Tag: Neural Engine

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Apple Watch Ultra 2 (Black Titanium, 49 mm, with Black Trail Loop with Black Titanium finish, 2024)

On September 12, 2023, Apple released an updated Apple Watch Ultra model, the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Apple described the upgrade:

“Apple’s most rugged and capable watch is now even better with performance updates, a new double tap gesture, and carbon neutral options.”

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 was similar to the original Apple Watch Ultra, but added a “powerful new S9 SiP” processor (64 GB capacity), a brighter display (3000 nits), and other enhancements including “expanded altitude range, on-device Siri, Precision Finding for iPhone, and advanced capabilities for water adventures.” It also included a 4-core Neural Engine that could “process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast as the original Apple Watch Ultra.”

One year after the release of the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple introduced a black titanium option. The new color was released along with watchOS 11 on September 9, 2024:

“Apple today introduced Apple Watch Ultra 2 in a striking new black titanium finish, enhanced with features in watchOS 11 that make the most rugged and capable Apple Watch even better.”

Apple described the color and manufacturing process:

“The new black titanium finish for Apple Watch Ultra 2 is achieved with a custom blasting process, and the diamond-like carbon physical vapor deposition coating over the grade 5 titanium makes it scratch-resistant and durable. The back crystal is made from a matching, dark zirconia.”

The new black color was also made available on the titanium hardware and other band materials:

“To complement the new black finish, the popular Trail Loop, Alpine Loop, and Ocean Band have all been updated to offer a black hardware option in addition to natural titanium. Both black and natural finishes of Apple Watch Ultra 2 are made from 95 percent recycled titanium, and are carbon neutral with any Titanium Milanese Loop, Trail Loop, or Alpine Loop.”

This Apple Watch Ultra 2 shipped with the new Black Trail Loop with black titanium hardware that matched the black titanium case of the watch.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 was 49 mm high, 44 mm wide, and 14.4 mm deep. The display was 410 x 502 pixels (326 pixels per inch) with an always-on Retina LTPO2 OLED display in a flat sapphire crystal. The natural titanium version weighed 61.4 grams, and the black titanium version weighed 61.8 grams. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 contained 10 sensors, including an electrical heart sensor, optical heart sensor, temperature sensor, depth gauge (±1m accuracy), water temperature sensor, compass, always-on altimeter, high-G accelerometer, high dynamic range gyroscope, and an ambient light sensor.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 also advanced Apple’s carbon neutral initiative “to be carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030.”

Sources: Apple Newsroom (2023, 2024), Specs

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iPhone X (silver, 2017)

The iPhone X was introduced ten years after the original iPhone and was described by Apple as “the future of the smartphone.” The iPhone used “X” in its name, pronounced “ten,” as a nod to Mac OS X—which also used the Roman numeral X and marked a major milestone in the evolution of the Mac operating system.

The iPhone X was announced on September 12, 2017, at the same time as the lower-cost iPhone 8, Apple’s base iPhone at the time. Somewhat curiously, Apple skipped the iPhone 9 model and continued naming its iPhone models after the iPhone X with typical numerals.

The iPhone X introduced many firsts, including:

  • It was the first iPhone to use “a gorgeous all-glass design with a beautiful 5.8-inch Super Retina display,” removing the Home button and replacing it with a swipe-up from the bottom to unlock.
  • The iPhone X was the first iPhone with an “all-screen” display. It used the “first OLED panel that rises to the standards of iPhone…for a more natural, paper-like viewing experience.”
  • The iPhone X was the first to use FaceID to unlock, authenticate, and make payments. This technology was enabled by a “TrueDepth camera” that was “made up of a dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator…powered by A11 Bionic to accurately map and recognize a face.”
  • The TrueDepth camera also allowed the iPhone X to bring “emoji to life in a fun new way with Animoji.” The camera “captures and analyzes over 50 different facial muscle movements, then animates those expressions in a dozen different Animoji, including a panda, unicorn and robot.”
  • The iPhone X was the first iPhone to offer wireless charging using the Qi standard. “The glass back design enables a world-class wireless charging solution.”
  • This iPhone introduced a “notch” design at the top-center to allow the display to stretch “edge-to-edge” and allow a place for the front camera system. The design choice was polarizing. The Verge wrote that “There’s a mix of surprise, sarcasm, and intrigue that Apple has chosen to go with a screen layout that leads to design compromises,” and added the oft-repeated speculation that “Steve Jobs would have never let that happen.”

