Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) never fails to captivate tech enthusiasts, and this year’s edition was no exception. This years WWDC 2023 was highly anticipated, and showcased an array of groundbreaking products that push the boundaries of innovation. From the cutting-edge Apple Vision Pro to the powerful M2 Ultra SoC and the sleek 15″ MacBook Air, Apple’s latest offerings are set to redefine user experiences.
Additionally, iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma bring a host of exciting updates and features to enhance the functionality of Apple devices. In this article, we delve into the highlights of the WWDC 2023, unveiling everything you need to know about the remarkable products announced by Apple. Get ready to be amazed by the future of technology.
WWDC 2023: Apple introduces the much-awaited Apple Vision Pro
After much speculation, the Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset is finally here. Dubbed a Spatial Computer, Vision Pro is a lightweight AR/VR headset announced at the WWDC 2023, made up of glass that flows right into a custom-made aluminum alloy. It has a feature called Apple EyeSight that makes the display look transparent when someone comes up to you where they see your eyes on the screen while you see them. Sounds fun, right?
Vision Pro packs in two micro OLED screens the size of postage stamps featuring 23 million pixels for an unparalleled and immersive viewing experience. You can add Zeiss Optics inserts if you wear spectacles for vision corrections so that you can enjoy them hassle-free.
The WWDC 2023 announced Vision Pro comes with a custom-made M2 chipset dubbed an R1 chip that handles an array of six mics, 12 cameras, and five sensors. There are no physical controllers and rather, Vision Pro uses eyes, hands, and voice to control everything right from iPhone and iPad apps, 100+ Apple arcade games, to 100-ft wide theatre-like movie screenings, and more. It has both a portable battery pack with a 2 hours backup or you can plug it in to charge and use the whole day.
Apple Vision Pro will be available in the US early next year with a price tag of $3,499 while other countries will get their hands on the Vision Pro sometime by the end of the year.
WWDC 2023: Apple M2 Ultra SoC
The most powerful of all announcements at WWDC 2023, the almighty M2 Ultra uses Apple’s UltraFusion architecture to forge two M2 Max SoCs creating this beast which has a 20% faster CPU, 30% faster GPU, and 40% faster NPU to name a few. One of the newest Apple products to feature this chipset is the Mac Studio M2 which was also announced at the WWDC 2023.
It brings along 192GB of unified RAM that roars with a bandwidth of 800GB/s. The M2 Ultra SoC is capable of playing 22 streams of 8K ProRes videos. It can handle up to 6 Display Pro XDR displays or you can hook 24 4K cameras to name a few.
M2 Ultra SoC arrives with an upgraded Mac Pro that you can get as a tower at $6,499 or rack-mounted at $7,499. The all-new Mac Studio, on the other hand, brings Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.3, ability to mount with external displays at 8K resolution with 240Hz using HDMI. That’s all at $1,999.
Talking about the availability, the M2 Ultra-powered Mac Studio and Mac Pro are now available for pre-orders and will be out for sale starting next week in the U.S.
Apple Introduces Powerful 15-inch MacBook Air With M2
Cupertino-based tech juggernaut introduced the 15-inch MacBook Air powered by M2 making it approximately 12 times more powerful than Intel-based MacBook Air. It arrives with a larger 15.3” LED QHD+ panel with 5mm bezels on the sides and a 1080p camera mounted on the bezels. It actually uses a new Retina display with a max brightness of 500 nits and 1B colors onboard. The latest MacBook carries a thickness of just 11.5mm and weights 1.496 kg. There’s also an array of six speakers and three mics along with a headphone jack, a MagSafe charging port, and two USB-C Thunderbolt ports to name a few.
Powered by M2, the same as that of MacBook Air 13 i.e. 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and 16-core NPU. The 15″ MacBook Air brings 8GB of unified RAM with expandability of up to 24 GB. There’s upto 24TB of storage support onboard.
You get four color options that you can choose from – Space Gray, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight. It is already available for pre-orders starting at $1,299 (or INR 1,34,900/-) with the shipments commencing next week. Apple is also throwing a massive $100 discount at $1,199 (or INR 1,24,900/-) for Education.
Unsurprisingly Surprising – the almighty iOS 17
iOS 17 made it to the WWDC 2023 as usual. Although it is the new thing on iPhones, it doesn’t have monumental upgrades and rather a lot of smaller ones.
For instance, offline maps are now a thing on Apple Maps. You can share contacts with other iPhones and Apple Watch by tapping the devices together using NameDrop. Do you FaceTime a lot? Well, iOS 17 now introduces FaceTime audio and video messages that are delivered to the recipients let’s say when they don’t pick up the call. You can even make or take FaceTime calls on your Apple TV should you need a bigger screen.
The Live Voicemail feature lets you check out what the caller is saying as your phone transcribes voice to text on-device and in real-time. You can always pick up the call should you think it’s worth it. Apple has improved typing experience on iOS 17 by a tone. There’s improved autocorrect, an enhanced speech recognition model, inline predictions, and more that are coming onboard.
You can create Contact Posters, add memojis to it or photos, font colors, typography and much with the feature. It works with third-party apps too. Of course, the list of updates is still incomplete. We have a Check-In feature that lets your family members know where you are in real-time. The SharePlay feature lets you simulcast audio and video streams on two phones. This announcements had developers moved at the WWDC 2023.
Remember the “Hey Siri” command to wake up Siri? Well, with iOS 17, it’s gone too. I mean, now you can wake up Siri by simply saying “Siri”. There’s Standby Mode, a new Health app, Collaborative Playlists on Apple Music and the list goes on.
macOS Sonoma
Things just got spicy at the WWDC 2023 with the introduction of macOS Sonoma named after a tourist place based in California. It brings iOS 16-inspired widgets to the desktop making it more interactive than before. Continuity on Mac allows users to share widgets from their iPhones to Mac.
Video conferencing on Sonoma just got easier with a ton of updates awaiting you. The Presenter Overlay allows users to share content with others while you can also use ‘Reactions’ during a video call as well. Safari on macOS Sonoma gets Private Browsing similar to iOS 17.
With the new OS in the house, you get new screen savers depicting the hills of Sonoma in Northern California to the sandstone buttes of Monument Valley in Arizona. Death Stranding Director’s Cut is making its official debut later this year as confirmed by Hideo Kojima, the game’s developer.
Software Updates for AirPods
AirPods aren’t spared either. For instance, AirPods Pro 2 will get three new features this fall. Adaptive Audio blends active noise cancellation and transparency mode to give users seamless access to what’s happening in the surrounding while still shimmering to that favorite song or movie. Automatic switching between devices will be made faster and more reliable allowing users to move from one device to another seamlessly.
Conversation Awareness dips the music volume when someone is speaking and rather enhances it. The Personalised Volume uses ML to improve the media experience where it takes both listening preferences and environmental conditions automatically.
iPadOS 17
The latest iPadOS 17 announced at WWDC 2023, brings onboard a lot including a customizable lock screen, interactive widgets, and enhanced Notes among others. Apple has promised improvements to the Stage Manager which is a feature that allows opening multiple app windows simultaneously.
The health app will be making its debut on iPadOS 17 where it will collect and display comprehensive health data on a large display. There’s on-device intelligence onboard AirPlay that ensures privacy and security as a priority. iPadOS 17 shares a ton of features similar to iOS 17 such as FaceTime audio and video messages, predictive text, live stickers in messages, offline maps, and much more. Click here to browse all of our WWDC 2023 coverage.
