Apple iPhone 2019 Event: Live Coverage

Apple events, and particularly iPhone launches, follow a fairly strict outline that doesn’t change much from year to year. It looks a little something like this:

1) Opens with a funny (corny?) or sentimental (sappy?) video.

2) CEO Tim Cook emerges, waits 20 or so seconds for applause to die down, then says it’s been a great year.

3) He delivers an upbeat recap of business, looking at anything from retail expansion to market dominance—sometimes with a nod to topical issues such as manufacturing in the U.S. Ten points for slides with photos of the new retail stores!

4) Cook leaves the stage, and the supporting actor gets stage time: Cue sexy Apple Watch sizzle reel.

6) After an exec gives the basic update, there’s another video diving deeper into what’s new. Sometimes there’s a live demo of features.

7) Cook or Phil Schiller, Apple’s longtime head of world-wide marketing, walks out to introduce the big star.

8) Schiller explains a bunch of key new features, using big phrases “surgical-grade steel,” “depth maps” and “facial authentication,” along with new Apple-crafted ones like “3D Touch” or “Digital Crown.”

9) More sexy videos. (We’ll definitely miss outgoing design chief Jony Ive’s proper English pronunciation of the element “aluminium.”)

10) More live demos.

11) The extras: AirPods? HomePods? EyePods?

12) The all-important pricing and availability recap, which—though unspoken—signals what’s been dropped from the lineup going forward, and how average pricing has changed.

13) If attendees are lucky, there’s a brief musical performance by an act that usually charges $100 or more for a concert ticket. Apple-exec favorite U2 has been a repeat visitor.

Let’s see how closely the company adheres to the outline today, shall we?