Apple held its latest press conference on September 10th after months of speculation on its brand-new devices. Tim Cook stepped out on the stage, following an animated video on the power of Apple’s many products, and announced the new arrivals: a new, faster iPad with iPadOS; the Apple Watch Series 5 which can take an ECG; Apple TV+ with its own original shows; Apple Arcade, featuring 100+ games; and the iPhone 11 in colors to please everyone.
Oh, yeah. There’s also the iPhone 11 Pro. It has three cameras.
As an owner of the iPhone XR, which has only one camera, I find the appearance of three cameras a little over-the-top, and I’m not a big fan of having an iPhone “Pro,” which effectively makes all other iPhones seem basic in comparison.
However, this new iPhone does seem pretty cool. The third camera adds an ultra-wide lens, which I’ll admit would be really handy when trying to capture beautiful travel scenery or to show the full scope of an event. Supposedly, if you want a wider shot, you don’t need to step back; you can zoom out to the ultra-wide lens on your phone.
Apple’s portrait mode samples also look amazing. The new triple camera has better settings for low light, so portrait mode (and all pictures) will look great even if they weren’t taken in broad daylight. I’d love it if Apple really has figured out how to take beautiful night-time pictures since I can’t ever seem to photograph gorgeous sunsets or star-filled skies properly.
The Pro has more than just better pictures, too. Apple says it has “the highest-quality video in any smartphone,” and you can also take “slofies” for glamorous slow-motion shots of yourself. The iPhone 11 Pro is also waterproof and has even tougher glass than previous iPhones, in case you’re clumsy like I am. (I’d still need a good case, though. Apple could never make up for my phone-dropping capabilities.)
Apple’s marketing for the new iPhone is definitely effective. Their video on YouTube titled, “Introducing iPhone 11 Pro — Apple” already has 1.8M views as I’m writing this article on the same day of the press conference. Did I mention it’s #1 on YouTube’s trending page? They also posted a short video called “Apple Event in a flash,” which already has 5M views, and like the rest of Apple’s commercials, I find this video really relatable and entertaining. I honestly think Apple is one of the best at appealing to customers; their ads and videos have a really human sense even though they’re coming from a huge tech company.
As much as I really want to capture entire skylines with my phone camera and have them be as brilliant as Apple’s commercials are, I can’t ignore the iPhone 11 Pro’s hefty price tag.
The Pro power definitely comes with an upcharge. As you can see in the picture above from the September 2019 Apple event, the iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999, with the Max starting at $1099, which is really expensive considering you’re getting a smaller screen than the XR or iPhone 11 if you buy the regular size 11 Pro. I can see how the extra cost would be worth it to photographers who don’t want to carry heavy equipment, but I definitely find over $1000 quite pricey for a new phone when much more reasonable options are available.
So, if you see people in a couple of weeks carrying a phone with a triangle of cameras, it’s not an alien device. It’s just the iPhone 11 Pro.