Earlier this week, Apple announced its plan to launch the new iPhone 6, the Apple Watch and Apple Pay.
In 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone. Its sleek design, app capabilities and simple technology challenged other phone manufacturers. The iPhone 6 has a bigger screen and a new operating system. Braden Scothern, a computer science student at the U, has developed with iOS before but has hesitations with the new phone.
“I’m not sure how I feel about the bigger screen, but it has more battery life,” he said. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
Rhet Gardner, a senior in Spanish, owns an iPhone 5 but isn’t sold on the newest model.
“I can’t afford a new iPhone,” he said. “Honestly, I think Apple is expanding too fast. And, as a student, sometimes I don’t think we have time or money to stay updated with all these products.”
The Apple Watch is a small digital wristwatch. The watch tells time but also receives notifications for what’s next on the owner’s schedule, updates the weather, measures heart rate and taps into the GPS, among other functions. Other tech companies are trying to market similar wearable technology, such as Samsung’s Gear S watch.
Apple Pay will be introduced in October and is predicted to change the banking industry. It will be integrated into the iPhone 6 and is like a virtual wallet. Instead of fumbling at the checkout counter to pull out a credit card, users can now wave their device at the register. It can also be used for online shopping. Banks and stores will need to make registers capable of accepting Apple Pay transactions.
At the Apple announcement meeting in Cupertino, Calif. Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, said in using Apple Pay, each person’s banking information is secure. To keep it secure, Apple assigns a unique device account number that is encrypted and stored in a dedicated chip in the iPhone 6, but not on Apple servers.
Katrina Vastag contributed to this story.
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