Apple Event
Apple Peek Performance Event: Everything Announced
iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air, new chips and much more. Here is everything that was announced this afternoon at the Apple Peek Performance Event.
This afternoon Apple had its first product event in 2022. Tim Cook took to the stage to present some of the new hardware the company has in store for this year and to clearly show us that the "chip shortage" is not affecting them. Here is a summary of what was presented during the Apple Peek Performance Event.
Apple TV+
Tim Cook himself opened this presentation with the Apple TV+ service, talking about some of their special productions such as The Tragedy of Macbeth, or the Oscar-nominated CODA. This quickly closed with the announcement of Friday Night Baseball with 2 games a night. Hopefully, MLB will be back soon.
iPhone 13
The iPhone 13 and 13 Pro will soon receive new colors with the "Green" and "Alpine green" versions, respectively. The pre-sale of these models will begin on March 18.
iPhone SE
The iPhone 13 was not the only thing related to Apple's smartphone. Following an Apple Silicon presentation, it was announced that the iPhone SE will now arrive with the A15 Bionic. According to Tim, they know about the importance of a cheaper iPhone option. Thanks to the A15 Bionic, this model has better CPU and GPU performance than previous iPhone models, will feature a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, a Home button with Touch ID, 5G support, plus it features IP67 water and dust resistance.
The design feels a bit dated, even with the same 12-megapixel rear camera as the 2020 model. However, the big promise is that the iPhone SE will receive iOS updates for "years to come". Pricing will start at $429. Pre-order begins Friday and will be available on March 18.
iPad Air
The presentation continued with the fifth generation of the iPad Air, now including the M1 processor. This change provides 60% faster performance than the A14. Among the improvements, we find a camera with a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. On the other hand, it also has 5G support. The display has been upgraded to a Liquid Retina with 500-nits of brightness and HDR. Also, the USB-C port will also be "twice as fast".
The iPad Air will be priced starting at $599 with a storage capacity of 64GB. It will be available starting March 18, and pre-orders will begin this March 8.
M1 Ultra, Mac Studio and Apple Studio Display
As part of the home stretch of the event, Apple unveiled the fourth processor in the M1 lineup, the M1 Ultra, its most powerful chip yet. It includes 128GB of RAM, 20 CPU cores and 64 GPU cores.
Following the announcement of the M1 Ultra, Apple introduced a new desktop faster than an iMac or Mac Mini, the Mac Studio, as well as a new display, the Apple Studio Display.
For starters, the Mac Studio is 7.7 inches in size at its base with a height of 3 inches. It has 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2 USB-A ports, HDMI port and an audio jack. On the front we find 2 USB-C ports and an SDXC slot. It will have two versions, one with the M1 Max processor and the other with the M1 Ultra, the latter being 80% faster than a Mac Pro.
Moving on to the new Studio Display, we find a 27-inch, 14.7M pixel, 5K retina display. And why not, the monitor has included an A13 processor, a 12MP camera with Center Stage, a three-microphone array and a 6-speaker sound system.
Now for the good stuff, the prices. The Mac Studio with M1 Max, 32GB of unified memory and 512GB of SSD, will be priced starting at $1999. The version with M1 Ultra, 64GB of unified memory and 1TB SSD will be priced starting at $3999. The Studio Display will be priced at $1599. Both products can be ordered now and will be available on March 18.