Apple Fall 2025 Update Notes

Technology
Written By Clint Thayer

In general a nice update from Apple on what has become their flagship product.  Naturally overjoyed to see the orange iPhone Pro and it’s hard to resist. Here are a few notes and thoughts from this 40 year Apple fanboy.  Perhaps it will help as you try and unpack if you jump on some of the new tech.

Overall Notes

  • Almost all products are an improvement over prev gen models.  Notable standouts are the AirPods Pro v3.

  • Memory integrity enforcement (MIE) is now on any A19 chip.  Security nerds are VERY excited about this and anytime a security nerd gets excited, we should as well.  For the none nerd, it makes memory access safer and more secure on device.  So one app on your iPhone really really can’t do anything beyond its own memory allocation.  This is chip specific so previous models will not be able to accommodate this feature.  We can assume this is coming for the M based chips powering the Mac’s.

  • We are not seeing large increases in pricing due to world economic climates.  This can be considered a good thing, or a less than positive thing depending on your political and capitalism positions.  Apple is not magically paying your tariffs. :)

  • ANY product with glass got the updated scratch resistant coating/glass.  First time every product got it in one cycle.

AirPods Pro

  • New heart rate sensors means you don’t have to have a watch or a HR monitor to do a workout.  Suspect we will see other uses via software in the near future.

  • Improved noise isolation via both software and improved foam infused tips. 5 different sized cups for a wider ear fitment are now included.

  • Better battery life

  • They are now IP57 rating which means they can withstand temporary immersion in up to one meter of water. You try it first!

  • An updated Ultra Wideband chip (U2), presumably for longer location-tracking range in the Find My app.  I think I’ve used that feature at least 1000x times so nice to see an improvement there.

  • Auto translation is added as a feature but it’s not limited to the v3’s.  This feature will back port to the prev gen AirPods Pro.

  • IMHO I use these things 10 hours a day, every day so the cost per day number on this item is ridiculously small.  Buy them and be happy.

Watches

  • Mostly a battery and glass update for the normal Series watches.  If you are having issues with battery, upgrade.  Likely not needed if you have last years (or maybe the year before) model.  1 to 2 year old hardware should run watchOS 26 just fine.

  • SE is a nice upgrade and great option for the budget conscious consumer.  We should not see this watch upgraded for a few years so if this is your jam, this is a good year to jump on it.

  • Ultra got a better screen and more enhanced satellite coverage.  Battery life can now go 2 days without an issue.  This is my primary watch mostly due to battery life.  With ultra fast charging this is the best combined daily/sleep tracking device I’ve seen.

  • Lots of new watch bands spanning all models were released so go check them out.  Most sell out quickly.

Phones

  • All phones got a significant upgrade to the secondary cameras.  Standard model 1x camera is largely the same

  • All phones got a significant upgrade to the front facing camera.  I think an 18mp sensor which is a nice bump after years a shitty front facing camera.

  • RAM has increased on all except the base model.  This will continue to help efforts with on device AI, and managing the increased needs of current and future OS improvements.  This is an area that Apple historically de-values so the increase is nice to see.  Source

  • The iPhone Air should be considered “in the middle” between the Standard iPhone and the Pro.  That damn thing looks THIN.  If I could get away with that model I would.  21 gram difference and that will be felt in side the side comparisons.

  • The Pro got 48mp cameras for all 3 back cameras and a new device cooling system.  This is not a phone folks…. This is Apple’s camera and it’s glorious.  Now capable of shooting ProRes RAW for video and a long list of other camera hardware improvements.  Gone are the days where I carry a travel camera and possibly this might be to the level where I can use it for b-roll.

What hardware feature are you most looking forward to this round?

Clint Thayer
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