Today is Apple Day. The company wasted no time at its annual WWDC 2023 event, announcing all sorts of exciting new products, software experiences, and its highly anticipated augmented reality headset.
As expected, Apple took to various stages around its campus and revealed iOS 17, watchOS 10, macOS Sonoma, a new Macbook Air 15-inch, its most powerful Mac Pro, a new M2 Ultra chipset, and more. Then, near the end, it had one more announcement. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for: the wildly expensive new Vision Pro (extended reality) headset.
The keynote was jammed with announcements and went for over two hours, and here’s everything you need to know, starting with the Vision Pro.
Apple Vision Pro Headset
Honestly, I almost don’t even know where to begin with Apple’s new headset, which is a combination of augmented reality and virtual reality blended into one, which many are calling “mixed reality.” It’s called the Apple Vision Pro, and here’s the launch trailer for those interested.
It’s unlike any VR headset we’ve seen and isn’t quite what anyone expected. This isn’t just for VR but instead aims to replace our laptops, tablets, and maybe phones one day as an all-in-one “Spatial Computing experience.” There are more pixels for each eye than a 4K display, built-in speakers, a comfortable and highly adjustable headband, and much more.
The headset runs on Vision OS and gets power from the Apple M2 chipset, packs a slew of cameras and sensors, and there are no controllers. Instead, you control the entire operating system with eye tracking and hand gestures captured by cameras inside and out. It’s a wild concept, and we can’t wait to try it.
Before I say anything more, the Vision Pro will cost an eye-watering $3,499, and it’ll be available sometime next year. Apple prefaced that by explaining that if you bought a new 100-inch 4K TV, surround sound, computer hardware, a home theater, a Macbook Pro, and other devices, those would all cost a pretty penny. The Vision Pro combines that into one wearable device for only $3,499.
Oh yeah, speaking of “one more thing,” it only lasts for two hours at a time using the included wired battery pack in your pocket or desk. There’s no built-in battery. The Vision Pro certainly looks stunning, but we’ll have to wait and see.
MacBook Air 15-inch
Now that we have the Vision Pro out of the way, the first announcement was the highly rumored all-new MacBook Air 15-inch.
The new MacBook Air 15″ is only 11.5mm thin, weighs 3.3 lbs, and according to Apple, is “the world’s best and most powerful 15-inch laptop.” The latest Apple M2 processor powers it, has a 15.3-inch retina display, and supports up to 24GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. The 15-inch Air packs six speakers, three microphones, a 1080p FaceTime camera, TouchID, and offers 18 hours of battery life.
More importantly, the impressive-looking new MacBook Air 15-inch comes in four colors and costs only $1,299. Pre-order yours today with shipping from June 15th.
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M2)
The all-new MacBook Air now comes in a bigger 15-inch size. Delivering more power in a thin and lightweight package. Grab yours starting at $1,299.
Mac Studio and Mac Pro (Now with M2 Max and Ultra)
Professionals looking to do more will love Apple’s updates to its capable Mac Studio and the even more customizable Mac Pro. And yes, the Mac Pro finally comes with Apple Silicon, including a super powerful new M2 Ultra chipset.
There’s now an M2 Max and M2 Pro version of the Mac Studio, and those that want to spend even more can upgrade to the M2 Ultra. So what’s the M2 Ultra? It’s essentially two Max processors fused together, delivering a 24-core CPU, up to 76-core GPU, and capable of 192GB of unified memory. Here’s an infographic for those interested.
The new M2 Ultra will take Mac Studio or Mac Pro computing to the next level. Additionally, the updated Mac Pro now supports six expansion slots for further customization, making it the ultimate computer for professionals. It has eight thunderbolt ports, tower or rack enclosure options, and a hefty price tag.
As expected, they’re not cheap. The upgraded Mac Studio with the M2 starts at $1,999 and quickly goes up with more RAM or storage, while the M2 Ultra starts at $7,000. Like the new 15-inch Air, both new machines are available to order today and get released next week.
iOS 17, macOS Sonoma, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10
Apple didn’t just announce new hardware today. The company also took a moment on stage to unveil significant changes and exciting new features to macOS 14 “Sonoma,” along with a bevy of new features for iOS 17 and watchOS 10.
First off, the next version of macOS is known as Sonoma. Just like on our smartphones and now the iPad, widgets are getting a major overhaul. Finally, with Sonoma, we can move widgets out of the tray onto our home screens. More importantly, they’re customizable.
