Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

By Shaun on September 10, 2025 • ( 4 )

I missed the Apple event yesterday, but got some time to watch it this afternoon and I must say that I came away from it quite confused.

iPhone 17

A decent upgrade and lots of specs for the money when compared to the competition. It looks the same, but that does not really matter. This is a good value upgrade which is something rarely said about new Apple products.

iPhone 17 Air

This isn’t a real product is it? It is the worst of the three iPhones announced and in my mind appears to be an experiment to try out half of a folding iPhone which will likely be released next year.

Who thinks their current iPhone is too thick? No one. Who would want to buy the Air? Someone who cares more about how things look and what they actually do.

iPhone 17 Pro

“OK guys, I want you to make the iPhone 17 Pro as ugly as possible please and do something to make it different such as a bold colour. Oh, and please lose the black colour because people like that.”

If that was the instruction within Apple they succeeded. A few of the changes could be useful, but only for a sub-set of people.

AirPods Pro 3

An impressive upgrade and one which could be hugely useful for those who travel to foreign countries often. There is not much that can be done to improve the AirPods Pro, but better battery performance, ANC and fitment are worthwhile.

Apple Watch series 11 and Ultra 3

The Ultra 3 will feel and work identical to the Ultra 2 on the wrist. The series 11 ‘might’ highlight hypertension. Two poor releases- a redesign is needed.

Update: sleep score is available for series 6 or later and all Ultra models. Hypertension is available on series 9 and later plus the Ultra 2. So, these features are not just for the new models, but the way Apple explained it you could have presumed otherwise.

More than any other year this feels as though Apple is treading water until what they really want to release is ready. The problem is that it is happening on multiple product ranges.

One thing I haven’t heard being discussed is the pricing which is largely identical to last year. No impact from the tariffs at all? That is at least a good thing. For now…