We are just a few days away from the Christmas and most of them would have already bought the gifts they plan to present them to their loved ones. But, there are also a few procrastinators to who intend to do the final minute shopping this weekend. Nowadays, consumer electronics has become top gift options especially mobiles, smart fitness gadgets, tablets.
World's most valuable company Apple has an array of products that cover all the aforementioned categories. Though they are a bit expensive, the quality and brand reputation, the company has built over decades, family and friends will adore you more for so much concern you have for them.
Here's the list of best of Apple products that are available in India:
Apple Watch Series 4:
This is the most thoughtful gift you can present it to the parents. Apple Watch Series 4 is the most advanced smart wearable in the world and boasts new accelerometer and gyroscope, which are able to detect hard falls. In addition to standard optical heart rate scanner, it comes with electrical heart rate sensor that can take an electrocardiogram (ECG)using the new ECG app, which has been granted a De Novo classification by the FDA. Apple plans to get similar regulatory approvals in other regions from a government agency in India. It's already live in US and also saved a person's life with the ECG app that detected atrial fibrillation (AFib), which was previously unknown to the victim.
AFib if left undetected can cause stroke and is said to be a second most common cause of death in the world.
With watchOS 5 onboard, the Watch Series 4 brings advanced activity, communications features and state-of-the-art health capabilities including new Yoga fitness tracker in the Workout app. It is powered by the next-generation Apple S4 dual-core chip, delivering twice the speed while maintaining the same all-day battery life. It also boasts new generations W3 wireless chip for stronger Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity with companion accessories.
It flaunts visually appealing curvy lozenge-like structure with the sleek body (just 10.7 mm thickness) and comes with more than 35% increased display compared to the predecessor. The Watch Series 4 looks stunning with near edge-to-edge screen and thanks to the new interface watchOS 5, it offers more information with richer detail. Apple Watch Series 4 comes in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm with prices starting at Rs 49,900. You can also go for the Watch Series 3. It is also worthy buy.
Apple iPad (6th Gen):
The iPad (6th Gen) is one most feature-rich and far better compared to any other Android tablets in the market. The 2018-series iPad is Apple's first-ever non-Pro slate series to support Pencil stylus and it is the best gift you can give to the school going kids. It offers the ability to be more productive, from sketching ideas, help do project work, jot down handwritten notes, marking up screenshots.
The new iPad comes with an eye-friendly large 9.7-inch Retina display, a powerful A10 Fusion chip and advanced sensors that help deliver immersive augmented reality, and provide unmatched portability, ease of use and all-day battery life.
Key attribute of the iOS 12 is the Screen Time feature, which allows parents to set time for children to use the iPad and beyond which, they have to get permission from elders for extended sessions. Also, Apple's iOS is the most secured mobile operating system, so there are fewer chances of the device getting infected with malware or virus and also there are several parental control apps on Apple Store, which parents can install so that they can block access to age-inappropriate sites from the purview of the children.
Price starts Rs 28,999. It can be noted that Flipkart, Amazon and other Apple authorised sellers are offering lucrative festive cash back and exchange deals during the Christmas and year-end sale.
Apple iPad Pro (2018):
This can be a perfect gift option for both college-going youths and also any office going adult, as the iPad Pro works almost on par with a laptop. It can entertain you with rich viewing experience, graphics-heavy gaming capability, help you do video editing seamlessly, and even assist you to do office work such as presentation for a client through a plethora of iOS apps including Microsoft Office suite of utility apps if you want.
It comes in sizes 11.0-inch and a 12.9-inch screen with True Tone displays. Under-the-hood, the new iPad Pro (review) comes packed with a 12MP primary camera with F1.8 aperture, a 7MP FaceTime front camera, a 7nm class 8-core A12X Bionic Fusion chipset, which is said to be more powerful compared to A12 Bionic seen in iPhone XS and XR series. The former comes with 64-bit class desktop architecture and comes integrated with 7-core GPU, M12 coprocessor and dedicated Neural Engine, which can perform more than 5 trillion operations per second. The benchmark scores have surfaced online revealing that Apple's new iPad Pro is more powerful than top-end laptops in the market.
The new iPad Pro series price ranges between Rs 71,900 to Rs 1,71,900 in India (full price list below).
Apple iPhone XS, XS Max or iPhone XR:
Apple's latest iPhone XS (& XS Max) and the iPhone XR come with proprietary A12 Bionic and is the most advanced and powerful chipset for mobile in the industry. The benchmark scores are way ahead of all rival Android phones and even with a software update, they will never come close with in terms of performance at least until the first quarter of 2019.
