Summary
- Anti-reflective iPhone displays are going mainstream, promising better outdoor visibility.
- Apple’s new N1 networking chip brings in-house Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth and Thread radios to the iPhone 17 lineup.
- The new iPhone Air MagSafe Battery offers 12W magnetic wireless charging, USB‑C, and a slim design, but it comes with a catch.
At its “Awe Dropping” iPhone hardware event on September 9, Apple unveiled several new hardware products, ranging from the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the iPhone Air, new AirPods Pro 3, and a set of three all-new Apple Watch models.
With so much hype surrounding such things as the iPhone Air and its impossibly thin frame, the new Pro iPhone models and their vastly improved cooling systems, and both 5G and satellite connectivity now in wrist form for the first time, it’s only natural that some smaller details fell under the radar during the presentation.
Here are three smaller details from Apple’s livestream event that aren’t quite as buzzworthy as a new iPhone model, but are consequential and fascinating nonetheless.
1
Anti-reflective iPhone displays go mainstream
If the tech delivers on its promise, we can say goodbye to poor outdoor visibility
Ever since Corning’s glare-resistant Gorilla Armor shipped on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in early 2024, I’ve been crossing my fingers for anti-reflective tempered glass to arrive on flagship phones the world over. Much to my disappointment, Google’s latest lineup of Pixel 10 phones lacks such a feature, and I was beginning to worry whether it’d ever make its way to handsets beyond the Galaxy Ultra line.
Thankfully, Apple is here to the rescue, with its own proprietary blend of material science promising to improve outdoor visibility by cutting down on display reflections. The entire iPhone 17 lineup is said to benefit from this new “seven-layer anti-reflective coating,” which should make for better picture quality when in less-than-favorable lighting conditions.
2
Apple has a new N1 networking chip
In-house silicon for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread radios
During Apple’s keynote presentation, it formally unveiled a new in-house chipset called N1. The N1 is a wireless networking chip, responsible for controlling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread radio technologies. The new silicon will be shipping across all iPhone 17 series smartphones, replacing the off-the-shelf Broadcom wireless chips used in previous models.
N1 is future-proof, with support for the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 standards, but what really matters here is the additional top-down control it affords Apple. Apple says wireless features within its ecosystem — namely AirDrop and Personal Hotspot — will benefit from speedier performance and better stability when powered by N1.
3
We’re getting a new MagSafe battery bank
With one small-yet-highly-consequential catch holding it back
To coincide with the release of the super-slim iPhone Air, which measures in at an impressively svelte 0.23 inches (5.6mm) thin in terms of chassis size, Apple also unveiled a successor to its now-discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack accessory. This second-generation variant has a larger footprint and a larger internal battery capacity, while also being significantly thinner than its predecessor. It also makes the switch from Lightning to USB-C for wired charging, which is much appreciated.
…it’s called the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery for a reason — it works exclusively with the new iPhone Air.
At $100, the new iPhone Air MagSafe Battery appears to be a solid offering with its signature Apple design language and relative lack of thickness. However, there’s a catch: it’s called the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery for a reason — it works exclusively with the new iPhone Air, with no compatibility with other iPhone 17 series models. For the price, the peripheral’s lack of flexibility makes it tough to justify purchasing in a world filled with excellent third-party MagSafe power banks already on the market.
