Here’s everything that happened at Apple’s huge iPhone launch event (AAPL)

Apple invited journalists, Wall Street analysts, and VIPs to the Steve Jobs Theatre on its campus in Cupertino, California, so it can drum up hype for its biggest product launch of the year.

Apple's launches are a Silicon Valley tradition, dating back over 20 years. Apple's top executives get up on stage, show off the company's new phones and computers, and emphasize what makes these specific gadgets "magical" and the "best ever."

Due to some leaks, we had already seen marketing pictures of what Apple's iPhone XS and the Apple Watch Series 4. But we finally got the complete, official story on Wednesday morning.

Here's everything that happened at Apple's big iPhone launch event:

Before the show even started, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted what appeared to be a DM fail (he deleted the tweet a few minutes after posting it). It makes you wonder what he was missing.

Meanwhile, Apple employees and press were getting ready at the Steve Jobs Theatre located at Apple Park, the company's new $5 billion campus in Cupertino, California.

You can see the edge of Apple Park's main building.

Back when Steve Jobs unveiled his plans for Apple's new campus, he said the new building would be "a little like a spaceship landed."

8:02: Another shot of Apple Park.

Everyone started heading towards the Steve Jobs Theatre at around 8:00 a.m. PT, two hours prior to the show's start.

Apple had plenty of drinks and appetizers for attendees, including this drink called "Watermelon Breeze."

And "Sunshine Tea."

Food included smoked salmon avocado tarts ...

... jalapeño and candied-bacon deviled eggs ...

... fruit skewers, and much more.

Another look at the outside of the Steve Jobs Theatre.

9:05 AM: Killing time inside Steve Jobs Theatre.

Apple started letting people take their seats about 30 minutes ahead of the show.

9:28 AM: Heading down.

Here's what it looked like when everyone got inside ...

... and here was our view from the floor. Pretty great seats!

We spotted Apple's chief designer Jony Ive before the show started.

10:04 AM: After a cute introductory video, Apple CEO Tim Cook comes on stage. "As you know, Apple was founded to make the computer more personal, first with the Apple II and later with the Mac."

10:05 AM: Cook says Apple's innovation has extended from computers to its own retail stores, which 500+ million people visit every year.

10:06 AM: Cook announces Apple is about to ship its 2 billionth iOS device. "iOS has changed the way we live, from the way we learn to the way we work to how we're entertained, to how we shop, order our food, get our transportation, and stay in touch with one another."

10:07 AM: "It's only fitting that today, we're going to talk about two of our most personal products," Cook says. "So let's get started with the Apple Watch."

10:08 AM: Cook says: "To think this category didn't even exist a few years ago," Cook says about the Apple Watch, which he says is the top smartwatch in the world, and also "the No. 1 watch period."

10:09 AM: Cook invites Apple's Jeff Williams on stage to talk about Apple Watch.

10:10 AM: Williams talks about how Apple Watch has "become an intelligent guardian for your health," monitoring your heart rate when you're working out, in addition to its communication features. "Today we're taking Apple Watch to the next level."

10:11 AM: Apple shows off a video that unveils the new Apple Watch Series 4.

10:13 AM: The new Apple Watch has a screen that's 30% larger than before, with the display pushed up closer to the border, and now wrapped around the edges. Williams says every part of the Apple Watch UI has been redesigned to show you more of your content, and new complications show even more information and detail.

10:14 AM: Apple created new complications that let you customize more of your Watch face. You can now see more information from other apps, too, so you can see sports scores, your plane ticket, or your fitness information right from the Watch face.

10:15 AM: Apple also created some new dynamic new watch faces that interact with the new shape of the display. Fire, water, and vapor watch faces show the elements washing right up against the edges of the display.

10:16 AM: The digital crown on the Apple Watch Series 4 has been completely re-engineered to support haptic feedback, and the speaker is now 50% louder, which is great for phone calls or Siri requests. Apple also moved the microphone away from the speaker to reduce echo to make phone calls even clearer.

10:17 AM: The back of the Apple Watch Series 4 is made of ceramic and sapphire crystal in a way that actually improves cellular reception.

10:18 AM: The new Apple Watch Series 4 is powered by a new S4 chip, which makes the Watch up to two times faster than before.

10:19 AM: Thanks to the new accelerometer and gyroscope, Apple Watch Series 4 can detect falls. Many people get injured, and even die, from falls every year. Fall detection can contact emergency services for you.

10:20 AM: Apple Watch Series 4 can also detect low heart rate, and if it detects an irregular heart rhythm, it can help alert people to heart issues they may not have been aware of.

