Apple announced on Monday a renewal of the operating system of its main products, including the iPhone, and surprised by announcing the second generation of its own manufacturing processors and a new MacBook Air equipped with this chip.
The American company kicked off its annual WWDC developer conference by presenting its latest developments from its headquarters in Cupertino (USA), which after two years of the pandemic reopened its doors to external programmers and journalists.
As usual at WWDC, many software news were expected, but this time the hardware announcements took much of the leading role in the presentation carried out by the main managers of the company.
New chip and new MacBook Air
This is the new M2 processor, the evolution of the M1 processor that it presented in 2020 and that ended more than a decade in which the firm’s computers were equipped with Intel chips.
The processor promises improved performance and will now equip a new MacBook Air, the world’s best-selling laptop and which Apple It has undergone a major renovation.
“Completely redesigned around the M2, MacBook Air is thinner, lighter and faster, with a bigger screen, better camera, all-day battery and four beautiful finishes,” explained Greg Joswiak, the company’s senior vice president of marketing.
The laptop, which will be available from July in the United States (it is not known when yet in Colombia) and with a starting price of 1,199 dollars (about 4,500,000 pesos approximately), presents a 20% smaller volume than before, with a thickness of 11.3 millimeters and a weight of 1.2 kilos (2.7 pounds).
The new M2 will now also equip Apple’s second best-selling laptop, the 13-inch MacBook Prowhich will maintain its current design and will be sold from 1,299 dollars, almost 5 million Colombian pesos approximately.
Operating systems
In a futuristic pre-recorded presentation and with the vice president of software, Craig Federighi, as the main protagonist, Apple also revealed a whole new range of operating systems, starting with iOS 16 that the iPhone will carry and that will be distinguished above all by a lock screen totally renewed and customizable.
On that screen, the first one seen when looking at the phone, It will give users the ability to choose from a multitude of designs, include “widgets” and incorporate updates in real time.
The Messages app has also been revamped, in which Apple has decided to listen to repeated customer requests and allow editing and deleting messages once they’ve been sent, as well as marking a conversation as unread to remember to reply to it later.
Other news
There are also new operating systems for the Apple Watch, the iPad and for computers, with well-thought-out changes to facilitate cooperation between different people on all kinds of projects, in a movement clearly supported by the growth of remote and hybrid work after the pandemic. .
In addition, interoperability between Apple products is reinforced, with mechanisms that will allow, for example, the iPhone camera to be used as a computer webcam or to easily transfer a video call from a telephone to a laptop.
CarPlay, Apple’s system for automobiles, also receives updates for greater integration with the vehicle and to be able to display content on different screens or directly control the vehicle’s climate.
what did not arrive were advertisements in the field of augmented reality, despite the fact that many experts expected a strong bet in this area, perhaps with the commercialization of virtual reality glasses that have been rumored for a long time.
The new software will be available from now to developers and is expected to reach the general public in the coming months, according to Tim Cook, the company’s chief executive.
The WWDC will continue throughout the week with activities for programmers, mainly online.