3 low-key iPhone 17 keynote bulletins I someway missed in the course of the keynote

At its “Awe Dropping” iPhone hardware event on September 9, Apple unveiled a number of new {hardware} merchandise, starting from the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the iPhone Air, new AirPods Pro 3, and a set of three all-new Apple Watch models.

With a lot hype surrounding things like the iPhone Air and its impossibly skinny body, the brand new Professional iPhone fashions and their vastly improved cooling methods, and each 5G and satellite connectivity now in wrist kind for the primary time, it is solely pure that some smaller particulars fell beneath the radar in the course of the presentation.

Listed below are three smaller particulars from Apple’s livestream occasion that are not fairly as buzzworthy as a brand new iPhone mannequin, however are consequential and engaging nonetheless.

1

Anti-reflective iPhone shows go mainstream

If the tech delivers on its promise, we are able to say goodbye to poor out of doors visibility

Ever since Corning’s glare-resistant Gorilla Armor shipped on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in early 2024, I have been crossing my fingers for anti-reflective tempered glass to reach on flagship telephones the world over. A lot to my disappointment, Google’s newest lineup of Pixel 10 phones lacks such a function, and I used to be starting to fret whether or not it’d ever make its approach to handsets past the Galaxy Extremely line.

Fortunately, Apple is right here to the rescue, with its personal proprietary mix of fabric science promising to enhance out of doors visibility by reducing down on show reflections. The complete iPhone 17 lineup is claimed to learn from this new “seven-layer anti-reflective coating,” which ought to make for higher image high quality when in less-than-favorable lighting situations.

2

Apple has a brand new N1 networking chip

In-house silicon for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread radios

Pocket-lint / Apple

Throughout Apple’s keynote presentation, it formally unveiled a brand new in-house chipset known as N1. The N1 is a wi-fi networking chip, liable for controlling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread radio applied sciences. The brand new silicon might be transport throughout all iPhone 17 sequence smartphones, changing the off-the-shelf Broadcom wi-fi chips utilized in earlier fashions.

N1 is future-proof, with help for the most recent Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 requirements, however what actually issues right here is the extra top-down management it affords Apple. Apple says wi-fi options inside its ecosystem — particularly AirDrop and Private Hotspot — will profit from speedier efficiency and higher stability when powered by N1.

3

We’re getting a brand new MagSafe battery financial institution

With one small-yet-highly-consequential catch holding it again

Pocket-lint / Apple

To coincide with the discharge of the super-slim iPhone Air, which measures in at an impressively svelte 0.23 inches (5.6mm) skinny by way of chassis measurement, Apple additionally unveiled a successor to its now-discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack accent. This second-generation variant has a bigger footprint and a bigger inside battery capability, whereas additionally being considerably thinner than its predecessor. It additionally makes the swap from Lightning to USB-C for wired charging, which is far appreciated.

At $100, the brand new iPhone Air MagSafe Battery seems to be a stable providing with its signature Apple design language and relative lack of thickness. Nevertheless, there is a catch: it is known as the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery for a purpose — it really works solely with the brand new iPhone Air, with no compatibility with different iPhone 17 sequence fashions. For the value, the peripheral’s lack of flexibility makes it powerful to justify buying in a world crammed with excellent third-party MagSafe power banks already in the marketplace.