Apple event season is over and Black Friday looms

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With iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and AirPod launches behind us, we look at what's coming in the month ahead.

As fall slowly rolls into winter, there's quite a bit of change happening here at iMore — not least in the person(s) behind the keys for this weekly column! As you may have read last week, our own Christine Romero-Chan has departed us temporarily as she welcomes her first child, so you'll be seeing a few new bylines on the Editor's Desk roundup each week.

Though you may have read some of our words elsewhere on the site, it's going to be a good opportunity for me, Bryan Wolfe, and Luke Filipowicz to present a little bit more of ourselves each week as we take turns holding the reins.

New Apple devices = new reviews

A switcheroo in personnel is not the only change, though. With Apple event season over (we think…) for this year, there's also a change of pace for our writing staff as we really get to grips with Apple's newest tech and work on creating the content our audience needs most. Particularly, as they think about what new gizmos they intend to buy ahead of the holidays.

Luke already put Apple's newest earbuds through their paces in his excellent AirPods 3 review. Anyone considering picking up a set should definitely read his review first and consider if the extra cash is worth spending versus the previous-gen model. We're also taking the MacBook Pro (2021) to task as we speak, so look out for Bryan's review of that machine in the coming days if you're eyeing one up for yourself.

Black Friday approaches

Speaking of the holidays, it would be remiss of me not to mention that November is upon us and, in the world of online publishing, that means one thing: Black Friday. Far from being a relaxing wind-down ahead of a well-earned break, the holiday shopping season is a busy time of year for us as we aim to ensure all of our buying guides and best product lists are up to date so that you can make informed decisions.

Each year, we also want to make sure our readers are well served regarding product prices and finding the best deals on the things they have been holding out for. That's why our Black Friday Apple deals hub is going to be a must-bookmark page for you in the coming weeks (in fact, bookmark it right now as the deals have already started).

Elsewhere in the news

Despite a shift in overall focus, our news desk has still been covering the most interesting Apple stories this week. To kick off the month, we had reports of Canadian iPhone owners seeing their devices' clocks changing a week early. Is it just me, or has this been a problem with the iPhone every year since the dawn of time? It seems like it may have been a carrier-specific issue this time, which makes the case even more curious, but it's kind of wild that this happens at all.

In more dramatic news, a British man praised the Apple Watch's fall detection after he was knocked off his bike. In an interview, he stated that he didn't think he'd be alive without his Apple Watch contacting his partner and medical professionals on his behalf. The best Apple Watch models have had this feature for a while, but it's a handy reminder of the importance of the wrist-worn device. If you haven't yet, maybe go ahead and set up fall detection.

In "Steve Wozniak sometimes says things" news, the Apple co-founder said that he got the new iPhone but couldn't really tell the difference between it and the iPhone 12. As much as I want to poke fun at Woz's comments, the sentiment mirrors our own iPhone 13 review, so I won't. This time.

The other Apple story to really connect with our readers this week was that of popular note-taking app Notability moving to a subscription model. As tends to happen, this caused something of a furor among app users and in the wider Apple space. In this case, the drama was mainly the fault of the developer's poor communication, which lit the touchpaper of vehement subscription opposition, as iMore contributor Oliver Haslam wrote, but there are lessons here for those on both sides of the argument.

Even after event season, it just goes to show that there's never a dull week in the Apple world!

- Adam Oram