10:22 AM: The new Apple Watch can take electrocardiograms, or ECGs. It takes 30 seconds to do, and it measures the electrical impulses from your heartbeat and sends them to the S4 chip for analysis. Your ECG recordings are stored in the Health app.

10:24 AM: Jeff Williams invites Dr. Ivor Benjamin, the president of the American Heart Association, on stage to talk about why the data collected by the Apple Watch is so helpful for taking care of patients.

10:26 AM: Williams returns on stage to announce the Apple Watch Series 4's new health-focused features, like low heart rate detection and ECG, have been cleared by the FDA.

10:27 AM: Williams briefly mentions privacy. "At Apple we believe your personal information belongs to you." All of your data is encrypted on the device and in the cloud.

10:28 AM: Williams rounds up the features in the new Apple Watch Series 4, including the redesigned screen and digital crown, the fall detection and ECG features. He also announces the Apple Watch has 18-hour battery life, the same as the previous generation, despite a slimmer design.

10:32 AM: Apple Watch Series 4 will be available in silver, gold, and space gray, and a stainless steel collection includes space gray and space black. Apple also added a new stainless steel gold finish. All band colors and styles fit any Apple Watch generation, so no one needs to buy new bands.

10:33 AM: Apple Watch Series 4 will also support Hermes and Nike-specific bands, with new faces that stretch to the edges of the screen.

10:35 AM: Pricing and availability! Apple Watch Series 4 starts at $399, a cellular version will sell for $499, and the Series 3 will now cost $279. You can order it starting September 14, and it will become available on September 21. WatchOS5, the newest version of the Apple Watch software, will be available on September 17.

10:37 AM: Apple CEO Tim Cook comes back on stage to introduce the new iPhone. "Today, we're going to take iPhone X to the next level. I'm excited to show you what is by far the most advanced iPhone we have ever created."

10:39 AM: A new video shows off the new iPhone Xs. Cook invites Apple's senior VP of marketing Phil Schiller on stage to talk about the new phone.

10:40 AM: The iPhone Xs has a gorgeous new gold finish on the front, though it's also available in silver and space gray. "It is the most beautiful iPhone we have ever made," Schiller says. He also says it has the most durable glass ever in a smartphone.

10:41 AM: The iPhone Xs screen features a 5.8-inch Super Retina display with 2.7 million pixels and 458 pixels per inch, and supports HDR in Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats. The iPhone Xs has a 60% greater dynamic range compared to the iPhone X.

10:43 AM: Apple is also selling an iPhone Xs with a 6.5-inch display, which is being called the iPhone Xs Max. "Watching videos on it is cinematic," Schiller says.

10:45 AM: Schiller says the iPhone Xs and Xs Max also have wider stereo sound, so you won't want to necessarily wear headphones while watching movies or playing games (but seriously, please don't do this in public).

10:46 AM: Schiller says Face ID is faster than ever thanks to a faster Secure Enclave chip, which powers the authentication software. The A12 Bionic chip is the industry's first 7-nanometer chip, Schiller says, which features a 4-core GPU, a 6-core CPU, and a neural engine — 6.9 billion total transistors. The GPU is up to 50% faster, but the machine-learning engine is much faster than before, and makes your phone much more efficient. Compared to the A11 bionic, which can do 600 billion operations per second, the A12 bionic chip can power 5 trillion operations per second.

10:51 AM: Apple's Kaiann Drance takes the stage to talk about iOS 12 and how machine learning is used: when your phone maps your face for Animoji, when your camera detects your face and lighting, and more.

10:52 AM: Apple's new A12 Bionic chip also helps with augmented reality, and a cool new feature called AR Quick Look, which lets you look at objects you find in Safari and put them in the real world, in case you want to see how a toaster will look on your counter before you buy it online.

10:55 AM: Drance invites Todd Howard, game director at Bethesda Game Studios, on stage to talk about his company's new Elder Scrolls game "Blades" coming soon to iOS this fall.

11:00 AM: Drance introduces Dave Lee, CEO of Nex Team, and NBA Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash, to talk about a new app called Homecourt, which uses Apple's coreML software to track how people play basketball and coach them on how to improve.

11:03 AM: For the third and final demo, Drance invites Atli Mar, cofounder and CEO of Directive Games, to show off a game that leverages Apple's ARKit 2 software to power better augmented reality experiences. The game showed off an AR version of Galaga, where you shoot bad guys and grab powerups. It's a pretty loud demo.

11:06 AM: After one too many demos, Apple's Phil Schiller comes back on stage to talk more about the iPhone Xs. This time, it's about improvements to the camera, which features a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens, and an improved True Tone flash. It has optical image stabilization and a f/1.8 aperture 6-element lens. On the front side, Apple has a new 7-megapixel sensor that's used for the True Depth Camera system that powers Face ID.

