HT Wired Wisdom: Apple's next-gen iPhone 15 series; GoPro Hero 12 Black a significant step forward

Right on cue. The second (in some calendar cycles, the third) Tuesday of September is when Apple unveils the next generation iPhones. This year, no different. The iPhone 15 series now takes over the lead of the portfolio, and its biggest transition (dictated by looming European Union regulations) is the end of the era for the Lightning port (and indeed Lightning cables). An era that began in 2012, and a tech that’s held its own against the popularity of USB-C that’s become commonplace in Android smartphones and indeed many computing devices (including Apple’s own iPad Pro series, for instance).

Also Read: Apple iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Watch are keeping pace with the times

But trust Apple to subtly differentiate. We’ve illustrated (the link is above) the broader changes, involving processors updates, changes to the display and everything the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 can now do. Yet, minutest of details matter. The USB-C port on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus has a maximum transfer rate of 480MB/s, while the iPhone 15 Pro phones become the first phones with 10Gb/s transfer speeds. The former won’t be slow, the latter are the fastest USB-C transfer rates in phones at this time. So is the case with the processors powering the two families. While the iPhone 15 Pro get the new and even more powerful A17 Pro chip, the iPhone 15 finally gets to use the iPhone 14 Pro’s very powerful A16 Bionic.

Performance will not be even the slightest of concern, but why would Apple want to risk losing customers on a shop floor purely on the basis of a spec sheet comparison (“old” processor vs a competing Android phone’s newer silicon), for the sake of differentiation? But for whatever margins it is able to open up, this may be why Apple has been able to keep pricing static, year on year. Two sides of the coin.

Also Read: As iPhone 15 looms over the horizon, decoding Apple’s India growth trajectory

I wanted to touch upon the small matter of iPhone 15 family’s price tags at launch, compared with the iPhone 14’s price points at launch last year. Crucial, with the context of the growth trajectory in the historically tough Indian market, detailed in the link above. At Rs 79,900 and Rs 89,900 now, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus haven’t at all changed the prices that the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus launched at. Apple is conscious of the price sensitivity that’s prevalent in the realm these two phones will sit within. These two, expected to drive significant volumes for Apple in the next few months, cannot be seen to be getting more expensive.

On the point of India’s growing importance for Apple, availability of the latest set of launches is another illustration. The four new iPhones, and both the new Apple Watch, are going on sale in India among the 40 or so countries in the first “wave”. No longer does this market have to wait even a week longer for a new device to arrive in stores, online or offline.

I am quite enthused about the Double Tap gesture detection on the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Never has snapping my fingers at anyone ever worked (including technology), but let’s give it one more try sometime next month? Basically, various motion detection sensors on the Apple Watch will detect the finger taps (they’ve to be on the same hand the Apple Watch is worn on) and process with on-device machine learning. This will work for receiving or disconnecting calls, snoozing alarms and setting timers, for instance.

SUBTERFUGE?

You may have taken notice of the rather blunt header, as you began reading this part of our conversation. There’s a reason for it. I mean it as no allegation, it’s a question that logically arises post certain developments. Remember Huawei, the controversial Chinese phone company, and Honor, the latter which was once a sub-brand of the former? A brief sojourn into the past, is in order. Once concerns regarding potential surveillance and security concerns came to light in many countries in 2020-21, India also moved block Huawei from taking part in 5G network trials at the time. Or subsequently supply telecom gear to operators including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vi. Huawei’s phones, and indeed Honor’s phones, also disappeared from shops and virtual shelves.

Also, sometime in 2020, Huawei sold off the Honor smartphone brand to what’s reportedly a consortium called Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology. Apparently, the Shenzhen municipal corporation also owns a majority stake in Honor now. If it is all very confusing, you have my sympathies.

With regards to why I’m still sensing an attempt to bluff India (consumers, government and regulators included), I’ll go back to a press release that landed in my mailbox on 21 Aug. It read, and I quote, “In a ground-breaking move, HonorTech, a venture announced, that they have joined hands with PSAV Global to expand the HONOR smartphones’ network in India.” It goes on to detail that HonorTech has been founded in 2023 and is headquartered in Gurgaon. The idea is to bring Honor phones back to India, and since they are no longer under the controversial Huawei umbrella, the re-access to Google Play Services being an added advantage.

