San Francisco (AFP)

Apple unveiled new high-tech smartphones, tablets and watches on Tuesday with a lot of superlatives, but the tech giant can hardly forget the criticisms that are piling up on the competition, privacy or cybersecurity front.

"What a series of spectacular announcements", welcomed the boss Tim Cook at the end of the annual marketing event broadcast online, pandemic requires.

But unlike last year, with the addition of 5G, the technical improvements to the new generation of Apple-branded devices do not include any fundamental changes.

“Another annual event for updates without a lot of surprises,” tweeted Gene Munster of Loup Funds.

The Californian group unveiled, as expected, the iPhone 13 range. It includes four models, from the "Mini" version which will be marketed from $ 700, to the iPhone 13 Pro Max, from $ 1,100.

Prices equivalent to those of the iPhone 12 when they are released at the end of 2020.

Their cameras and batteries are performing better, and 5G capability is expected to be extended to more than 200 telephone operators in 60 countries and regions by the end of the year, said Kaiann Drance, the vice president responsible for iPhones.

She also recalled the most recent measures taken to protect the confidentiality of consumer data, one of the brand's major selling points.

Even if Apple has just wiped off several weeks of controversy over its new tools to fight child pornography on its iPhone and iPad.

The measures sparked an uproar from online privacy advocates.

The firm assured that these new algorithms did not make its system less secure or less confidential, but nevertheless decided in early September to delay their implementation.

At the end of August, it also announced concessions to application developers.

Many of them accuse Apple of abusing its dominant position in the mobile economy, forcing them to use the App Store as a gateway for consumers to download apps and pay for digital goods and services.

Greg Joswiak, Apple Marketing Manager at Apple Park in Cupertino, California September 14, 2021 Handout Apple Inc./AFP

A California judge in the lawsuit against Epic Games, publisher of the Fortnite game, has just banned the company from forcing developers to use its payment system within their applications.

"More than a million apps have been designed specifically" for the iPad, said Tim Cook, who never loses an opportunity to highlight the rich ecosystem created by the invention of the App Store, there is already 13 years old.

© 2021 AFP