57% of Americans who own a smartphone own an Apple product. From the iPhone 17 and its iOS 26 software upgrade to the innovative AI live-translation AirPods Pro 3. The GH Falcon took a look at the wildly evolving Apple ecosystem.
Each year, Apple announces new versions of their signature product lines, bringing general improvements and additional new features. This year, along with the iPhone 17 lineup, Apple also introduced iOS 26, featuring the new “Liquid Glass” design language for the software. Released on Sept. 19, this overhaul to the familiar user interface introduced a new glassy and lively look to the app icons and overall user experience. The new design elements are translucent and have a glass-like effect that reflects and refracts in real time as water or glass would. This brings a refreshing sense of fluidity and depth to the lock screen, home screen and overall character of the iPhone.
For years, iPhone users have always questioned the lack of customization options on iPhones compared to competitors such as Samsung and Google. Luckily, this update focuses more on adding customization to the iPhone. By utilizing Apple Intelligence (Apple’s own AI), and spatial depth pictures on the Lock Screen, an impressive new feature allows for pictures to be transformed to 3D wallpapers which react to physical movement of the phone. iOS 26 now has Apple Intelligence integrated into iMessage and FaceTime for features such as live translation or spam call blocking. These features make for iOS 26 to be a big upgrade over last generation.
In fact, iOS 26 isn’t just for iPhones. Apple will be using the “Liquid Glass” design as a universal look for all their products. Both the Mac (Apple’s home computer software) and the Vision Pro’s Vision Os also received similar design changes. Apple is aiming to create a unified, modern look across all its products.
The iPhone 17 and its Pro counterpart received major internal hardware updates designed to take advantage of the new software. Despite being under increasing pressure by users to innovate and change the design of the iPhone, Apple released an underwhelming change to the general silhouette. The base model 17 looks nearly identical to last year’s 16, with changes mainly being internal and colors. On the other hand, the 17 Pro received a notable new look, as all three cameras received new housing in the shape of a slightly raised rectangle across the top of the phone, each of them upgraded to 48 Mega Pixel lenses, making for consistent quality across all back facing cameras. On the inside, the Pro models come with cutting edge heat dissipation technology using vapor chambers that boost battery life to exceptional standards.
The latest addition to Apple’s iconic wireless earbud line are the AirPods Pro 3. Keeping the globally recognized shape of AirPods, the newest generation has a new feature set that might convince new users it’s time for an upgrade. The standout feature of the new generation is live translation. This feature is powered by Apple Intelligence and allows for seamless real time audio translation during in-person conversations. This helps break language barriers during travel or in multilingual environments. In addition to the new tech, the audio quality received an upgrade. Allowing for an even wider range of audio and attends to the complaints that the AirPods had flat and tinny audio, paired with the Active Noise Cancellation, this generation’s AirPods Pro 3 seem to be a classic already.
