Bits Blog: Coming: Live Coverage of Apple’s New iPhones and More

Photo Outside an Apple store in Manhattan last month.Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

It seems as if only the details remain.

Apple is widely expected to announce two new versions of the iPhone today, both with bigger screens than their predecessors, and to introduce a wearable device, nicknamed the iWatch.

Despite the company's long and successful history of secrecy and obfuscation, many elements of today's product announcement have already been revealed.

The new phones are expected to have 4.7 and 5.5-inch displays, and a design similar to the current iPads. The smartwatch is expected to feature a flexible display, protected by a stronger-than-glass synthetic sapphire coating, and will charge wirelessly. Both types of devices will include near-field communication, or NFC, technology that could allow for tap-to-pay mobile payments.

And yet, despite knowing much of the what, where and when, some of the big how questions have been left unanswered.

How will Apple try to put its stamp on larger-format phones, which are already offered by nearly all smartphone makers? How will Apple try to convince shoppers in big numbers that the smartwatch is a must-have item, outmaneuvering a long line of competitors that have already introduced wearable computing devices?

The Apple event starts at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Return here for regular updates starting around noon.

Related Coverage: Apple Plans Smartwatch and Larger iPhones

By BRIAN X. CHEN

The watch, which is expected to include fitness tracking and wireless payment, will be the first new product unveiled under Tim Cook, who replaced Steve Jobs in 2011.

Success of Apple's iWatch May Rely on Health Care Partnerships

By BRIAN X. CHEN

Just as the iPod's appeal relied in part on Apple's music industry relationships, the future of its new wrist device may rest on courting health companies.

Auto-Refresh: ON Turn ON Refresh Now Feed Twitter 7:58 A.M. The World's Rush to Big Phones

Credit

In smartphone land, the trend is clear: bigger is better. IDC, a research firm, predicts that manufacturers this year will ship more "phablets," or smartphones with screens measuring at least 5.5 diagonal inches, than laptops. And the firm estimated that one in five smartphones shipped last year in China, the largest smartphone market in the world, were five inches or larger.

Still, even though its competitors like Samsung have introduced bigger phones, Apple has stuck with smaller devices. Until today, when it is expected to release bigger phones.

Why the push to the big screens?

Like it or not, our phones are at the center of our connected lives, and larger screens can help us do more — especially those people who don't want multiple devices. A phone is always connected and more portable than a tablet. The phone is already the device you're using for texting, taking pictures and browsing the web. Why not a bigger screen for watching videos and reading email and doing other things that you used to do on a computer?

7:57 A.M. Behind New Gadgets Sits a Battery

While many people fixate on screen sizes and software updates when new devices come out, developments in some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of a phone or tablet's performance can make a huge difference in how we use it. Apple, for example, has for a number of years been trying to build a better battery, one that could pull energy from the air or power itself through television, cellular or Wi-Fi signals. It remains unclear what new power technology will be included in the devices announced on Tuesday, or whether it will have any significant effect on how they can be used.

Building a Better Battery

By BRIAN X. CHEN and NICK BILTON

As tech companies focus on small, wearable devices, they have encountered an obstacle: Battery technology is largely stuck in the 20th century.

7:57 A.M. Tim Cook Takes Apple in a New Direction

If Apple announces a new smartwatch on Tuesday, as is widely expected, the product will be the first brand-new device released under Tim Cook's stewardship of Apple. The last time the company released an entirely new category was four years ago with the iPad, under Steven P. Jobs. As with the so-called iWatch, in early 2010, many wondered if the iPad could be as successful as the iPhone, which helped define the current smartphone market.

In our coverage then, we noted that Mr. Jobs, Apple's late visionary, saw it as the best kind of device for the way we used smaller computing devices then, including for reading e-books, a not-too-subtle jab at Amazon's Kindle. From our story on Jan. 27, 2010:

"The iPad 'is so much more intimate than a laptop, and it's so much more capable than a smartphone with its gorgeous screen,' he said in presenting the device to a crowd of journalists and Apple employees here. 'It's phenomenal to hold the Internet in your hands.' "

One question Apple faced then — as it does now — is whether there is enough room for another device in the cluttered lives of consumers. David Carr, writing before the iPad was announced, suggested that adoption came down to a matter of utility.

He went on to add:

"There hasn't been this much hype about a tablet since Moses came down from the mountain, but in order for a product to have significant value, it has to solve a problem or be very useful, or both."

Utility is a main reason why critics of wearables have remained bearish about their ability to succeed. They seem, to many, to be solutions to problems that don't quite exist.

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