Apple event live updates on iPhone 16 launch, iOS 18, Apple Watch 10, AirPods 4, Apple Intelligence and more

Two models of AirPods were largely expected at today's iPhone 16 event, one of which would add active noise cancellation (ANC) to the "regular" AirPods for the first time. There are other upgrades for the $179 version, but after a brief demo of the ANC setup on the AirPods 4, I wager the noise-blocking tools will be the key selling point for most people.

Apple is using this version of the AirPods 4 to bridge the gap between the AirPods and the AirPods Pro. As such, this model has some features that were previously exclusive to the company's priciest buds. Those include Siri interactions that allow you to accept or reject calls with a head nod, Adaptive Audio, Voice Isolation and more — all thanks to the H2 chip that powers the Pro model. All of these will be welcome improvements for people who prefer the open fit of the AirPods 4, but the ANC is the most impressive addition in my book.

Read the full story: Apple AirPods 4 hands-on: Seriously impressive ANC performance

I have just wrapped up some of my post-event duties and finished up my hands-on. That means it's time for lunch at Apple's designated media area at its visitor center, and, of course, here's what's on the menu. Crowd favorite white chocolate macha cookies are back this year, along with chocolate chip cookies. There are prosciutto and cheese sandwiches, as well as roast turkey and pesto sandwiches. For appetizers, we have Mediterranean nachos and a chickpea tabbouleh. Head to the Engadget Instagram account for pictures!

Hey, there were good intentions! When Apple revealed its new cases for the iPhone 15 series, the FineWoven case was pitched as a leather substitute that used 68 percent post-consumer recycled content.

When leather gets old, it gets... nicer? There's a patina. When Finewoven cases got even a few days old, it got scratched and blotchy. It's not a huge surprise, then, that there are no new FineWoven colorways, or any iPhone 16-compatible FineWoven cases, period. They're gone.

Read the full story: Apple quietly kills its terrible FineWoven iPhone cases

More thoughts from hands-on land: you can just call me a glutton for buttons.

My favorite thing about Cherlynn's iPhone 16 Pro hands-on is her subheadline, which really sums up my feeling about iPhone events: "It doesn't physically depress, but sure feels like it does."

Next up is Cherlynn, who's quite enamored with the iPhone 16 Pro's new camera button:

Read the full take: iPhone 16 Pro hands-on: How does a faux camera control button feel so real?

First up is Billy, who's taken a look at the new Apple Watch Series 10. Here are his first impressions:

Read his full take: Apple Watch Series 10 hands-on: Bigger, lighter and thinner than ever

Who needs chairs? Cherlynn and Billy are still working their way through all of the products Apple announced today, but we have a few early impressions of the iPhone 16 Pro and Apple Watch Series 10.

And yes we're back to Tim, who's recapping today's announcements. People are leaving the space, zipping up their bags. We're eager to leave and get hands-ons with the new devices. As am I! Stay tuned to Engadget.com, our social profiles and more to get all our hands-on coverage later today!

We're going to have a lot of testing to do between now and next Friday.

You'll be able to pre-order all the new iPhone 16s on Monday, and they'll be in stores on September 20.

The packaging for the new iPhone 16 lineup is now 100 percent fiber based, and is slimmer, which can help reduce shipping impact. Joz is now recapping the iPhone 16 Pro, and I'd expect we'll be going back to Tim Cook soon. But first, prices? They start at $999 for the iPhone 16 Pro and $1,199 for the Pro Max.

Cold brew energy levels are depleted at over 90 minutes into this event. Must replenish.

I have to say, all this cheering and applause after each video really drowns out the speaker that follows and I often miss what they're saying. I really need to get my ears checked, huh. Joz is explaining some updates to Magsafe, like a new charger for faster wireless charging, as well as cases that work well with the new camera control.

Spicy MagSafe news everyone was waiting for.

"A film making powerhouse." Feels like we've heard that before.

We're about an hour and a half into this stream and I'm thirsty (for water). I'm also gearing up to run to the hands-on area and get our stories up as soon as possible!

I would be curious to know how much editing happens on the footage captured in iPhone that's used in a music video. Apple would never.

Photographer Eddy Chen is also sharing his experience shooting with the iPhone 16 Pro and the new Photographic Styles.

We're now watching a video featuring The Weeknd, who used an iPhone 16 Pro to shoot a music video in slo-mo 4K 120.

Creator segment!

You can then choose to get rid of the music in the background and be left with just your vocals, ready to lay into whatever sound project you're working on. As someone who occasionally records herself singing, I'm really stoked about this.

Really like this Voice Memo feature. Will be helpful for capturing all kids of ideas, musical or otherwise.

With Audio Mix, you can isolate the voice of people on camera with an "in-frame mix" option. The "studio mix" option lets you mimic the effect inside a studio, as if you were inside a sound booth. "Cinematic mix" brings in environmental noise in the surroundings and keeps voices in the front. The demo was certainly impressive. A new feature is coming to Voice Memo, where you can record your voice on top of a separate track (like an instrumental backing file).

Microphone performance upgrades and spatial audio recording will be welcome additions

We're back with Joz, who's talking about "a big leap forward with audio performance." iPhone 16 Pro combines hardware, software and intelligence to improve things. There are four "studio-quality" mics on the device that Joz says is great for vocal and acoustic recordings. The iPhone 16 Pro will also support Spatial Audio recording. This will enable "creative sound editing with our new audio mix feature." Joz says this is an industry first.

They quip at each other about how cinematic it is when you walk in slow motion, and the words "Cinematic slow motion" and "Shot on iPhone 16 Pro" appear on the screen. The new devices can shoot 4K in 120p, enabling much higher quality slow-motion footage. The A18 Pro's new image signal processor allows for frame by frame edits in Dolby Vision, too.

We're being treated to a sample video of two people walking in front of explosions in slow-mo. I don't know who they are, sorry.

Here's my video segment!

Some updates are also coming to video capture, and Paulom Shah is here to explain.

There are monochrome looks, natural ones or stylized options. There's an updated control interface to let you edit these styles yourself, and you can also edit the Photographic Styles after capture, instead of only before.

All of these updates are summarizing why the Pro camera is better than what's on the regular iPhone, even with all the upgrades we heard about there earlier. More control, more tools, more quality.

Camera control will be updated later this year with a two-state focus feature to lock autofocus. Sounds like some features weren't ready for launch, and sadly it's one of the more interesting ones. The camera app's Photographic Styles area also here, but have imaging upgrades to enable more creative styles.