Duncan Bell is iPhone-less

Another year, another big Apple launch event. But this is no ordinary year…

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Apple iPhone launches are possibly my favourite big event in the tech calendar.

Admittedly that’s not saying much as I hate all trade shows, but still. This year’s was a vintage one in many ways, but also very different. For a start, there was no iPhone.

This, it is said, was due to COVID. Given that the coronavirus pandemic has brought death in its wake and pushed the world to the brink of social and economic chaos, I am not going to claim that a delayed phone is all that big of a deal, but it was a decidedly sombre affair nonetheless.

The Apple spokespersons were as cheery as ever, but the way the camera tracked them through the corridors and up and down the levels of Apple’s gleaming yet eerily deserted Cupertino lair – sorry, ‘campus’ – gave the event the air of an artsy horror movie. Or perhaps an episode of ’80s kids ‘VR’ show Knightmare. You don’t remember Knightmare? Trust me, if you did, that joke would be funny AF.