To say that Apple’s pre-recorded events are divisive is an understatement. What initially seemed like a pandemic-fueled stopgap has become the company’s standard way to make announcements, even though its competitors have largely moved back to live presentations. With the upcoming “Awe Dropping” event, Apple has an opportunity to take a new crack at the live event format. Do you think it’ll take it? Apple has been doubling down on pre-recorded events There is no question that Apple prefers the pre-recorded format, and for good (and obvious) reasons. This way, the company can have complete control over the entire presentation, with zero space for flukes, bugs, or clunky demos. If I’m being honest, I never liked the pre-recorded format. Still, the recent events showcasing San Francisco landmarks felt better and fresher than previous presentations, with their endless barrage of overproduced transitions zipping up and down Apple Park. Still, it’s hard to deny that, except for the Scary Fast event, most of these presentations have started to blur together, which hasn’t exactly added to the overall impact of what is actually being announced. And while the text in this week’s event press invitate is identical to past iPhone events, one thing is different: we haven’t seen any recent leaks about Apple recording the upcoming presentation at Apple Park. Of course, that doesn’t mean much, but it could offer a glimmer of hope for those of us expecting to see more than an iPhone 17-themed redo of the iPhone 16 event, which in turn was a redo of the iPhone 15 event, and so on. There’s more to live events than Stevenotes To be clear, having a live event doesn’t necessarily mean returning to the Stevenote format. But there is something to having a live audience react to a new product or feature proudly announced on stage that has long been missing from Apple’s events. Sadly, I don’t really believe the Awe Dropping event will be that. But I do hope Apple at least has something in store other than presenting yet another video that they clearly had way more fun producing than we’ll have watching. Sure, it’s a marketing video. But that doesn’t mean it has to feel like one. Are you hoping for a live iPhone event on September 9? Let us know in the comments. Accessory deals on Amazon