What’s PSAV Global, you ask? They describe themselves as a “network of 5,000+ retailers & 100+ distributors that spans both rural and urban areas across India”. They are the distributors of Honor’s existing range of laptops and tablets in India. PSAV Global is headquartered in Sheung Wan in Hong Kong, with an India office in Noida.

On 06 Sept, another release arrives in the inbox, talking about the Honor 90 5G phone that’s set for launch this month. Conspicuously missing, any references to Honor Tech. They’ve instead been changed to HTech (mind you, very similar to our sister concern, the HT Tech website). Remember the 2023 and Gurgaon descriptor from earlier. The rest has been copy-pasted here too. I can only speculate as to why this happened.

• Did Honor in China raise concerns that what is essentially a licensee (if that is all there is to it) is gaining a lot of advantage from the brand itself? Hence the shift to HTech?
• Is it an attempt to distance from the past, and the uncomfortable questions some potential (and aware; but what are the chances of that?) consumers may eventually ask?
• In the India context specifically, what has changed with regards to previous fears about software backdoors and surveillance concerns?

It is an absolute mess that’s unfolding in the name of branding, as this happens. The identity wears the cloak of HTech, while the website remains honortech dot com. At least they say the upcoming phone will be made in India. Guessing that’ll be enough? We’ll keep an eye on this as it unfolds. The Honor 90 phone, keeping aside all concerns that plagued its elders, might just be an Android phone worth buying. We’ll know, soon.

VERSATILE

There are some instances which you shouldn’t approach with your smartphone as the camera. And most certainly, clinging to the past with a mirrorless or DSLR, will simply be out of place. Action cameras, as the name leaves little to ambiguity, are ideal for when you are stretching the realms of your adventurous capabilities. Perhaps even your luck too. Never mind.

Also Read: GoPro Hero 12 Black’s versatility is a result of focused generational evolution

Hiking. Trails. Dune bashing. Off roading. Diving the seas. GoPro, DJI’s Osmo and the Insta360 cams are some of the well-known options. If there was ever any doubt, I must say GoPro has pushed further the benchmark once again. The GoPro Hero 12 Black, which is now one of the two in a simplified line-up, isn’t attempting to redraw the wheel. As I noted in my piece on the new camera, what we are seeing now is the culmination of groundwork over the past few generations. Last year’s Hero 11 Black is a strong part of that robust foundation.

GoPro hasn’t changed what didn’t need to be changed. For instance, the new composition Enduro battery capacity or type. Instead, software improvements have enabled much longer shoot times for all resolutions of video recording, with thermal time limits in place. The 8:7-inch sensor has been carried forward, but unlocked more shooting options. And HDR videos, a big step forward. Very smart, indeed.

There’s a new vertical capture mode for 9:16 aspect ratio videos. There’s one eye on relevance, and this will immediately appeal to anyone creating videos for Instagram and YouTube Shorts, for instance. The Hero 11 Black couldn’t, though it’ll be interesting to see if a firmware update at some stage adds some (if not all) of the vertical video shooting modes to it too. There’s expanded Bluetooth connectivity for not just microphones but also the Apple AirPods. Great news, for narrations as you shoot.

In my time testing out the GoPro Hero 12 Black (mind you, one can never truly put an action camera through all possible paces), a few observations mustn’t be ignored.

• You may want to keep an eye on certain limits in place with some shooting modes. For HDR videos, for instance, 5.3K is limited to 30fps in 16:9 aspect ratio, while 4K can do up to 30fps in 8:7 ratio but go higher to 60fps in 16:9.
• A 27-megapixel photo might seem like a lot of pixels on paper, but in anything less than perfect lighting, some effort is needed to wring out the best possible still images. None are at a loss for detailing or vividness, but we’re probably spoilt by 50-megapixel and 108-megapixel smartphone cameras (and the eventual pixel binning to size final photos at 12.5-megapixels).
• No smartphone comes close to the level of image stabilisation the GoPro Hero 12 Black can manage. Not even when they may have optical and electronic stabilisation modes working in sync.

Last but not least. I’d said this last year as well, and it’s a good time to return to that point – a square sensor in the GoPro Hero 12 Black, as also in the GoPro Hero 11 Black, may just be a hint for smartphones to try something new. Phone camera sensors aren’t square, usually in 4:3 or 3:2 ratios. If they can find space for the square, it may unlock more modes. GoPro has just illustrated what’s possible.

Written and edited by Vishal Shanker Mathur. Produced by Md Shad Hasnain.