-action game that blends entrancing rhythms with what looks like infinite-runner-style gameplay.

1:08 pm: Capcom's up next. We're seeing Shinsekai Into The Depths, which casts you as  an underwater explorer that must scavenge for supplies and battle a bunch of creatures to survive. 

1:05 pm: Frogger is back! We're seeing Frogger Toy Town, which is coming exclusively to Apple Arcade at launch and features modern, colorful 3D graphics and thrusts you in a tiny toy land where you'll have to avoid giant babies. Seriously.

1:03 pm: First up, Apple Arcade! Apple's Ann Thai is breaking down how the App Store will have a dedicated Arcade tab, which will show a curated selection of the tiles available on the subscription service. 

1:00 pm: We're off! Apple is starting out with a montage of graphics of iconic Apple products, from the OG iPod and Apple TV remote to the MacBook and Siri.

12:36 pm: And we're seated. Less than a half hour until go time!

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

12:14 pm: We're going in, and things are, uh, a bit crowded.

11:30 am: We've arrived at the Steve Jobs Theater, and have treated ourselves to a tasty breakfast (shot on iPhone XS, of course).

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

10:55 am: Our editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer and senior writer Caitlin McGarry are on the scene at Apple Park. Just two hours to go until showtime!

9:48 am: In another late-game prediction, Gurman says that the iPhones will be titled iPhone 11, iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max, with the high-end models ditching the "11" nomenclature.

8:00 am: The Apple Store is officially displaying the "we'll be right back" message online, which means new products are only hours away. Elsewhere, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman hints that we may see a new entry-level iPad today.

7:22 am: It's officially Apple day! Some last minute leaks include Apple potentially ditching reverse wireless charging and Apple pencil support for the iPhone 11.

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Michael Andronico
Michael Andronico

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored. He was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide, where he wrote extensively on gaming, as well as running the show on the news front. When not at work, you can usually catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.