Everything Apple Announced: iPhone Air, iPhone 17, Apple Watches, AirPods Pro 3

Another September, another Apple event. Today, Apple revealed its new iPhone 17 lineup in regular and Pro models, as well as the new and very thin iPhone Air. The company also showed off the new Apple Watches—Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE—and the refreshed AirPods Pro 3.

There wasn’t much talk of software, or about Apple’s ongoing efforts to seamlessly integrate AI into all its products. But we got lots of hardware! Here’s everything Apple announced today.

There are four iPhones as usual, but Apple has changed things up quite a bit this year. Gone is the Plus model, and in its place is the iPhone Air, a new ultra-slim and lightweight iPhone that’s just 5.6 millimeters thick.

You only get one camera on this model, though, and Apple seems to be using high-density silicon-carbon batteries. The company is claiming the same 27 hours of video playback that the iPhone 16 Plus was capable of, even though this phone is much thinner and presumably has a slimmer battery. We’ll see how it performs when we test it. There’s a new low-profile MagSafe battery pack to accompany it in case you’re worried (or Apple is worried) about battery.

The iPhone 17 Pro models have a completely fresh look, with a new “Camera Plateau” design. The highlights here are a vapor chamber cooling system that helps regulate the heat generated by the beefier processor, and a 48-megapixel telephoto camera that hits 4X optical zoom and 8X “optical-like” zoom.

All of these phones employ Apple’s new N1 wireless networking chip, which features Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support, though only the iPhone Air comes with Apple’s homebrewed C1X modem. That’s likely because the C1X doesn’t support millimeter-wave 5G (only sub-6).

Perhaps more exciting is the fresh 18-megapixel selfie camera, which supports the Center Stage feature that automatically adjusts the framing to keep you centered. It also has Dual Capture support, so you can send reaction videos all day everyday and call yourself a Twitch streamer.

The base iPhone 17 starts at $799. The iPhone Air is $999, the iPhone 17 Pro is $1,099, and the iPhone Pro Max is $1,199. All iPhones will be available on September 19.

And this wasn't in the presentation, but iOS 26 will be available on iPhones old and new on September 15. —Julian Chokkattu

Compared to last year’s somewhat lackluster 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, this year sees a complete revamp, including a long overdue update of the company’s entry-level Watch SE. This year, the Watch SE has the latest S10 chip, which means that it finally has a lot of the features available on more expensive watches, like the sleep tracking and satellite messaging. Satellite messaging became available on the iPhone last year, and is now available on all three watches. You can text your family and friends when you’re off the grid via your watch. If your watch detects that you’ve crashed or had an incident, it will also send your location via satellite to emergency services and contacts.

The latest update to the Watch Series 11 and Watch Ultra 3’s vaunted series of health features is hypertension notification, which Apple expects to be FDA-cleared within the month.

Over a period of 30 days, the watch’s optical heart sensor will check if you have symptoms of hypertension, which affects as many as one out of three of the global population and can cause everything from heart attacks to kidney disease to stroke.

This is in addition to hardware upgrades like wide-angle OLED displays that we saw on last year’s Series 10, along with—this is huge—a full 24 hours of battery life on the Series 11 and up to 72 hours of battery life on the Watch Ultra 3 in low-power mode. The Apple Watches have had notoriously poor battery life for a decade, and now you can (probably) wear your Apple Watch all through the night or for a weekend camping trip! Amazing!

The Watch SE starts at $249, the Watch Series 11 at $399, and the Watch Ultra 3 at $799. All three watches are available for preorder today and will be available on September 19. —Adrienne So

Apple has some fancy new nubs you can jam in your ear holes. The AirPods Pro 3 are the latest in Apple's premium earbud lineup, and they have a few new tricks that differentiate them from the previous models.

The AirPods Pro 3 look smaller and more svelte: They have shorter stems that Apple says helps them fit even better in different ear shapes, and an expanded selection of five ear tips to help them block out more sound and make them more comfortable. New drivers and those ear tips mean the AirPods Pro 3 have better bass response, in addition to noise cancellation that Apple claims offers twice the sound reduction when compared to AirPods Pro 2 (and four times more than the first AirPods).

AirPods Pro 3 have an IP57 rating that makes them sweat- and water-resistant, and the headphones also offer dedicated workout lessons, which can be triggered on the buds themselves. They can also sense your heart rate, which is a feature we haven’t seen in headphones in a few years, and makes these great for pairing with an iPhone at the gym.

The new AirPods Pro 3 sell for $249 and will be available on September 19.

Perhaps most important for daily listeners who love their current AirPods Pro, the new model gets eight hours of battery life with noise cancellation, and 10 hours with hearing-aid features running. The AirPods Pro 3 also has new live translation capabilities. Speaking of which …

Earlier this year, Google announced that its Pixel 10 phones would be graced with an AI-powered live voice-translation feature, complete with the ability to hear different languages delivered by an AI generated voice that sounds uncannily like the person speaking.

Now, Apple is getting in on the transcription chat, thanks to the AirPods Pro 3. Triggered with a little twist gesture on an AirPod’s stem, the iPhone can translate a different language live via voice in the wearer’s ear. When the person wearing the buds speaks, the translator can display what they’re saying on an iPhone screen in the other person’s language. The wearer can hold the phone up for the other person to read the text in their language, or they can tap a button to play audio of a voice speaking their native tongue.

If both people happen to be wearing AirPods Pro 3, the conversation will be translated in each person’s ear.

There’s no telling how accurate these translations will be, given AI’s penchant for getting some things dead wrong in translations. Still, Apple says that its live translation doesn’t just translate individual words but understands the meaning of the words used and contextualizes them.

Apple’s AI software efforts, in part leveraged by a dependence on Open AI’s LLM, have endured numerous struggles on their way to release. Announced in June of last year, Apple said its AI features would be available on the iPhone 16, but the ones that materialized on the device were underwhelming and less useful than Apple's eager marketing had promised.

Apple is hoping to make good on its AI ambitions with the iPhone 17, though its focus on those features was much more muted at this event.

On the iPhone 17, Apple says the new A19 Pro chip has neural accelerators built into its GPUs, giving it a MacBook Pro level of computing power. If that’s true, all the better to power more AI features in iOS 26 and beyond. On the camera side, Apple has an improved sensor on its front-facing camera that also can use AI to automatically expand the field of view to help you fit all your friends in a group selfie.

(Reminder: You can turn off just about all of this stuff on your iPhone.)

Apple has a new slate of accoutrements to accessorize your iPhone, including new clear cases and silicone cases in multiple colors.

The Pro models get a special woven case that uses a cross-hatched design of colorful microfibers to provide a protective barrier and a nice feel. The iPhone Air gets a clear case for its unique shape, and also a silicone bumper for caseless protection that preserves its svelte silhouette.

There is also a new cross-body strap that goes over your shoulder and lets you dangle your phone at your hip. The strap will snap onto all of the new iPhone cases.

All these accessories are available to buy now and should start shipping later this week.