Apple posted a couple of hardware announcements on Monday during its annual software developer event, including news of a 13-inch MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air with the M2 chip, the latest generation of silicon company.
The Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) also included more expected news about the company’s operating system updates for its computers and mobile devices. It was unexpected for the tech icon to announce a flagship MacBook offering: CEO Tim Cook and his associates typically save a major hardware announcement for spring and fall.
The new Pro machine will feature a 20-hour battery, an 8-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, up to 24GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. All this firepower will need Apple’s new active cooling system added. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip will be launched next month with a starting price of A $ 1,999. The company did not provide a specific shipping date: Mac production has been significantly hampered by COVID-related blockages in China.
The latest MacBook Air will also run on the new M2 processor and will come in four colors: space gray, starlight, midnight and silver. The company says the new MacBook Air takes up 25 percent less volume than its predecessor while weighing 1.2 kilograms with a 13.6-inch screen. The new Air will also have an 18-hour battery life. It will start at $ 1,899 and Apple will still offer its previous MacBook Air with M1 chip at a discount.
Apple said its new M2 chip has 25% more transistors and 50% more bandwidth than the M1. Apple said it is using the chip’s Arm-based architecture to focus on energy efficiency and maximum speed performance. Apple mocked hardware releases by closing its Apple Store ahead of the WWDC event with a screen announcing “News in development. We’re making updates to the Apple Store. Check back after the event. . “
Software updates and more
Cook kicked off the event with a nod to the developers and delivered the lecture to Craig Federighi, Apple’s chief software officer, who announced the new iOS 16 mobile operating system that includes new intelligence, sharing features and communications, including a new lock screen and more personalization. , integration of widgets in the lock screen and new dictation functions.
It has also been announced: a Carplay update that allows drivers to control air conditioning, radio and more, will be integrated by several car manufacturers next year; a security control center that allows users to revoke access to the location from other users (which Apple says will help victims of domestic violence); and more organized smart home controls.
The company has added more features to its Messages app, which allow users to edit iMessages, remember messages sent in error, and postpone texts so that users can manage them later. The company says these changes will change the way nearly 1 billion people send text messages. “Hundreds of millions of people trust the messages every day,” Federighi said during the recorded broadcast, adding that the company is adding “three highly requested features to the messages.”
The company also announced its “buy now, pay later” program called Apple Pay Later, which will allow customers to buy with Apple Pay and then pay for four payments over six weeks. The company said there are no commissions for using the service. Shares of Affirmar, a competing back payment service, were down 6 percent after the announcement.
Apple announced new Apple Watch software (watchOS 9) that includes better sleep tracking, a revamped training app to include heart rate zones, and new tracking metrics for tracking, a medication management feature, and a new Siri interface. The company will include new clock dials, including an astronomy dial and the lunar calendar.
This article originally appeared on crn.com