Apple’s Peek Performance event was held last night in California.
Among the announcements were several updates to both its iPhone 13 and iPhone SE smartphone line, as well as two entirely new devices: the Mac Studio and Apple Studio Display.
The real star, however, was almost certainly Apple’s powerful new M1 Ultra processor.
These are the top announcements from Tuesday’s show:
The iPhone now comes in green
New colors are available for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro in sleek, new shades of green.
The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will have a new color option, “Alpine Green”, while the iPhone 13 Mini and iPhone 13 Pro will get a standard “Green” option. Although new colors will be available, every iPhone remains the same as the models Apple launched in September.
The green hue will add another colour to the current list of finishes for the iPhone 13. These include Starlight, Midnight and Product Red. There are also several other options for the iPhone 13 Pro. It comes in Silver and Graphite as well as Gold and Blue.
Preorders for the new iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 colors are now open. They will be available starting Friday, and they will be available to purchase beginning March 18.
The iPhone SE is more powerful than ever
The upgraded A15 Bionic chip is featured in the new iPhone SE. The iPhone SE features A15 Bionic, an upgraded version of the chip that was used in the iPhone 13. It has a 6-core CPU which is 1.8x faster than the iPhone 8 and a 4-core GPU.
The iPhone 13 also comes in three new colors: Midnight, Starlight, and (PRODUCT.RED). It also features the “toughest” glass in a smartphone. This glass is IP67 rated for water and dust resistance.
The new iPhone SE will be available on March 18th at $429 USD (AED1,859). Preorders open on Friday.
Apple’s M1 Ultra is fast as heck
Apple’s new chip features 20 cores, 16 which are high-performance. This design combines two M1 Max chips into one SoC (system-on-a-chip) that essentially uses the combined power of both.
The M1 Ultra provides 2.5 Terabytes per Second, four times more bandwidth than other chips. It also features 64 GPU cores and up to 128GB RAM. It is powered by 114 billion transistors and can support 800 GB/s bandwidth.
M1 Ultra joins other M1 chips, such as the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The M1 Ultra will be available in a new Mac Studio desktop.
iPad Air meets Apple’s M1
The M1 chip is now included in the iPad Air (albeit, the regular one – not the Ultra mentioned above).
It’s the same chip that is used in the iPad Pro. The 8-core CPU offers up to 60 per cent more performance and the 8 core GPU delivers up 2x the graphics performance than the iPad Air. The M1 also includes a 16 core Neural Engine, which powers advanced machine learning functions and speeds up complex computing tasks.
The iPad has a 12MP Ultra Wide front-facing camera with the Center Stage feature, which detects movement and adjusts to keep the subject in the frame.
This feature is now available on all iPad models. The device’s 12MP Wide rear camera can capture 4K video and sharp photos. Editing and sharing are also possible. The USB-C port has been upgraded with a 2x faster speed and can connect to external storage devices.
Pre-orders are accepted starting Friday. Shipping begins on March 18. Prices start at $549 USD (AED 2,499)
For the pros: Mac Studio and Studio Display
The idea behind these new products is to improve the efficiently and speed of professional users; like video editors, graphic designers or coders.
The Mac Studio, which is compact and lightweight, can be used as a companion for existing displays. It is powered by either M1 Max or M1 Ultra chips. It is 7.7 inches squared and 3.7 inch tall and has a thermal system that keeps it quiet and cool during heavy workloads.
The device also has a variety of ports that allow you to connect to external storage and displays.
The Mac Studio features a 27-inch 5K Retina screen, a 12MP Ultra Wide camera with Center Stage and a studio-quality three microphone array. It also includes a six-speaker soundsystem with Spatial Acoustic.
The Mac Studio is available for $1,999 USD (AED8,600), while the Studio Display starts at $1,599 USD (AED6,500). Both can be pre-ordered online and will start arriving to customers from March 18.
