It was again that time of the year when tech purists eagerly awaited Apple's annual event. This year, the company unveiled its highly anticipated “It’s Glowtime” lineup, showcasing a range of innovative features, sleeker design, and improvements. As usual, the star of the show is the new iPhone series, which includes the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Before the main reveal, and for warmup, we had AirPods 4, the Apple Watch Series 10, and an updated Apple Watch Ultra 2 variant.

Here are the biggest announcements from the event:

All iPhone 16 models are set to embrace Apple Intelligence — the upcoming AI features launching in beta next month, initially in English. These new capabilities include searching for images in your library by describing them and creating custom emojis.

The iPhone 16 boasts a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, advanced Ceramic Shield protection, and the new Dynamic Island feature. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 Plus offers a larger 6.7-inch display with the same impressive specs. Both models are driven by the 3nm A18 chipset, featuring a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine. The iPhone 16 series includes a 48-megapixel wide-angle lens with 2x in-sensor zoom, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 12-megapixel TrueDepth front camera.

Both models come with up to 512GB of storage and are available in a range of colors: black, white, pink, teal, and ultramarine.

The base Pro model features a 6.3-inch display, up from 6.1 inches, while the Pro Max has a 6.9-inch screen, an upgrade from its previous 6.7 inches. Like the iPhone 16, the Pro lineup includes the new capture button. The rear camera setup includes a 48MP wide lens, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and a 12MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom via a 'tetraprism' design. The front camera features a 12MP TrueDepth system with 4K 120fps recording. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max also offer an Action button, a Capture button for quick access, and support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, and USB 3.0 Type-C. Charging speeds reach up to 27W wired and 15W with MagSafe or Qi2 wireless.

Both models are powered by the upgraded A18 Pro chip, with the Pro Max offering what Apple claims to be the best battery life ever on an iPhone.

The Apple Watch Series 10 is the thinnest model yet, having a 40% brighter wide-angle OLED display. It can detect sleep apnea by monitoring breathing patterns and includes a built-in depth and water temperature sensor. The Apple Watch Ultra has a new satin black finish, “made from corrosion-resistant titanium and designed for scuba.”

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 keeps its advanced features and rugged design, adding a new color option. It includes the latest health and performance tracking and faster charging.

The new AirPods 4 come in two versions: one with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and one without. Both feature ANC, transparency mode, spatial audio, adaptive audio, and conversational awareness. They also support gesture controls, voice isolation, and offer 30 hours of playtime with USB-C charging.

Apple updated the AirPods Max with new colors and switched from a Lightning port to USB-C.

Apple will offer the AirPods Pro 2 as an over-the-counter hearing aid. The updated AirPods Pro 2 will also introduce new hearing-focused features, including hearing protection and a clinical-grade hearing test.

As the dust settles from the new event, it’s clear that “innovative refinement” continues to be the heart of Apple’s strategy. The Glowtime lineup brought a host of impressive features, from immaculate Retina displays to powerful new AI abilities, setting a high bar and solid expectations for the future of AI and work.