Apple’s Hearing Aid, Sleep Apnea Saved iPhone 16 Event; M4 Mac Launch Details

Apple’s new AirPods hearing-aid feature and other health capabilities made up for an otherwise dull iPhone 16 launch. Also: The company gears up for an M4 Mac event; the iPhone 16 will lack some key features at the outset; and a new Apple Watch SE remains in development.

Last week in Power On: Apple’s AI rollout is too staggered to spark iPhone 16 super cycle.

Apple Inc.’s iPhone 16 launch was mostly about refining the device’s nuts and bolts, rather than introducing exciting overhauls or new features.

Let’s recap some of the changes — and why they were made:

None of those changes is significant enough to drive a super cycle — the rush of upgrading that happens every few years — but they should keep users happy. Apple’s brand, product ecosystem and marketing muscle are all so strong that even the bare minimum is usually enough.

Apple knows that the new iPhone hardware doesn’t represent a major leap over last year’s model. So it focused much of its launch event on Apple Intelligence, the company’s new suite of AI tools. Of course, those features were already announced in June and have been available in beta tests for weeks. You also don’t necessarily need to buy an iPhone 16 to get them (they’ll work with the iPhone 15 Pro models as well).

That’s why the highlight of the show may have been the debut of some long-awaited health features, including hearing-aid software for the AirPods Pro. But I’ll start by digging into the hardware changes. The Camera Control button on the new iPhones seems like an extension of the Dynamic Island from the iPhone 14 Pro. Apple was praised two years ago for that enhancement, specifically for how the hardware and software blend together. But it hasn’t been a game-changing innovation. So the company has now concocted another cool interface — and this one might have more of an impact.

Having the button will probably spur people to take more pictures. Apple also added a second 48-megapixel lens and expanded slow-motion video recording, another enticement to create more media. It all adds up to users needing additional storage — either on their phone or in iCloud — and that’s good for the company’s bottom line.

The A18 chip on the iPhone 16 is a two-generation jump from the previous A16, with the Pro models shifting to the A18 Pro from A17 Pro. The A18 Pro promises a 15% gain for its central processor and a 20% jump for its graphics — notable on paper — but the change may still be subtle for most people. In day-to-day use, the last couple of iPhones were plenty fast. The users who will notice the improvements are people coming from Android devices or much older iPhones.

Likewise, the new AirPods 4 will probably be most impressive to people coming from rival devices. The Apple Watch hardware upgrades were fairly minor as well. Though Apple redesigned the new Series 10 watch, it looks nearly identical to the “jelly bean” model introduced with the Series 4 in 2018. The selling points are the new materials and lighter chassis. Users of the Series 10 will also now get the much larger screen of the Ultra.

The new black Ultra watch does look incredible: Apple’s most faithful customers will upgrade from last year’s model for the color alone. But the lack of major hardware changes underscores a growing issue for the Apple Watch lineup.

The product is now a decade old, and it’s harder than ever for Apple to wow customers every year. Back in 2023, I said Apple was considering moving to a two-year upgrade cycle for at least some models. That already applied to the lower-end Apple Watch SE, but we’re now seeing this with the Ultra too.

Last year, Apple barely had enough new stuff to warrant putting the “2” suffix on its updated Ultra. The speed improvements in the S9 chip, a screen that could go a third brighter and the new double-tap gesture justified the branding — barely. This time around, Apple really had nothing ready. The S10 chip in the Series 10 isn’t any faster than the S9, and upcoming features have hit delays. So Apple didn’t brand the new Ultra as a “3.”

But even without much razzle-dazzle on the hardware side, Apple has a saving grace: its new health features.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has said that he believes Apple’s legacy will be its health-care initiatives. While some of its efforts have fallen short and even drawn controversy, there’s no doubt that Apple has already helped hundreds of millions of people lead healthier lives.

The first health feature discussed during last week’s presentation was sleep apnea detection on the Apple Watch. This software (which is also coming to last year’s watches) can warn users if it believes they have the condition. Customers will then know to go to a doctor and get checked out. Like with Apple’s other health features, the mechanism is designed to raise awareness and push a user to get help — rather than give them all the data needed to make a medical decision.

I think this is going to help a lot of people, even if a blood-pressure warning feature would have had a bigger impact. (I’m told that long-awaited capability ran into problems during testing, specifically with the updated design for the Series 10, so Apple delayed it.)

