Apple iPhone event: What to expect

The time has come to put an official plug on the iPhone leaks - Apple's keynote is today and the leaksters will be out of work for a few weeks to come. There are several hours left to wait out, and it's a good time to round up what you can expect to happen, starting at 10 a.m. PDT (7 p.m. CEST).

The New iPhones:

An iPhone is headed our way, two of those actually - the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. A Pro model was rumored for a long time, but was eventually ruled out.

A major redesign is out of the question, despite Apple's established 2-year update cycle's due date - so much for traditions. Instead, we'll be getting less obtrusive antenna bands, no 3.5mm jack and a pressure-sensitive TouchID button with no click action.

The two models will differ in a few key areas, overall dimensions and display size being the most obvious, but more importantly camera setup - the iPhone 7 Plus is said to feature a couple of 12MP shooters on the back - a wide-angle and a telephoto, in a setup similar to the LG V20 (and unlike the Huawei P9).

The Plus will pack 3GB or RAM, while the smaller model will make do with 2GB, both to be powered by a new A10 chipset. Also, wave goodbye to the long-since-inadequate 16GB base storage - 32GB/128GB/256GB are the numbers this year.

Word is, the new iPhones will be IPx7 certified - your precious handset should be left unscathed after spending up to half an hour a meter under water. The "x" means that either no dust protection level has been certified, or the people in the know figured we only care about getting our phones wet - you'll need to wait for the official announcement if you're into pastry or construction work.

A lot has been said on the missing headphone jack, and consequently, the path Apple would take with the bundled accessories. So far, the consensus is around Lightning EarPods in the box, potentially a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter too, and there's been speculation on some versions coming with wireless AirPods. Those do seem more likely to end up being a separate product, though.

Rumor has it that there will be a total of 5 color options, among them matte black and glossy "Piano" black. Persistent leaks are trying to convince us of a blue version's existence as well, but industry analysts seem skeptical.

 

A new watch:

Two years is a long time for a product update in our line of work, but that's as long as the Apple Watch has been official. To be fair though, you couldn't buy one until less than a year and a half ago, so old as it may be, it's still somewhat relevant.

That said, there isn't much we know on this supposed new Apple Watch. The rumor mill has produced very little on the matter, so much so as to even make us wonder if there'll be one at all. Surely though, there must be one - after all, the current model is a mightily successful product in a category that isn't exactly thriving.

Anyway, what we're expecting from the new Apple Watch is unchanged design (seems to be the theme of the year) and a few feature upgrades. Chief among those is the built-in GPS receiver, for phone-free trekking, a barometer, and a larger battery. An improvement in ingress protection has been mentioned too, up from its current IPx7 state.

Those are the key points for today's keynote, or at least that's what the last few months have been building up to (or not, in the case of the Watch). For confirmation, be sure to stick around later today (again, 10 a.m. PDT / 7 p.m. CEST), when we'll have a live stream of the event waiting for you.