The major Apple event for September 2023 is now done and dusted, with the four-strong iPhone 15 series being revealed in full. But there was a lot more to the Apple ecosystem story from the 'Wonderlust' launch event: from the 'USB-C-ification' of the line-up – AirPods Pro 2 included! – to upgraded plans incoming for Apple's iCloud+ cloud storage service.
Previously iCloud+ was only available in 50GB, 200GB and 2TB storage options – priced at £/$0.99, £/$2.99, £8.99/$9.99 per month, respectively – but now there will be new 6TB and 12TB capacities added (date TBC) for those looking to upgrade their storage capacity subscription by a significant margin. It'll be the ideal expansion high-end users have been waiting for.
No pricing has yet been announced for these new higher-capacity tiers, but an educated guess of £24.99/$27.99 and £/$49.99 for the 6TB and 12TB options respectively would make logical sense. That's also priced in the ballpark of what Google charges for its 5TB and 10TB equivalent cloud-storage options, so would be competitive in this market.
I think this iCloud+ upgrade makes a lot of sense to launch right now, given the increased capabilities of the iPhone series' 48-megapixel cameras and Apple's ProRes format growing in popularity. More content creators and videographers are shooting in this raw format, which uses up a significant amount of space compared to other compressed options, so I'm sure that pros will be welcoming of this expanded cloud storage option.
Of all the iPhone 15 handsets to gain the biggest upgrades generation-to-generation, however, it's the iPhone 15 Pro Max's new 5x optical zoom camera that has particularly blown my mind – its tetra-prism technology sounds like a mighty intelligent way to solve the physical scale issue that optical zoom lenses demand, whilst retaining a wide-open aperture (here at f/2.8), for serious shooting potential.
I look forward to trying out the iPhone 15 Pro Max – and no doubt an impending shooting obsession would then quickly require a 6TB/month iCloud+ subscription! Although with so much new kit revealed at the event, I may have to figure out if I want an Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Vision Pro or yet other Apple kit in the pre-order bag first and foremost. Choices, choices...
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