What You Need to Know About Apple's Early 2017 Releases

On Tuesday evening, Apple’s online store went down while new products were added. The iPhone 7 is now available in Product (RED), and new Apple Watch straps, a new 9.7-inch iPad, and a bit more were also introduced. This article will cover everything you need to know!

iPhone 7 PRODUCT (RED)

The iPhone 7 PRODUCT (RED) offers a red aluminum finish with a 128GB and 256GB variant. It was released to mark more than ten years of partnership between Apple and RED. RED raises funds to fight AIDS/HIV in Africa as well as to further inform the public.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook states, “Our customers have made a significant impact in fighting the spread of AIDS through the purchase of our products” and “the introduction of this special edition iPhone in a gorgeous red finish is our biggest (PRODUCT) RED offering to date in celebration of our partnership with (RED), and we can’t wait to get it into customers’ hands.”

Sales will go live at 8:01 am PDT on March 24.

iPhone SE Updated Capacities

The iPhone SE line saw a refresh with the introduction of a 128GB model, which pushed away the 16GB model and made the base model the 32GB variant. The 32GB model will start at $399, and its 128GB counterpart will run for $499. One of Apple’s most glorified iPhone designs can now store a bit more for less.

Sales will go live at 8:01 am PDT on March 24.

The New 9.7-Inch iPad

The new iPad touts an A9 processor, a base price of $329 for the 32GB variant, a sturdy aluminum case, and an attractive display made of over 3.1 million pixels. If you prefer LTE, that model will run for $459.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, states, “iPad is the world’s most popular tablet. Customers love the large, 9.7-inch display for everything from watching TV and movies, to surfing the web, making FaceTime calls, and enjoying photos, and now it is even more affordable.”

To provide this more affordable price point, the new iPad will not feature a laminated display – leaving laminated displays for the iPad Pro models. For most users, this should not be an issue. Even with that, the new iPad is perhaps the most powerful iPad that you can get for your dollar.

Sales will go live at 8:01 am PDT on March 24.

With this release, the iPad Mini 2 was taken from the lineup. The lineup now includes the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, the new 9.7-inch iPad, and the 7.9-inch iPad Mini 4.

New Apple Watch Bands and Straps

Looking for a new look? Most new woven nylon strap designs are in stock and ready to ship at the time of writing, as well as new Hermes colors and styles. Furthermore, the popular Nike+ sport bands are available for purchase separately from Apple Watch Nike+.

New fourth-generation classic buckles have been released, which makes for a classy look for a night out. These fourth-generation straps include a spring-loaded square buckle for quicker fastening.

The selection of modern buckles has been reduced to midnight blue and black. The grey leather loop is now advertised as “smoke grey.”

New colors and styles introduced are as follows.

Sport Bands

Camellia
Pebble
Azure

Woven Nylon

Orange
Berry
Red
Pollen
Tahoe Blue
Midnight Blue

Leather

Saddle Brown
Berry
Taupe
Sapphire
Red
Midnight Blue
Black

Nike+ Sport Bands

Black/Volt
Anthracite/Black
Pure Platinum/White

Hermes

Fauve Barenia Leather Double Tour
Bleu Zephyr Epsom Leather Double Tour
Lime Epsom Leather Single Tour
Colvert Swift Leather Single Tour
Fauve Barenia Leather Single Tour
Fauve Barenia Leather Double Buckle Cuff

Clips App

Clips is a new Apple-designed app for producing short video clips with emojis, filters, and live titles that will animate as you shoot. Clips is labeled as “coming soon” and has no official release date. When it is released, it will be on the Apple App Store for iOS devices.

Swift Playgrounds

Apple’s popular app for learning the Swift programming language now holds support for Simplified Chinese, Japanese, French, German, and Latin American Spanish.

Swift Playgrounds follows the character Byte as he must follow user-executed code to navigate his world. Playgrounds teaches core concepts to aspiring programmers.