The most impressive health initiative coming this year is the company's new set of hearing features. As I reported several months ago, this involves turning AirPods into a clinical-grade hearing test machine as well as — most impressively — an over-the-counter hearing aid. Shortly after the announcement, the technology got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

A conventional hearing aid can cost anywhere from $300 to upwards of $2,000. Apple’s option will bring that price point to $249 — the cost of the AirPods Pro. That’s critical given that most US insurance companies don’t reimburse over-the-counter hearing-aid purchases. It also will integrate more seamlessly with the iPhone, giving it a better interface than most existing hearing devices.

Other future Apple health features will include embedding heart-rate sensors in the AirPods, as well as an AI-driven health coaching service for the Apple Watch and iPhone. There are also more blood-pressure management tools in development for the iPhone and iPad Health app.

But it hasn’t all gone smoothly. Beyond the snag with the blood-pressure monitoring, Apple still hasn’t resolved its legal fight with Masimo Corp. over blood-oxygen detection. That means the feature won’t appear on the latest crop of Apple Watches sold in the US. Upgraders who have the feature right now will lose it by buying a new model — something that will undoubtedly confuse and irk consumers who like the capability.

It seems clear that Apple doesn’t want to fix the problem by writing a big check to Masimo, which it sees as a patent troll. But consumers are now paying the price for Apple’s resistance to take that step.

The ultimate health addition for the Apple Watch will be noninvasive glucose monitoring to detect diabetes. This is still many years away from launching, but Apple has some of its smartest engineering minds working on it.

Apple gears up for major M4 Mac overhaul in the coming weeks. With the iPhone 16 launch event now in the rearview mirror, Apple is preparing for its next event, likely to be held in the coming weeks. The main topic: the company’s first Macs with AI-focused M4 chips and Apple Intelligence. New, lower-end iPads also are likely to be unveiled at the event, as I reported this month.

As of now, the Mac event is shaping up to follow the exact road map I outlined in April. Here are the highlights, including the code names:

I’m told that most of these Macs are already shipping from factories(save for some of the higher-end MacBook Pros and the Mac mini with the M4 Pro) and are ready for launch right now. Of course, Apple is going to hold everything until all of the new Macs can ship around the same time. As I also previously reported, M4 MacBook Airs (J713 and J715) are scheduled for the first quarter of 2025 and a new Mac Studio (J575) is coming around the middle of next year. A Mac Pro (J704), meanwhile, will launch before the end of 2025.

The iPhone 16 will be missing some key features when it debuts. Though Apple said several times that the iPhone 16 is the first model “built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence,” the first versions won’t even include the AI system out of the box. (There’s also the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro line will run Apple Intelligence too.)

As I’ve been warning for several weeks, Apple Intelligence won’t be arriving until October. That means early iPhone 16 buyers will need a software update to take advantage of the new iPhone's biggest selling point.

Beyond the initial Apple Intelligence features, users will need even more software updates down the road. There will be one in December to add AI-generated emoji known as Genmoji, as well as the Image Playground capabilities and ChatGPT integration.

And if you want the new Siri digital assistant to actually be useful, you’ll have to wait until a software update around next March. Apple Intelligence aside, there are some other features coming later as well, including a two-stage shutter in the Camera Control button that will lock focus and exposure. A Google Lens rival called Visual Intelligence — also tied to the Camera Control button — is still on the way too.

A new Apple Watch SE with plastic shell remains in development. Earlier this year, I reported that Apple is working on a plastic version of the SE watch in bolder colors. The idea is to potentially bring down the price with a cheaper material, while also making the device more kid-friendly. This could be good timing: Schools in the US and elsewhere are banning kids from using phones, and Apple is positioning its smartwatch as an alternative.

Though a new Apple Watch SE wasn’t part of last week’s launch event, I’m told that the product is still moving forward — potentially for next year. Apple’s manufacturing teams have been running into some cost and quality challenges with the shift to plastic, but they may have a freer hand to resolve the issues now that the transition from steel to titanium on higher-end watches is complete. Other than adding plastic, I expect the new SE to include a processor jump. The current SE is stuck on 2020-era speeds.

(Answers to the below are shown in the subscriber-only version of this newsletter.)Q: Is the iPhone 16 worth it if I have an iPhone 15?Q: What are the differences between the two AirPods 4 models?Q: Can I really get an iPhone 16 Pro for free with new carrier deals?

Email me, ask on the Power On Discord, or you can always send me a tweet or DM @markgurman.

I’m on Signal at markgurman.01; Telegram at GurmanMark; or ProtonMail at [email protected].

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