Dhe iPhone SE and the iPad Air are becoming faster and support the 5G mobile communications standard. A new Mac computer for stationary use surprises with compact dimensions and rocket speed: These are the most important reports from the first virtual Apple press conference of the year. In the pre-recorded presentation, Apple boss Tim Cook did not mention the political world events surrounding the Ukraine war.
The big surprise is the new desktop Mac, called Mac Studio. It’s priced between the super-small cookie-jar Mac Mini and the large and very expensive Mac Pro, which starts at $6,500.
The Mac Studio has about the footprint of the Mac Mini, but is significantly higher at 9.5 centimeters. So it can be conveniently placed under the monitor and has a stylish aluminum housing with a quiet fan. Four Thunderbolt ports, HDMI and USB ports are on the back, and there is an SD card reader in the front.
As far as the processor is concerned, there is another innovation: Apple’s in-house processor family is supplemented by the M1 Ultra, it is the fourth and fastest chip from the M1 series. It consists of two M1 Max, which are connected to each other and uses 20 processor cores. The M1 Ultra is eight times faster than the first M1, which was only introduced in autumn 2020, and is twice as fast as the Mac Pro with a 16-core Intel processor.
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The Mac Studio starts with 32 gigabytes of memory and a 512 gigabyte SSD at a price of 2300 euros, sales start on March 18th. With an ultra processor you pay at least 4600 euros, and with a full configuration with 128 gigabytes of RAM and an 8 terabyte SSD it is 9200 euros.
Apple is presenting a new 27-inch display with a resolution of 5K to match the Mac Studio. It’s called Studio Display, costs 1750 euros and remains far below the price of Apple’s top monitor, the Pro Display XDR with 32 inches and 6K resolution for at least 5500 euros. The Studio Display has a built-in 12-megapixel camera and three microphones for video conferencing. Six loudspeakers output in HiFi quality. Three USB-C ports and a Thunderbolt port allow additional peripherals to be connected. Up to three studio displays can be connected to a Macbook Pro.
Service phone renewed
The iPhone SE has always been the typical company cell phone from Apple. It is significantly cheaper than the larger devices, it has the wide mourning borders above and below the display, and the old home button with fingerprint scanner is used instead of modern biometric face recognition. After two years, modernization is now pending.
The new SE of the third generation comes in three expansion stages with 64, 128 and 256 gigabytes of memory, the current A15 processor and three colors. The design and the display diagonal of 4.7 inches have not changed, but the 12-megapixel camera department brings small improvements. The iPhone SE with 5G will be available from March 18th at prices starting at 520 euros. Friends of the larger and more expensive iPhone 13 can now get this in two new colors: green and alpine green, also available from March 18th.
iPad Air faster than most notebooks
The iPad Air is also experiencing some improvements after two years. The fifth generation now also supports 5G, provided that a cellular module is also ordered. The processor makes a huge leap in speed because the M1 from the current iPad Pro and Macbooks is used here. Its potential cannot even begin to be exploited with a tablet: Apple says it is faster than most notebooks.
The center stage camera with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle now masters the tracking technology of the newer iPads: If the user moves in front of the camera during a video conference, the camera focuses accordingly.
The basic data of the iPad Air with a diagonal of 10.9 inches and a resolution of 2360 x 1640 pixels remain the same. The storage capacity is either 64 or 256 gigabytes, and prices start at 680 euros. Deliveries will start on March 18th. The new iPad Air supports the Magic Keyboard and the second-generation Apple Pencil.