I have used all the three Apple mobiles and mighty impressed with all the aspects. I never faced any lagging issue whatsoever be it while playing graphics-intense games, Augmented Reality(AR) apps or and any power-intensive apps.
Even the camera features such as the adjustable depth control, Slo-mo video recording and stereo video recording and playback are magical.
Now, with the release of iOS 12.1, users can make real-time depth control while taking the portrait mode photos, the smooth blur effect transformation of the background and the subject in the front is mesmerising.
Also, e-SIM for Dual-SIM functionality is also now live for Reliance Jio and Airtel in India. Consumers can just to respective retail store and fill some formal application and within few hours it will be activated.
In terms of build quality, Apple has done a remarkable job. It has used ultra-premium surgical grade steel frame around the edges for the iPhone XS and the XS Max and for the iPhone XR, it has incorporated impressive aerospace aluminium material. All the models come with superior quality glass on top of the display and on the back offering stunning look to the mobiles.
All the three Apple mobile models—the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR—are available with up to Rs 10,000 discount on several authorised brick-and-mortar retail shops. E-commerce firms are offering more cash back, in addition to lucrative exchange deals.
MacBook Air (2018):
The MacBook Air sports a 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display with 2560x1600p resolutions and 300 nits brightness. It has a smaller footprint, as it takes up 17% less volume, is 10% thinner measuring just .61 inches at its thickest point, and at just 2.75 pounds (1.24Kg) is a quarter pound lighter than the previous generation.
Under-the-hood, it houses eighth generation Intel dual-core Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz CPU speed, Intel UHD Graphics 617, 8GB RAM, 128GB/256GB, macOS Mojave and 50.3 watt-hours lithium-polymer battery with support for the 30W USB-C power adapter. Apple claims that the new PC will offer battery life up to 12 hours wireless web browsing and close to 13 hours iTunes movie playback.
It also supports two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 wireless technology, FaceTime HD camera, full-sized backlit keyboard with Force Touch trackpad.
The interesting aspect of the new Apple MacBook Air is eco-friendly. Its body is made of custom, Apple-designed aluminium alloy that enables the use of 100% recycled aluminium for the first time, which has the same strength, durability and beautiful finish as the aluminium in all Apple products. Using this custom aluminium alloy helps reduce MacBook Air's carbon footprint by nearly 50 percent, making it the greenest Mac ever, Apple claims.
The new MacBook (2018) is available in India with prices starting at Rs 1,14,900.
Apple AirPods:
Apple AirPods series very distinct compared to rival brands in the market. It comes with the company's proprietary W1 chip, which is designed to receive the signal independently to both the earpieces.
On the other hand, wireless earphones offered by competitors, only one among the two ear pods receive a direct signal from the media player, while the second one receives the audio from the primary earpiece.
Apple AirPods boasts optical sensors and accelerometers that work with the Apple's in-house built W1 chip to detect when earphones are in your ear, so they only play when you are ready to listen.
If the user removes the AirPods, the iPhone automatically pause the music. Users can also access Siri by double tapping the AirPods to select and control the music, change the volume, check your battery life or perform any other Siri task.
With an additional accelerometer in each AirPod, it intuitively knows if the user is speaking, enabling a pair of beam-forming microphones to focus on the sound of your voice, filtering out external noise to make your voice clearer.
Another noteworthy attribute of the AirPods is its ultra-low power consumption. Apple W1 chip operates at one-third of the power of traditional wireless chips, enabling the AirPods to deliver up to 5 hours of listening time on one full charge. The custom-designed charging case holds additional charge of more than 24 hours of total listening time, ensuring AirPods are charged and ready to go anytime. It costs Rs 12,900.
Apple TV 4K:
It comes with an Apple A10X Fusion chipset. And as the name suggests, it supports 4K content support and that too in HDR (High Dynamic Range) 10 Dolby Vision, which promises the highest standard of image/video quality on television.
It also can automatically optimize the television's setup for the best quality picture and the 4K TV owners can pick and choose 60 services and also be able to invoke Siri via voice command to find your favourite TV shows or movies or live sporting event. Furthermore, Apple TV owners can also get live sporting updates or set reminders to catch the game on their Apple Watch [this feature will be made available via software update in coming months]
Apple TV owners can also be control multiple wireless Bluetooth speakers via AirPlay 2 update coming soon. And also, Apple TV will soon be able to act as a smart home hub, which will allow owners to control ACs, lights and more (HomeKit accessories) in the smart connected house.