11:08 AM: Schiller says the new A12 Bionic chip helps the CPU and neural engine work together to detect scenes and bodies, and understand the scenes you're shooting. It understands where eyes are, and make hair and glasses look really good. This results in a new feature called "Smart HDR," which captures all the best details of your photos, like light, shadows, and movement, to merge them into the perfect photo.

11:11 AM: Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting look even better than before in the new iPhone Xs, thanks to the new cameras and the new A12 Bionic chip working together.

11:13 AM: Schiller says Apple's photo team also made a breakthrough with "bokeh," or the blur effect your see in portrait-mode photos that gives you a sense of background and foreground. "This is a breakthrough in photography on a smartphone," he said. Now, you can adjust the level of depth-of-field after you take a photo.

11:14 AM: The benefits of the new cameras and A12 Bionic chip extend to videos as well, with better image quality, and the ability to record stereo sound thanks to the new microphones in the iPhone Xs.

11:16 AM: Schiller says the new iPhone Xs gets 30 more minutes of battery life compared to the iPhone X, and the iPhone Xs Max gives you 90 more minutes of battery life compared to last year's phone.

11:19 AM: The iPhone Xs has a new dual-SIM card system, which means you can have two different phone numbers or use two different plans, depending on where you live or where you travel. China will get its own edition that lets you put two SIM cards into a single tray.

11:20 AM: Schiller rounds up all the new features in the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, and introduces Lisa Jackson, Apple's VP of environment, policy, and social initiatives, who announces that all Apple facilities are now officially powered by 100% renewable energy, from Apple's new $5 billion campus Apple Park to its data centers that power iMessage. She also talks about how Apple is also relying more on recycled and bio-based materials for making devices. "It's a huge win for the planet," Jackson says.

11:25 AM: Phil Schiller returns to the stage to talk about "one more iPhone." A video plays, and we see new iPhone colors, including red, yellow, and blue. "We're so excited to introduce you to the iPhone Xr, and we hope it reaches even more customers." It comes in white, black, blue, coral (pink), yellow, and red.

11:28 AM: The iPhone Xr features an LCD display that's fitted in the shape of the iPhone X display. Apple calls it a "Liquid Retina" display, which measures 6.1 inches, features 1.4 million pixels, and measures 326 pixels per inch. With a bigger display than an iPhone 8 Plus, "we think it's going to make customers really happy," Schiller says. All of the features from the iPhone X are here, including Tap to Wake, but it notably doesn't have 3D Touch. Instead, it has Haptic Touch.

11:32 AM: The iPhone Xr features a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, the same one in the iPhone Xs, but it only has one lens — no telephoto lens here. Still, Apple calls it the best single-camera system it's ever made. And this phone can still do Portrait Mode photos, despite not having two rear lenses.

11:33 AM: The iPhone Xr has 90 more minutes of battery life compared to the iPhone 8 Plus, which had the best battery life in any iPhone released last year.

11:34 AM: Schiller rounds up the features in the iPhone Xr. "This is a huge day for iPhone. We now have iPhone Xs, Xs Max, and Xr." Schiller shows a product video featuring Apple's chief designer Jony Ive describing the new phones.

11:39 AM: iPhone pricing is announced! iPhone Xr comes in six finishes and three sizes: 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and starts at $749, which is less expensive than last year's iPhone 8 Plus. It'll be available on October 19, and ship a week later on October 26.

11:40 AM: The iPhone Xs will come in 64 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB storage options, and start at $999. The iPhone Xs Max starts at $100 more at $1,099. You can preorder it this Friday, September 14, and it will start shipping on Friday, September 21. The iPhone 7 is still available from $449 (!), and the iPhone 8 is also still available starting at $599. iOS 12 will be available on September 17.

11:42 AM: Apple CEO Tim Cook comes back on stage once more to make a few more quick announcements: HomePod is getting some new features — you'll be able to make multiple timers and ask for a song by its lyrics soon — and Apple TV's operating system will get Dolby Vision support soon. Both updates will be available on Monday, September 17. The new Mac software, MacOS Mojave, will be available on September 24. "We're excited about this huge month, and all of these big releases that we've got," Cook says.

11:44 AM: Cook rounds up the announcements made this morning: The Apple Watch Series 4, the iPhone Xs, the iPhone Xs Max, and the iPhone Xr, "which will allow us to deliver the future of the smartphone to even more people," Cook says. He thanks everyone in attendance, everyone watching online, and everyone at Apple "for making this day possible."

Here’s everything that happened at Apple’s huge iPhone launch event (AAPL)

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!