It also updated its smartwatch range, adding a more expensive Apple Watch Ultra model, designed to elite athletes and adventurers.
The technology launch has not drummed up the same interest as previous years, as smartphones become increasingly iterative and upgrades incremental.
Apple’s main upgrades centred around improved safety features across its devices, including a feature for detecting if a user has been in a car crash.
Its latest generation of smartphones will come with upgraded hardware that allows them to pick up distant satellite signals and send a short text message.
The messaging service, for now only available in the US, is designed for emergency situations when a user is in a remote area with no terrestrial mobile phone coverage.
Apple’s service, which will launch in November, will beat rivals such as Elon Musk to developing a satellite mobile service. Other companies are working on similar technology.
Ben Woods, an analyst at CCS Insight, said: “Although iPhone pricing in the US remains flat, in markets like UK, Apple has been obliged to increase pricing in local currency given the strength of US dollar.”