The iPhone X was available in two colors, silver and space gray, and offered 64GB and 256GB storage options. This example is silver. The sides of the phone were described as “surgical-grade stainless steel [that] seamlessly wraps around and reinforces iPhone X.”

The Super Retina HD display was 5.8-inches diagonal at 2436 x 1125 resolution (458ppi). The device measured 5.65 inches (143.6 mm) high x 2.79 inches (70.9 mm) wide x 0.30 inch (7.7 mm) deep, and weighed 6.14 ounces (174 grams). Its A11 Bionic chip included a Neural engine that enabled artificial intelligence machine learning.

The iPhone X camera system featured a 6‑element lens with 12 Megapixel wide-angle and telephoto cameras. Portrait mode on the iPhone X introduced Portrait Lighting (listed as a “beta” feature in specifications). Other camera features included panorama (up to 63MP), autofocus, tap to focus, auto HDR (photos), auto image stabilization, burst mode, and geotagging. It could record video at 4K (24, 30, or 60fps), 1080p HD (30 or 60fps), or 720p HD (30fps) with features including optical image stabilization, slo‑mo video (1080p at 120 or 240 fps), cinematic video stabilization (1080p and 720p), and continuous autofocus. The front TrueDepth camera offered 7 Megapixel resolution, portrait mode, Portrait Lighting (beta), Animoji, and recorded video at 1080p HD.

The iPhone X included 6 sensors, including Face ID, barometer, 3-axis gyro, accelerometer, proximity sensor, and an ambient light sensor.

Like previous iPhone models, the iPhone X included a set of custom wallpapers, two of which were featured on the product’s packaging and prominently in advertisements. 9to5Mac reported that Spanish artist Ana Montiel created the art that inspired the iPhone X wallpaper set:

“‘Fields’ is the title of Montiel’s series of paintings and exhibit that explore ‘altered states of consciousness as vehicles to go beyond the easily perceived.’ The original digital paintings were transferred to canvas and museum quality prints, and the styling came to life this past fall when Apple introduced the iPhone X with three new live wallpapers…”

The Montiel work that most closely represents one of her original works was used on the Space Gray iPhone X packaging, titled “FIELDS 9 : Tactile Irreality” (2017), an archival pigment print measuring 100x70cm. I am honored to own one of Montiel’s original prints. The iPhone X version of FIELDS 9 uses an aspect ratio to fit the iPhone screen, and it is flipped upside-down from the original, presumably to allow the time and date to be optimally displayed on the iPhone. I have opted to hang it in its original format.

Sources: Apple (Newsroom, Tech Specs), The Verge, 9to5Mac, Ana Montiel

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iPad Pro 11-inch (Generation 3, Wi-Fi, 128GB, 2021)

The Generation 3, 11-inch iPad Pro appears the same externally as its two predecessors, but uses Apple’s significantly faster M1 chip and adds an enhanced front camera. This iPad Pro featured an Apple M1 chip with an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores along with a 16-core Neural Engine. The iPad Pro website boasts that this model is “Supercharged by the Apple M1 chip” with “Mind-blowing performance.”

Apple adds:

“With M1, iPad Pro is the fastest device of its kind. It’s designed to take full advantage of next‑level performance and custom technologies like the advanced image signal processor and unified memory architecture of M1. And with the incredible power efficiency of M1, iPad Pro is still thin and light with all‑day battery life, making it as portable as it is powerful.”

This iPad Pro 11-inch uses an LED-backlit 2388×1668 Liquid Retina display (264 ppi, 600 nits) with a thin black bezel with rounded corners and flat sides. This iPad is Space Gray, and it was also available in Silver. This 128GB models used 8GB RAM (as did the 256 and 512 GB options, while the 1 and 2 TB models used 16 GB of RAM).

This iPad Pro included a USB-C port (Thunderbolt/USB 4) for charging and wired connectivity. Wireless connectivity included 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Cellular models were also available.

The 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera was the first iPad camera to offer the Center Stage feature that automatically keeps people in the camera frame by zooming and panning. Its two rear cameras included a 12-megapixel wide angle and a 10-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens.

Like iPhone Pro models of the time, this iPad Pro also included LiDAR and Face ID. It could also use a Generation 2 Apple Pencil that charged using a magnetic connection on the side of the iPad. A similar iPad Pro with a 12.9-inch screen was sold at the same time as this 11-inch model.

Sources: Apple, EveryMac