This is Technology Bytes, episode 130 for August 31st, 2025.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share brief bytes on interesting technology.
Enjoy, and here we go.
Well, this week Apple announced their date for their next event, and that is happening on September 9th.
And so I just thought I would talk about it a little bit.
You know, the invitation goes out to quite a few people.
I think all you have to do is really sign up, but it’s different than the invitation that actually maybe gets emailed to someone that says, you know, we want you to be there in person versus like mine, which just says, hey, you’re welcome to listen to the event and watch the video like I’ve done, you know, for quite a while now.
But I always find it interesting to see what people read into the event invitation.
And, you know, there’s a weird Apple logo, it’s got strange colors, and they are like, well, it looks like an iPhone that’s just overheating.
That’s not a good look.
I think that Apple made a mistake or, you know, maybe this is representative of some of the colors that we might get on one of the models of the new iPhone or maybe this.
And so it’s just lots of speculation just on what the logo or the graphic for the invitation looks like.
I always find it a bit amusing, and I don’t really, you know, I think at this point people just do it because that’s what they’ve always done.
I never quite understood the draw to do something like that.
But it’s also interesting as we go towards this event, this is the biggest event for Apple.
This is their iPhone event.
That’s their biggest product.
It has been for quite some time, maybe since it was released, not quite sure.
But this is important to them.
And, you know, people talk about, well, what are they going to announce?
And we all know they’re going to announce the iPhone.
And we pretty much know the kind of flavors.
It looks like we’re going to get some kind of iPhone Air, some thin model, the iPhone, just normal iPhone 17 or something, and then the iPhone Pro and the iPhone Pro Max.
I think that doesn’t change.
I think those are the things that they kind of announce every year.
And there’s nothing real super different going into this event for the iPhone, although I’m sure they will talk about why it is so different from the previous ones they’ve released.
And I always like to hear that.
I like to listen.
You know, I think I said before that I’m not planning on purchasing an iPhone this year.
I say that, well, not every year, but quite often.
And then I seem to try to find a way to finagle my wife into letting me purchase the new model.
And, you know, I’m already paying per month, and it’s just something that happens.
But I don’t think I need to upgrade.
I’ve got the 16 Pro Max, and I think that will be fine.
And then the events, I don’t know.
I like them.
Some people don’t like the recorded events.
Some, you know, they wish they’d go back to live events.
But I think they get a lot more information into the announcement with the video than they do in person.
There’s not that many pauses.
You’re not having to take longer periods of time to change personnel that are presenting out on a stage.
And, you know, I guess I’m not there, so it’s almost like I’m watching a video anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
So live or not has not really been something that has bothered me.
But this year, it’s probably much the same as it has been for the last number of years.
There’s talk that the next iPhone, or maybe even the one after, is going to be the biggest difference, biggest change, whatever that happens to look like.
But I also like to listen to the event to see what else Apple might announce, understand what the iPhone is.
We all know about iOS 26, probably had it on our devices for a while if you’re an Apple fan.
So it’s, you know, people are like, well, maybe they’ll announce a new Mac or a new iPad.
And, you know, I don’t think so because they won’t want to take away from the iPhone event itself.
The iPhone needs to be the star of the show.
They don’t need to share the stage with anything else.
Occasionally, they’ll do accessories that go with the iPhone, and that might happen this year.
There’s some talk about the AirPod Pro 3.
So that, you know, is a possibility, I guess.
I might be interested in that.
I use the version 2 right now, but some of the things that I’ve heard, you know, that could be of interest.
They might do the Apple Watch because that is an accessory that needs the iPhone to work.
And so there’s probably a good chance that that will be announced.
And as I said before, that the Ultra 3, if that’s the next one, is one that I would be interested in.
I think it might be a worthwhile upgrade.
We’ll have to wait and see.
It really has more to do with the age of my Apple Watch 7 than the age of my Ultra 2, because obviously that’s only a couple years old at this point.
So I’m interested in seeing what they say about that and what it looks like and what it might offer and what the improvements might be to see if that would be something that maybe my wife would let me get if I don’t get the iPhone, which I don’t think I’m going to.
And so other things, you know, I don’t know.
The HomePods, maybe.
HomePod Mini, maybe.
Those are peripheral to the iPhone, but have more to do with the home than they do with the iPhone itself.
And, you know, maybe those would be better announced with the Apple TV, although there’s talk about a new Apple TV, but I don’t know.
I’m not sure why they would announce that in an iPhone event because it doesn’t seem to match up with iPhone stuff.
So really peripherals, to me, it’s the AirPod Pros and the Apple Watch.
Those seem to go into an iPhone event without taking any of the shine off of the iPhone itself.
So I think that might be a possibility.
And then post-show, I’m always interested to see what the naysayers have to say.
Well, this is terrible.
I don’t know why Apple did this.
This cost too much money.
And the other side of the coin where this is really neat, these are the cool upgrades on the devices, and I think that Apple’s done a good job.
And you get both of those, and I like to read both of them, although probably in agreement with those who are more pro-Apple than not.
And so those are always a draw as well.
So I’m looking forward to the event on September 9th.
I won’t be able to watch it when it happens, so I try to turn off all kinds of notifications and those kind of things so that when I get home from work, I can watch it and see the announcements without having to dodge news stories or those types of things.
So looking forward to the event.
I hope you are too.
And that is all I have for today.
If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, you can send them to technologybytes at merrickfamily.com.
As always, I want to thank you for listening to the Technology Bytes Microcast, and I look forward to the next time we are together, taking a bite of technology.
