🇮🇪𝐀𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐒𝐏 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝟕𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐈𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝟏𝟏 𝐏𝐫𝐨! 🔥 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝

Apple doesn't have any official fast-charging listing, but if you use a higher-power plug, you can charge an iPhone damn quickly – and Apple now includes an 18W charger in the box for the Pro models, which has folding plug pins, usefully.

There's wireless charging again, of course, but the rumoured bi-direction charging (so you could top up your AirPods from your phone) is absent. This is a shame – it's not an essential feature, but in a pinch, it's a great option to have.

We'll also talk about iOS 13 here. As an update, it's broadly good, but it's definitely a bit of a mixed bag. The first launch has been buggy, and while iOS 13.1 has just arrived at the time of writing, we haven't had enough time to be able to say how much it improves things.

There are lots of small changes in how it works, some better than others. The new Dark mode option is good to have, especially because it can be set to come on at certain times. Conversely, the new Share menu now needs more scrolling to find options that were closer to hand, and hides things that used to be more accessible. But it also makes other options more accessible and quicker to access, so it's swings and roundabouts.

Some of the changes are not very well explained, either. The new Camera app has a little guide when you open it, but there's been confusion online from people about the fact that the 'Find my iPhone' and 'Find my Friends' apps have been merged into on new app called 'Find my'. Apple's principle here is fine, but you can't just take away an app and not tell people they can find the same functionality elsewhere.

There is a big change in here that's a mix of software and hardware, though: there's no 3D Touch any more. The writing was on the wall when it was left out of the iPhone XR last year, but no new iPhones have it at all.

There's still a version of it, called 'Haptic touch', which can best be described as 'tapping and holding on something'.

As an iPhone power user, I was pretty used to using 3D Touch's clever little shortcuts, and losing it is a bit frustrating. Some things are slower, such as using the torch or camera buttons on the lock screen – it takes a moment longer to trigger, them. Not much, but still a regression. And you used to be able to hard press anywhere on a keyboard to move the cursor, where as now you have to long-press on the space bar. It's just a little slower, a little more fiddly. 

Some apps don't support the ability to peek at links before you open them using long press – again, not the biggest loss in the world, but I used it, and now I can't.

Apple has said that losing 3D Touch saved thickness in the screen, which has been put towards extra battery capacity. So in the context of that trade-off, we'll live with it, and after a week of use, our muscle memory is already getting overwritten. But, like other parts of iOS 13, the transition has been clunky.

Finally, Apple has improved wireless connectivity across the board here. An extra Bluetooth antenna gives longer range, which is great for headphones and Apple Watch – we've seen the connections for both last clearly longer distances.

There's also support for Wi-Fi 6, and Gigabit 4G. There's no 5G, but we never expected there to be – Apple waits for new tech like this to settle down a little before it includes it. It's obviously a shame if you live in a 5G area, but they're still relatively rare and patchy – Apple says it's focusing on the best 4G speeds possible right now, because it improves things for the most people.

Lastly, Apple has included support for Ultra-wideband, which is kind of like a next-gen Bluetooth – it can send information over short distances, but also includes accurate location-detection tech. Right now, it's only used for AirDropping files between devices (point your phone at another 11-series iPhone and it will be first on the list), but the potential is huge. An pair of AirPods with Ultra-wideband that you can locate down the back of a sofa using AR is absolutely on the cards, at some point. It's great future-proofing to have.