It seems that every year there's a new technological gadget to replace the one we already have. As the 'new gen' tech develops, we can't help but stop and think, is this one worth it?

Well, it's that time of year again, with Apple having just hosted its 'Glowtime' showcase, running tech-heads through all the exciting new developments in the next version of their must-have items, including iPhone and AirPods to the Apple Watch.

If you're not too keen to sit through the one hour and 40 minute livestream, never fear. We've done it so you don't have to. 

And let us tell you, some of the advancements happening this year, especially with the addition of Apple Intelligence and machine learning integrated into the iPhone, are well worth your attention.

Here, all the takeaways from the event that you can read within one minute.

Apple-wide things to know.

Apple Intelligence will change the way you message. Image: Apple.

No more lightning cables: from now on all Apple products will charge through USB-C or wireless chargers.

iOS 18: offers new control centre and home screen options, as well as smart handwriting and maths tools in compatible devices. It also has a redesigned photos app to make it easier to find your photo in the many snaps you've taken.

Apple Intelligence: an advanced artificial intelligence capability, like ChatGPT, built into your iPhone. You can easily re-write messages in a more professional way. It will also help your phone to better understand what you want, for example, you can ask it for 'All the photos of Erica's BBQ on Sunday', and it will search for and produce those photos for you.

Apple Watch Series 10 key features.

Apple Watch Series 10. Image: Apple.

Sleeker design: unveiled a thinner watch design with the biggest face ever, keeping weight down but making it even easier to read and interact with your watch.

Speaker: re-engineered the speaker system so that you can play media and songs directly through the speaker for the first time.

Microphone: new technology will suppress background noise even when in a crowded restaurant.

Sleep Apnoea Detection: according to Glowtime, up to 80 percent of us don't know we have sleep apnoea. This new tech uses movement detection in the phone to track breathing disturbances that could indicate sleep apnoea. Every 30 days the watch will alert you if it finds proof of moderate to severe sleep apnoea, and give you a detailed report to take to the GP. This is still under clearance from the American FDA, but will eventually roll out to over 150 regions when approved, across Series 9, 10 and Ultra.

Translate: coming to Apple Watch and will use machine learning for rapid translation. Perfect for that trip to Paris!

Temperature: a new gauge will allow you to tell what temperature it is in the water when you swim.

Depth: workouts can now track your swimming depth up to six metres, which is good for snorkelling.

Tides: the Tides app will show seven days of rising and falling tides as well as sunrise and sunset.

Material: watch made from lightweight titanium, which helps to move towards Apple's carbon neutral goals too.

Fast Charging: more efficient charging coil offers 80 per cent charge in just 30 minutes.

Brighter: The display is 40 per cent brighter, even when viewed on an angle, meaning your 'quick glance' at the watch is ever clearer.

AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) key features.

Apple AirPods with ANC. Image: Apple.

Active noise cancellation model: this will lower environmental noise like airplanes and city traffic, which also means you can listen to your content on lower, safer volumes.

New fit: Apple mapped the geometry of thousands of ears for a new design, using over 50 million data points to get it perfect.

Gesture to Siri: the new chip uses machine learning to interact with Siri through the AirPods. Now you can make gestures, like nodding your head or shaking it to tell Siri what to do. It also has a new interactive sensor to play or pause a song or phone call.

Conversation awareness: if you're blaring out your music but a retail worker starts talking to you, the AirPods will lower the volume of your music or podcast while they speak, and increase it when they stop. No more needing to take out your Pods when buying something.

Audio quality: new spatial audio that surrounds you with sound.

Call quality: voice isolation removes background noise, which is great for windy days.

Battery & Speaker: 30 hours of charge, in Apple's smallest, most portable case. The case also has a speaker to allow it to be found easier using 'Find My'.

Adaptive audio: reduces noise for you as the environment changes. You don't need to switch modes when you're moving from a quiet area to a noisy one.

Transparency mode: a natural way to hear the environment around you, if you choose.

iPhone 16 key features.

iPhone 16 on top and iPhone 16 Pro on bottom. Image: Apple.

New colourways: there's a bold colour profile with new ultramarine, teal and pink shades as well as black and white.

Camera Control: a new button on the side of the phone works to quickly snap photos but also uses intelligent haptics to do a range of other features including zoom and adjust the exposure. It offers instant access to the camera app and to snap photos with no lag. You can hold it down to record.

Camera quality: Now a 48MP camera with four times more resolution than iPhone 14. It has two telephoto lenses and also offers 4K video at 60 frames per second. Ultrawide photography enabled, it also offers a new macro feature for close up photography. 

Tougher: two times tougher glass than on any other smartphone. Comes in 6.1" and 6.7" for Plus.

Action Button: a variety of functions in one press. Record a voice memo, identify a song, or translate a phrase. You can customise it too, for example, to open calendar during the day and turn flashlight on at night.

Prioritise: a new machine learning function will survey your notifications and show you the important ones first. Multi-text exchanges will be summarised in one notification using Apple Intelligence, same for emails.

Siri: she's evolved! Siri will now follow along if you stumble on your sentence, offer you guides on how to use the phone and you can now type to her if you're not in a space where you can give a voice command.

Personal context: you can now ask Siri for more personal questions and she will use machine learning to figure out what you want. Some prompts include: 'What show did my brother recommended to me last month?' or you can tell Siri to 'play that' when someone suggests a song to you over text.

Visual intelligence: can tell what's in the photos you take and help you to find it. For example if you take a photo of someone's handbag it will search the internet for ones that look like it. Or it will pull up a restaurant's location and opening hours from an image. If you take a photo of an event flyer it will read it and add it to your calendar.

Audio quality: new microphones allow for spatial audio capture and machine learning to reduce background noise while capturing.

Clean up: a new feature that allows you to remove unsightly things that are in the background of your images using AI.

Satellite messaging: allows you to communicate with people who are off-grid via satellite. This is available depending on where you live.

iPhone 16 Pro key features.

New colourways: comes in silver, natural titanium, black and a gold-like 'Desert' titanium finish. Comes in 6.3" or 6.9" for Pro Max.

Slow Mo: new recording capability in 4K with 120 frames per second allows for even smoother, more high-definition slow motion capture, like in the movies.

Telephoto: offers a 5x telephoto lens for crisp imagery even when things are far away.

Photographic styles: offers professional colour grading in real time that you can change after capturing.

Capture direct: capture photographs and videos directly to a storage device.

Audio: Four studio quality mics that work for vocal and acoustic recordings. It offers true to life audio with reduced background noise and a series of sound options including:

Voice Memos: Perfect for musicians, this will allow you to layer your recordings as you create a song. So, you could record the guitar and then listen to it back while recording vocals, and it will isolate your voice using machine learning to create the full track.

So, how much does everything cost?

Apple Camera Control button in action. Image: Apple.

Apple's latest launches are now available for pre-order, with iPhone 16 starting at $1,399 and iPhone 16 Plus starting at $1,599. AirPods 4 are available from September 20 for $219, while pre-order is open for AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation at $299. Apple Watch Series 10 starts at $649.

Shop now.

How to buy Apple's new products?

If you're looking for a plan, pre-orders of the iPhone are open via Optus as we speak, click here to choose your model.

Featured image: Apple.