Widgets will intelligently adapt to any task, including matching colors to windows or background wallpapers, and look pretty spiffy. If your iPhone is nearby or on the same Wi-Fi network (and running iOS 17), you can even see widgets from your phone right on a Mac, which sounds super helpful.
We’re also seeing Apple make a big push into gaming, especially with all these powerful new processors. Sonoma has a new “game mode” for better performance and improved controller latency by 2x, and developers can use a game porting kit in Metal to bring games to the Mac easily. Apple confirmed the popular game Death Stranding: Directors Cut is coming to Mac, which fans should be happy about.
Once macOS Sonoma leaves the beta, we’ll better understand what to expect. However, Apple mentioned vastly improved video conferencing with a neat new presenter overlay feature, video reactions, a faster and more responsive Safari, and a way to lock individual private browsing tabs down tight. macOS Sonoma also brings profiles to Safari, shared passkeys, and refinements throughout. The Sonoma public beta will be available sometime next month.
WatchOS 10 is getting better watch faces you can customize as you see fit. There’s also improved widgets access, a new cycling application, and support for bike sensors and computers. Apple worked on updates to the Maps and Compass apps for hiking, waypoints, and hiking trail descriptions. There’s a new way to use all the onboard sensors to help while training and improving a golf or tennis swing, to name a few.
The iPad is getting the same love as our phones and Macs, and by that, I mean it’ll have widgets everywhere. iPadOS 17 introduces customizable widgets perfect for your home screen or the lock screen. There are also new live activities widgets, better alerts, improvements to using PDFs on an iPad, and more.
Using auto-fill on PDFs is nice new addition, and a new notes app works inside of PDFs for taking notes, adding annotations, or even live collaboration. Apple also introduced improvements to AirDrop, live stickers in messages, offline map downloads, and a revamped health app with several new features.
And finally, while you can read more about iOS 17 right here, we wanted to mention a few significant changes coming to phones. With the release of iOS 17 later this year, we’ll get new contact posters that are highly customizable, as shown in the images above, similar to the customizable lock screen options. Apple introduced a new live voicemail transcribe feature, FaceTime video messages when someone doesn’t answer a call, new message search features, and much more.
You’ll find new location-sharing controls and a way to “check-in” with friends and family right from your iPhone. Check-in will automatically tell those you allow when you get home or if you’re not back when you said you would be. Think Facebook check-in features, but integrated into your phone.
Personally, my favorite new iOS 17 feature is “Stand-by” mode. When you’re not using your phone, or it’s on a stand and horizontal, it’ll essentially turn into a smart home hub. Like everything else announced today, it’s highly customizable with options, light sensors, and can double as a digital photo frame, control smart home devices, and much more.
There’s a lot that’s new, and if you’re willing, you can download the beta today.
Mental and Physical Health
We all love those “Memories” iOS creates with photos, videos, and music, right? Well, imagine that idea combined into a Journal built by Apple. That’s what you’ll get with the new Journal app for iOS. Users can jot down notes or feelings, set reminders to make daily journal entries, then let iOS combine images and other things from the day to complete the journal entry.
Of course, these are all private, on-device, and end-to-end encrypted; not even Apple can read your journal entries. Still, many people have requested this, and it’s finally coming.
Today Apple introduced two new features coming to WatchOS 10 and iOS 17 regarding health and wellness. Those are new ways to track mental and physical health, including your vision. Basically, users can add info to the health app to help track moods or triggers for mental health or depression, and there are even questions you can search for and answer to get a diagnosis of sorts. Then, Apple has gathered resources of helpful information or even caregivers.
The health app can now help track your physical vision health, too. Myopia (short-sightedness) is something Apple’s mentioned before, and now watchOS 10 can track time spent outdoors and alert users if they’ve been inside too much. The vision goodies will measure how far you are from an iPad or iPhone to alert users if they’re viewing screens too closely and suggest going outside for fresh sunlight. All in an attempt to help reduce the risk of Myopia.
In closing, Apple had a few small announcements about Apple TV, where phones or tablets can double as a camera for Facetime on a TV. Airpods are getting a new Adaptive Audio feature that blends active noise cancellation, transparency modes, and more. It’ll be an exciting week, and we’ll add more to this list as things are announced.
