Prefer WhistleOut in Google
Apple events have bored me in recent years. While the production value, and Tim Cook’s bits do some heavy lifting, sitting through 90 minutes to hear about a software upgrade that will come to Beta soon hasn’t felt like enough to drag me out of bed at 3am. Yet sitting there bleary-eyed this morning, watching the iPhone 18 Pro’s new aperture lens whir open, I felt a nostalgic rush slap me wide awake. Just like that, we’re so back.
It feels like we’ve hit a breaking point when it comes to computational photography. I’m sure engineers can figure out how to do more, but in the midst of AI saturation, we’re seeing a resurgence in physical media. Polaroids, point-and-shoots, vinyls, even magazines are growing in popularity once again, and this new lens feels like a direct response from Apple. When people are looking to replace their phones with additional hardware, it pays to have a way to lure them back.
Pro Camera Controls only furthers this point. There has been plenty of discourse online about Apple’s image processing and how it flattens pictures, and while Styles lay the groundwork to alleviate this, adding control akin to a proper camera only pushes that further. It gives creative control back to the user and puts the onus back on them for how their photos turn out. Which will surely be a win for Apple too. After all, only a bad workman blames their tools.
On the software side of the equation, there is the iPhone Duo. Foldable hardware has become somewhat commonplace in the tech space, but a properly thought-out and executed UX? That is something to write about.
I recently reviewed the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and I’ve been playing with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (check out our socials for more on those), and the user experience on both has left me wanting. Both Samsung and Google have done the bare minimum to make the operating system functional for a foldable device. Yes, you can split screen and multi-task, but the UX is clunky, in some cases buggy, and they don’t work in every format.
Watching the keynote, Apple demonstrated some use cases for the Duo that I have been begging for in other foldables. Of course, when the phone is opened like a laptop, the bottom screen would have controls on it; Standby when it is perched sounds reasonable; and intuitive split-screen dimensions are just common sense. The iPhone Duo may be eight generations behind Samsung’s hardware, but the software has immediately overtaken it.
Before this event, I wasn’t looking to cash in my whole stock in the Apple ecosystem, but I also wasn’t hyped for what was coming. As the early morning light spilled through my blinds this morning, like the real-world embodiment of the aperture lens that sparked me a few hours earlier, that sentiment shifted. The sun has risen on a new day, and I'm excited to see what else Apple can do with it.
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
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