Apple Event Live Updates: iPhone 7 And Watch Release Date, Price, Photos And Reviews

UPDATE: 2:49 p.m. EDT -- The new iPhone 7 starts at $649 with 32GB. Orders start Friday. Shipping starts Sept. 16.

UPDATE: 2:43 p.m. EDT -- Apple's new iPhone will have the longest battery life ever for one of its smartphones. The iPhone 7 will feature two more hours of battery life compared to previous devices.

UPDATE: 2:30 p.m. EDT -- Apple is getting rid of its iPhone headphone jack. The new iPhone will require wireless earbuds.

"The reason to move on: courage. The courage to move on and do something new that betters all of us," said Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple. "First, we've shown that we can use Lightning to connect our headphones. Second, our smartphones are packed with technologies and we all want more. It's all fighting for space in that enclosure. Maintaining an ancient analog single use connector isn't a great use of space. Third, we have a vision for how audio should work on mobile devices. Wireless."

Apple introduced its new product called Apple AirPods. "They only play once you are ready to listen," a video announced.

UPDATE: 2:15 p.m. EDT -- The iPhone 7 will features a camera with 1.8 aperture and 12 megapixel lens that is faster and more energy efficient, Apple announced Wednesday. The smartphone is also water resistant and dust resistant.

The phone won't come in a blue color, as had been rumored in recent media reports.

UPDATE: 2:01 p.m. EDT -- The iPhone 7 is finally here. "It’s the best iPhone we’ve ever created,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. “This is iPhone7. It has a gorgeous new design.”

UPDATE: 1:48 p.m. EDT -- Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday the Apple Watch is the perfect device for runners, swimmers and other fitness enthusiasts. He announced Apple Watch Nike Plus, a watch designed for runners with a stretchy band. The Apple Watch 2, meanwhile, will be waterproof and feature a headphone jack.

UPDATE: 1:35 p.m. EDT -- You can now play Pokemon Go on an Apple Watch. The device will show how much exercise you've had while playing.

UPDATE: 1:22 p.m. EDT -- Apple accidentally introduced its new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Wednesday on Twitter before the official announcement during the tech giant's event in San Francisco. The tweets showed phones that looked like Apple's previous devices. But the new smartphones are "water-resistant," and have stereo speakers. The tweets were later deleted.

UPDATE: 1:16 p.m. EDT -- Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto announced Wednesday during Apple's event in San Francisco that Super Mario was coming to the App Store. Miyamoto is the creator of the Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong brands.

UPDATE: 1:03 p.m. EDT -- Apple CEO Tim Cook, rapper Pharrell and Siri kicked off the Apple event Wednesday with a carpool karaoke jam with James Corden.

UPDATE: 12:43 p.m. EDT -- Amazon reportedly released its specialized iPhone 7 Wednesday hours before Apple was set to announce the new device. The page included pictures of an iPhone 7 with dual back-facing cameras and a link for Bluetooth headphones, confirming recent media rumors about what the new smartphone would look like. Amazon shortly took down the page after Gizmodo wrote about the posting.

UPDATE: 12:24 p.m. EDT -- The Apple Watch slated to be released Wednesday probably won't be too different from the device that first went on sale in April 2015, and that could be bad news for Apple. With so many vendors competing to dominate the wearable devices market, Apple might need an edge to compete, analysts said.

Smart wearables have yet to find a strong place in the market, Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC, told CNBC Wednesday. Apple has not shared sales of the Apple watch.

UPDATE: 12:01 p.m. EDT -- A Vietnamese gadget blog called TechSign.in reportedly published Wednesday the world's first photo of Apple’s new iPhone 7 in a glossy black finish. The image can be seen here. Apple is rumored to release its next smartphone Wednesday in two new colors: blue and "piano black."

UPDATE: 11:34 a.m. EDT -- Apple stock is expected to rally Wednesday night after the tech leader unveils its latest round of products, CNBC reported. When Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced new iPhones in the past, Apple stock dropped only to rebound the next day, new data from Kensho's Bhavesh Dayalji and CNBC's quantitative analysis team show. After the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus announcement, Apple saw a 3.07 percent bump in its stock the next day.

"We're not saying iPhone 7 is a game changer, we are saying it's going to be a solid upgrade, high quality product that will return the iPhone and Apple to growth in 2017," Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White told CNBC. "I think you are still in this gloom-and-doom cycle, but off the bottom."

Marketwatch noted similar trends. “Going into the Sept. 7 event, the stock is slightly down from two weeks ago,” UBS analyst Steven Milunovich told the news site. "Barring any surprises, such as an iPhone price cut, we see limited downside risk as investors already anticipate underwhelming iPhone 7 features."

UPDATE: 11:10 a.m. EDT -- Apple is keeping the details of its rumored new products a secret, but the media has been leaking features for weeks. Before the Apple release event Wednesday, below are some of International Business Times' recent reports on how to get a good deal on the iPhone 7 and what to expect from Apple's next smartphone.

So what exactly do we know so far? The new phone might have a longer battery life. It will likely feature a dual camera. Your smartphone carrier is probably getting ready to push our its best offers to keep your business. Customers might be able to order the phone as soon as Friday. The device will come in new colors, including "Space Black." The iPhone 7 will be more waterproof than previous designs, and it won't include a headphone jack.

UPDATE: 10:50 a.m. EDT -- Apple CEO Tim Cook is slated to unveil the iPhone 7 Wednesday and critics are already asking why he isn't pushing the tech giant to innovate more. "Some people will come out and say it explicitly: Why can’t Tim Cook be more like Steve Jobs?" Fusion wrote.

But Cooks doesn't seem worried. He tweeted before the big event:

Original story:

Apple's event Wednesday is expected to include updates on new iPhones, features and accessories amid declining phone sales and growing debate over whether the tech giant has lost its innovative edge.

The Apple Watch 2 and iPhone 7 will most likely be revealed during the event. The latest smartphones have an analog headphone jack, requiring users to buy wireless headphones or use an adapter, according to media reports. Otherwise, the phone isn't expected to be too different from previous models, and the minor updates have already drawn criticism from tech leaders.

"Without the upward velocity of constantly growing iPhone sales, Apple’s new iPhone will have to validate its existence in a way that no previous iteration has had to do. Consumers are now better informed, more demanding, and more price-sensitive than ever, and Apple will have to give them some reason to desire a broadly unchanged device. Simply being the latest iPhone is no longer enough," the Verge wrote.

Apple saw sales of $42.4 billion for the quarter that ended in June, a fall from $49.6 billion a year earlier, according to its earnings report.

"If Apple releases several years’ worth of disappointing iPhones in a row, their market share will decline and the company will collapse. But in the short-term, the company is basically disaster-proof because switching away from iOS to Android is enough of a hassle that people won’t do it en masse over one bad iPhone update," Vox wrote Wednesday. "But if people do end up liking a product that it sure seems like people would hate, it will be the best proof possible that Apple still has the old magic."

The Apple event starts at 10 a.m. in California and 1 p.m. in New York at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. You can watch live here.