> I'm old enough to remember that Apple presentations, while being clearly marketing exercises, used to be a lot more organic and flowing.

Remember Jobs ordering 4000 Latte to-go from Starbucks?

This was entertaining to watch because it felt like a parody, a silicon valley marketing sketch. The intros/outros, strained but restrained excitement, over things that are marginal impact.

Like most years, the iphone is iterative. The iphone 15 is better than 14. This is good.

14 was pretty neat with SOS. What was the last "big" update to an iphone, that really shifted the market? Face-ID? removing the front button?

That's back when they were live. The pre-recorded presentations are hideously overproduced mush with no excitement or soul.

You're referring to Amy Cuddy, promoter of "Power Posing" and one of the top 100 most inspiring women according to the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-41521671

It was later discovered that her work was fraudulent and her coauthor walked back the claims.

I didn't notice that as I don't really know his voice, but he definitely sounded weird to me.

The whole presentation evokes the unsettling sensation of the uncanny valley for me. The presenters appear eerily humanoid in their demeanor, posture and gestures. The peculiar emphasis they use on certain words adds to this feeling too. I said this in another comment, their outfits also don't fit with what one would expect in a typical setting, they feel strangely "off" and out of place. Also... the disorienting special effects and the ambiguous nature of the campus visuals (real or simulated...or both? I can't tell) is just ... a lot. I know Apple is going for a certain look with these presentations but for me it's crossed a line. Kind of like watching one of those weird overly produced Netflix shows or something, where the lighting/coloring/etc is all wrong and fake feeling.

Maybe that's actually the case. Jensen Huang has done it, and it certainly cuts down on the filming and rehearsing time.