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Hey there!

How are things? I have a lot for you today:

• The new iPhone Air

• iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max

• Apple adds new health features to Apple Watch

• New operating systems are here

Plus, I have a new word scramble and the latest Apple news!

 ☁️ iPhone Air & Thoughts From Apple’s Event Last Week

iPhone Air

Let's start with the new member of the iPhone family, the iPhone Air.

Super thin. Light. It looks stunning and I can't wait to see it in person.

A few tech spec highlights:

• A19 Pro

• 6.5" display with 3000 nits peak

• 5.6 mm thin, 165 grams

• Single 48MP Fusion camera with 1x and 2x

• 18MP Center Stage front camera

• Only a single speaker

• Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, Space Black

• Storage options: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

Starts at $999 for 256GB.

A few other notes:

• Apple says it's the most durable iPhone, and I'm looking forward to the inevitable stress tests on YouTube.

• Has "all-day" battery life according to Apple, whatever that means, because we all use our phones differently. Apple realizes this as well, so they have a MagSafe Battery explicitly designed for the iPhone Air.

• Curiously, the iPhone Air gets no number. It's not iPhone 17 Air, just iPhone Air.

• Foldable rumors: Many think a foldable iPhone is coming next year. The iPhone Air looks like a perfect candidate for a "two Airs, hinged together" concept.

Other thoughts on the event

The iPhone 17 is arguably the best value in the iPhone lineup. Starting at $799 for 256GB storage, this year it has a slightly larger and brighter 6.3” display with ProMotion, and longer battery life. A 512GB storage is available, too.

The 18MP Center Stage front camera is on the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and Pro Max models as well. Being able to rotate your pic from portrait to landscape with a tap means no more fumbling with your phone to fit more people into the frame. Great addition.

The Pro and Pro Max now have 8x zoom. Apple says it’s "optical quality," and I'm looking forward to the reviews to see just how good it is. They've also added a 4x zoom. Going from 2x to 5x on my 16 Pro Max is sometimes too much of a jump, so it's nice they've dropped a 4x in between the 2x and 8x.

Orange is an opinionated color. Some people hate it, some people love it. If you're in the latter group, like me, the new Cosmic Orange on the 17 Pro and Pro Max is great. If you hate orange, you can choose between Silver and Deep Blue. Sorry, no Space Gray or Black this year.

Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 pick up 5G connectivity. Apple says the Series 11 should get around 24 hours of battery life, and the Ultra 3 will come in around 42 hours. The Ultra 3's display is slightly bigger this year, thanks to smaller borders (the case size remains the same).

Adding hypertension detection to the Apple Watch is wonderful. I'm all for Apple adding as many medical/health tracking features as they can. It works on the Series 9, Ultra 2, and later models.

I love that Apple continues to expose Health app data in meaningful ways. With Sleep Score, Apple uses bedtime, sleep duration, and sleep interruptions to calculate an overall rating of your sleep’s quality.

This has been around in various forms in third-party fitness tracking apps for years, and is a welcome addition to Health. It's available on a wide range of devices: Apple Watch Series 6 or later, Watch SE (2nd generation) or later, and all Ultra models, paired with iPhone 11 or later and running iOS 26.

Speaking of the SE. It sees its first update in several years with the SE3. The always-on display, S10 chip, and most of the health features make it a very solid choice for someone looking to get into the Apple Watch scene at a nice price. Starts at $249.

AirPods Pro 3 are getting some really nice improvements, including a heart rate sensor and improved Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). Apple says ANC is 2x better than the AirPods Pro 2, and 4x better than the first AirPods Pro. I have the first-gen Pros, and this may be enough to get me to upgrade.

Want More?

Jeff and I unpacked it all in the latest episode of Basic AF. Check it out below.

📈 Poll Results

In the last edition, I asked which new iPhone model you were most interested in. The iPhone 17 Pro Max received the most votes, with the iPhone Air being the second most popular option for those planning to upgrade. A full third of voters had no plans to upgrade this year!

Thanks to everyone who voted!

⚙️ New Operating Systems are Here

After a summer full of betas, Apple released all of its new operating systems on Monday. macOS Tahoe 26, iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 are all now available through Software Update.

I’ll have more to say about them as we move through the fall.

🧩 Word Scramble Puzzle

🎙️ Basic AF: Apple Event Recap: iPhone Air, iPhone 17 series, Apple Watch Series 11 & Ultra 3, Plus AirPods Pro 3

Episode 70

We dig into the details of Apple’s recent “Awe Dropping” event! We take a look at the features of the new iPhone Air, display improvements on the iPhone 17, and what’s new with the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Get the scoop on the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and new hypertension warnings and Sleep Score. Plus AirPods 3 improvements and our thoughts on when to upgrade any of your devices.

Chapter Listing:

00:00 - Intro

02:39 - iPhone Air

13:29 - iPhone 17

18:47 - iPhone 17 Pro & Pro Max

28:00 - New TechWoven Case

28:48 - Apple Watch Series 11

33:57 - Apple Watch Ultra 3

38:16 - Apple Watch SE3

38:58 - AirPods Pro 3

46:44 - Was This A Good Event?

51:36 - Close

Listen to and follow the show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all the other podcast apps, as well as on YouTube and YouTube Music.

📣 News to Know About

Here’s a quick rundown of noteworthy things that I’ve hand-selected just for you:

🧩 Word Scramble Answer

iCloud Drive is Apple’s cloud-based file storage system, allowing users to store, access, and share documents across devices. It supports folder sharing, collaboration, and automatic sync.