In recent times, Apple’s shows have began to characteristic a brand new kind of messaging: with out an Apple Watch, you is perhaps mauled by a bear, drown inside a sinking automobile, get caught in a trash compactor, and even succumb to hypothermia after falling via an icy lake.

These disasters have at all times been averted by the presence of an Apple Watch. However this 12 months, Apple’s messaging has began to alter once more: it’s not simply the Apple Watch that may prevent from potential loss of life — however the iPhone, too.

At Apple’s iPhone 15 showcase, the corporate opened with an advert that weaved collectively the lifesaving potential of each the Apple Watch and the iPhone. The video depicted individuals celebrating their birthdays with family and friends, blowing out candles, and naturally, getting “joyful birthday” needs on their iPhones.

Because the advert launched its essential gamers, captions pale in on the backside of the display, comparable to one which mentioned, “Apple Watch notified her of a low coronary heart fee. Went to the hospital and obtained very important pacemaker surgical procedure.” The subsequent described an individual utilizing the iPhone’s Emergency SOS characteristic to get rescued whereas trapped in a blizzard, whereas one other mentioned a pregnant girl was rushed to the hospital for an emergency supply after her Apple Watch detected a excessive coronary heart fee.

These observe latest adverts from Apple exhibiting how an iPhone 14 may prevent in case your automobile rolls over otherwise you’re stranded on prime of a mountain. 

The adverts aren’t precisely fallacious: there are dozens of real-life reviews about individuals getting saved due to their iPhone or watch. After rolling out Emergency SOS to its Apple Watch in 2016, the corporate added fall detection, an electrocardiogram, and even a blood oxygen sensor. Final 12 months, Apple touted a brand new Crash Detection characteristic for the Apple Watch and iPhone 14, which mechanically alerts emergency companies when it detects you’ve been in a automobile crash (or are simply on some wild rollercoaster trip). And final 12 months, Apple added a characteristic to iPhones that permit customers contact emergency companies over satellite tv for pc in case there’s no mobile connection.

These are undeniably nice options, however there’s a cause Apple’s strategy to promoting them tends to make us uncomfortable: they promote us a product utilizing concern for our personal mortality — purchase an Apple machine or threat your life. They’re adverts that play off concern moderately than hope, and so they stand in stark distinction to the adverts that Apple used to launch about its units. A watch advert from two years in the past exhibits individuals fortunately utilizing their Apple Watch to enhance their health; an early watch advert exhibits individuals utilizing the machine to join with family members.

There is perhaps a cause for this shifting strategy. Options like health monitoring and connectivity in your wrist now not assist the Apple Watch stand out among the many competitors.

Rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 and Google’s Pixel Watch have caught as much as the Apple Watch by way of health-tracking sensors, however they nonetheless haven’t added Crash Detection. The identical goes for the iPhone. Apple may’ve solely simply added USB-C and periscope cameras, however Android telephones nonetheless don’t have satellite tv for pc connectivity (although it’s doubtless coming quickly). Not solely that however the addition of latest security options, together with satellite tv for pc connectivity, Roadside Help, and Crash Detection, helps differentiate Apple’s newer units from its older ones, doubtlessly giving customers a great cause to improve.

On Tuesday, Apple revealed but another excuse why we would wish to have our Apple units with us always: Roadside Help. The service, which is appropriate with the iPhone 14 and later, allows you to contact AAA by way of satellite tv for pc in case your automobile breaks down in the midst of nowhere. Whereas Apple doesn’t pose some catastrophic state of affairs through which you may want to make use of Roadside Help, I wouldn’t be shocked if we see one depicted in an advert someday quickly.

These security options have the potential to be moneymakers for Apple, too. Apple’s companies sector raked in document income final quarter due to its over 1 billion paid subscribers to Apple Music, TV Plus, iCloud Plus, and its bundled Apple One service. Quickly, this record of companies will embody Apple’s satellite tv for pc connectivity and Roadside Help options, as the corporate’s satellite tv for pc service is just out there free of charge to iPhone 14 customers for 2 years, and it’s providing the identical promotion for Roadside Help on the iPhone 15.

We nonetheless don’t know the way a lot Apple will make customers pay after that trial interval, which is able to come to an finish for iPhone 14 customers subsequent 12 months. However Apple appears assured that, as soon as it has a buyer, they gained’t put these units down. “They’re with us on a regular basis,” Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner mentioned when speaking concerning the watch and iPhone. “And should you left both one at house, I guess you’d return and get it.” When your life depends upon it, who wouldn’t?