DEBATE: Is the latest iPhone model anything to get excited about?

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Is the latest iPhone model anything to get excited about?

Leon Emirali, entrepreneur and investor, says YES.

Granted, the drama and exhilaration of Apple product launches that defined the Steve Jobs era is long gone, but Apple’s launch of new iPhone (and Apple Watch) models will still excite consumers.

Since the first iPhone launched in 2007, Apple’s position in the market has changed. Once seen as a disruptor and innovator, it is now well and truly sitting pretty at the top of the tech establishment. These latest models may lack the gimmickry served up by some competitors, but frankly, Apple doesn’t need smoke and mirrors to sell, and sell big.

Let’s also not forget that these iPhones are part of the product cycle that aims to refresh rather than revolutionise. The new camera is close to DSLR quality, the A12 Bionic processor is phenomenally powerful, and these new models are packed with artificial intelligence capabilities.

While innovation may be slower and steadier than at the heady heights of the late-2000s, these product launches prove that Apple is still winning the race.

Read more: Apple unveils three new iPhones at hotly anticipated launch event

Georgia Steele-Matthews, head of international sales at PixelPin, says NO.

I can’t say I’m that inspired after watching the much-hyped Apple conference on Wednesday.

Among the witterings of the marketing team saying “awesome” and “best ever” about a thousand times, I asked myself, have they created anything revolutionary? The answer is a not-so-awesome no.

Apple boasts of the “best battery ever” (which is a mere “30 minutes more than iPhoneX” – thanks for that ground-breaking advancement) and the strongest glass ever, yet again.

But the way I see it, these devices are the heaviest models created by Apple (a massive 208g for the iPhone XR), packed with needless features such as “a trillion operations on every photo you take” (most of which I, and any normal person, will never use), and they still have that ghastly cut-out on the screen, despite the company’s promise of an end-to-end screen.

At least Apple has tested the new model by dropping it in beer – which is very helpful to know when we all go out after work.

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