Apple will be "California Streaming" on September 14th

Prepare to pretend to be surprised by a new iPhone, Fall 2021 edition

A mid-September Apple even can only mean one thing: new iPhones are coming. But the company may announce a few other new products too. (Image: Apple)

As is more or less to be expected by now - this pattern has been followed by Apple for the last, what, 10 years? - the Cupertino giant has just sent out press invites for a "California Streaming" event that's happening on September 14th. The press invites thing works more like a public announcement in this pandemic-stricken world, of course, as Apple will be actually live-streaming a pre-recorded event (viewable by anyone interested enough to tune into its website at the right time) with no journalists present anywhere near its campus. It's a format that has worked well for the company so far and one that may be here to stay. COVID-19 or no COVID-19, Apple knows how to put on a good show after all.

This being the mid-September even everyone knew it was coming, it obviously is about Apple's new smartphone, the iPhone 13. Rumors have been swirling around the Web for months now regarding what this model will bring to the table, ranging from the highly likely to the absolutely improbable. What Apple fans should be expecting is a more powerful processor (the A15), a similar design to the current iPhone 12 (maybe with a smaller notch because of a face camera array redesign), a high-refresh-rate screen at long last (for the Pro models only) and an even better main camera array at the back.

The iPhone 13 is expected to be much like the iPhone 12 design-wise - even the rumored smaller notch at the top of its screen is not expected to make much of a difference overall. (Image: TheRegisti, Unsplash)

What is not currently known is whether there’ll be an iPhone 13 Mini model joining the iPhone 13/iPhone 13 Pro/iPhone 13 Pro Max on stage, whether there’ll be different colors available compared to the ones found on the current models or whether there'll indeed be a kind of satellite link feature that allows for basic connectivity even where there's no 4G/5G coverage. There's always a chance that Apple managed to keep some things secret about the incoming iPhone 13 but, truth be told, at this point some worthy upgrades like the ones mentioned earlier are probably more than enough to carry the company through another successful smartphone cycle.

Media and analysts believe that Apple will be announcing a few more new products during this event: the redesigned and upgraded Apple Watch Series 7, for instance, a new pair of AirPods, as well as a radically changed new iPad Mini more in line with the iPad Pro design-wise (better specs than the current model's are obviously expected too). What Apple fans shouldn't be looking forward to is anything having to do with the Mac: the rumored Mac Mini or MacBook Pro models based on the improved M1X processor, or even a new Mac Pro (the last one based on Intel architecture?) deserve their own event which will probably be taking place in October.

There are several new photography features rumored to make an appearance alongside the iPhone 13, including one allowing for quality astrophotography shots. (Image: TheRegisti, Unsplash)

What will be interesting to see is whether Apple managed to come up with some new photography features powered by the undoubtedly powerful A15 processor and whether the company managed to keep prices of its smartphones on the same level as before, despite the global chip shortage that's affecting all of tech right now. All else is more or less mentioned, in one form or another, during the last few months in countless reports and leaks from every corner of the Internet by now. It's just a matter of finding out which rumors were accurate nowadays. Then again we were all expecting just a more full-featured, more powerful iPad Pro in April... and then the M1 iPad Pro happened. Cross fingers?