Apple unveils 3 iPhones with dual SIM, impressive cameras
San Francisco, Sep 13 : Apple officially introduced its 2018 line-up of iPhones -- the premium iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR at an event in California late on Wednesday.
The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will support dual SIM and dual standby functionality.
The premium iPhone XS and XS Max come with upgraded 12MP + 12MP camera and 2x optical zoom. There is an improved TrueTone quad-LED flash as well. Both the models have a 7MP RGB camera sensor in the front with F/2.2 aperture while the iPhone XR has a single 12MP camera at the rear.
The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max would be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage variants in space grey, silver and a new gold colour starting at Rs 99,900 and Rs 1,09,900, respectively through Apple authorised resellers in India.
The cheapest of the lot -- the iPhone XR -- has a starting price of Rs 76,900.
The premium iPhone XS is made with stainless surgical grade steel with a new glass formulation and has edge-to-edge screen, Apple said in a statement.
Both the iPhone XS and XS Max are fueled by Apple's latest A12 Bionic chipset built on 7-nm design, which allows for 6.9 billion transistors on the chip. Also, there is a new neural engine with an 8-core dedicated machine learning (ML) processor.
The iPhone X comes with a 5.8-inch OLED display while the iPhone XS has 6.5-inch OLED screen -- the biggest ever on an iPhone. Other than the size, both the models have 3D Touch and HDR.
The Face ID in these models is said to work faster this time than last year's iPhone X. The affordable iPhone XR has a 6.1-inch LCD screen with liquid Retina display and aluminium body instead of a steel one.
The Cupertino-based company also unveiled its new Apple Watch Series 4 with improved health features. Its next generation of Apple Watch features edge-to-edge display with smaller bezels, which is 30 per cent bigger.
The device brings a design overhaul to the Apple Watch as the iPhone-maker is now using a new dual-core 64-bit chipset, custom designed to improve performance.
"Apple Watch isn't just the number one smart watch, it is the number one watch in the world period," Tim Cook, CEO of Apple said. Apart from heartbeat data, the devices would now also track heart rhythm and notify users.
The new series has been approved by FDA for ECG recording as well but this feature would be limited to only US-based users initially. The tech giant said it is working to introduce this feature in other countries as well.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
