Apple just had its WWDC 2023 keynote speeches today and they were action packed with announcements. In this article we will provide a summary of the Apple WWDC Keynote 2023 which will include: 1) Laptop and Desktop updates, 2) iPadOS 17 updates, 3) MacOS updates, 4) Audio and Home updates, 5) WatchOS updates, and 6) iOS17 updates. You might be asking yourself, but TJ, where are the Vision Pro headsets? And to that I say, we will cover those in its own post. For now, we cover the other tech.
Laptop and Desktop updates summary
15 Inch MacBook Air
The new MacBook Air 15” with Apple Silicon is 11.5m thin, making it the world’s thinnest 15 inch laptop. Weighing in at just over 3lbs it is casually light. It has 2 thunderbolt ports, a headphone jack, and a magsafe adapter port. It comes in 4 finishes. There is a 15.3 inch retina display. With 1080p you can take video calls. There are 3 mics for crisp audio recording and 6 speakers, including force canceling woofers.
This is all enabled by the M2 Chip. This current MacBook Air is 12x faster than Intel based MacBook Airs. It has 18 hours of battery life. The starting price is $1299. Previous generations of Macbooks have seen a $100 price reduction, leaving the 13 inch Macbook Air with M2 at $1099 and the M1 version at $999.
Mac Studio
The new Mac Studio received its first big update in a while. It is getting the M2 Max chip. This new Mac Studio will boast a 25% faster performance for developers than M1 Mac Studios. It will also feature a 50% faster rendering for motion graphics designers. It will be 4x faster than the most powerful Intel-based Mac Studio. With a 24 core CPU it is 20% faster than the M1 Ultra. It has a 30% faster GPU and a 40% faster neural engine. It has 192GB of unified memory, which is 50% more than the M1. It has 50% faster video processing and it has 3x faster rendering in Octane. You can have 22 streams going in 8k Pro resolution. (No other computer in the world comes close, according to Apple.)
The new Mac Studio with M2 Ultra is 6x faster than Intel based Mac Studio’s. It features a higher bandwidth HDMI, with 8k resolution and 240HZ frame rates). It can support up to 6 Pro Display XDRs.
Mac Pro with Apple Silicon
All Mac Pros come with Apple M2s. They are 3x faster than Intel based Mac Pros. They have 192GB of unified memory. They have the performance capacity of 7 afterburner cards. They have expansion capabilities with 6 open slots for PCI. They are available in tower and rack editions.
iPadOS 17 updates summary
Widgets are now more interactive than before. You can now use apps in widget form. This allows developers to add interactivity to their widgets too. You can use widgets from your lock screen as well as apps. With the health app, you can enjoy increased synchronicity across all of your apple devices. You can do things like see your activity and view health trends. You can share this data securely with a plethora of native and 3rd party apps. With the notes app you can enjoy increased PDF integration and functionality. You can now keep multiple PDFs in the same note as well as collaborate between teams. Use the pencil tool more seamlessly to take notes and with enhanced tap functionality.
MacOS updates summary
There is a new operating system, MacOS Sonoma. A new feature is the screensavers, which will feature motion videos of places around the world. You can now enjoy extended widget functionality with the ability to move them around the desktop, drag and drop, and use widgets across all devices from your Mac. For gamers, there is now a game mode that prioritizes GPU resources when gaming. Developers can now enjoy a “game porting toolkit” to easily port games over to Mac. This process should lead to new efficiencies. There are new premier titles coming to Mac gaming with Hideo Kojima releasing a director’s cut of “Death Stranding.” There are more titles to come.
For video conferencing, you can now enjoy features like presenter overlay, where you can move your camera image in relation to the content. You can enjoy items like “reactions” where you can add gifs like balloons or fireworks to your background to enhance your expressiveness. For Safari, it has been made more secure. Passkey and password sharing features have received an upgrade. You can now share them with those in your trusted network. You can create profiles in safari for a separate browsing experience. You can also turn any web app into a desktop shortcut for easy access. You can do this with any website.
Audio and Home updates summary
The airpods now feature “Adaptive audio,” which separates outside noise that is not relevant. With Airplay you can now use it in hotels to get your content on the go. You can also use “Shareplay” in the car so that other users can seamlessly control the music. With TVOS17 you can access phone cameras, your airpod settings, system controls, create user profiles, and locate your remote with your phone. You can also access FaceTime and other apps like Zoom on your AppleTV. Developers can enjoy access to some of these advanced features via the continuity camera API.
Watch OS updates summary
Widgets now sync with your apps on your watch. You can enjoy more custom organization and display sorting options. Apps have been redesigned for better UI and improved colors. A new trophy case gives you some gamification to track your progress. Developers can update their apps to feature these new items. There are 2 new watch faces. The first one is a customizable manual dial that features 3 layers of color palettes. The other is an animation of Snoopy and Woodstock in a variety of scenarios. For the cyclers you can expect bluetooth bike sensors. This allows you to track your energy expenditure amongst other things like workout intensity. For the hikers, you can expect an updated compass with cellular tracking capabilities, as well as 3d viewing of maps and marker points. You can also, as a hiker, access detailed information about points of interest, trailheads, and more. Additionally, maps are updated to be more dimensional.
The Workouts API lets developers and end users take advantage of motion data like in Golf Shot, or swing data like in Swing Vision.
The new Health App features a new mindfulness app. This allows you to track your thoughts and keep track of emotional and physical data. It can be used as a prophylactic for those with mental health issues like depression. End users can take standardized assessments to stay on top of the trends of their mental health. There is also a “vision health” component to the app that is targeted to reduce Myopia.
iOS17 updates
Phone app
You can now have personalized contact posters. People see these when you call them. You can use a photo of yourself or emoji options. There are language and vertical text customizations available as well. These posters can show up in calls or contact cards. They look consistent across all locations and devices. With posters you’re in control of the look and feel. For developers, this works as CallKit.
A new feature is live voicemail. You can now see a live transcription of your voicemail when someone leaves a message. It will pop up in real time. With Facetime, when you call someone and they don’t answer, you can record a video message of them so they can see it later.
Messages ‘
Search filters have been enhanced in the messaging app. You can start a search ad add additional terms to narrow in on results. You can use the “catch up” arrow to skip to the latest message in group chats. You can make faster in line replies with the swipe of a finger. You can enjoy audio transcription if you can’t get to your voice memos right away. You can enable location sharing to keep track directly in conversation. You can enable check in to share your route as you travel home on a late night. You can enable hot keys for your most used items and apps. You can utilize “stickers,” which are pastable emojis and gifs that you can create. They are usable system wide and across 3rd party apps. You can now use “intelligent text input” for a faster autocorrect and sentence completion. Dictation is now faster as well.
AirDrop
You can now easily share things in AirDrop by bringing them into proximity which will activate the feature. This can be used between a watch and phone all the same. You can use “ SharePlay” to share photos. In the event of large files, you can step away and have teh transfers complete in absence of proximity to the other device. For developers, the SharePlayAPI controls these features.
Apple Journal App
You can now journal your life with this brand new app. It is supposed to inspire writing and gratitude. With a slew of features that allow you to easily write and journal about your daily activities.
Standby
You can enjoy a standby home screen now. A popular option is to choose a screensaver or to have the front face display a clock. You can personalize this to even have moments in albums.
Siri
You can enjoy more ease of use from Siri with seamless word instruction.
Maps
You can now enjoy offline access in maps.
Photos
You can now enjoy enhanced photo recognition as well as recommendation algorithms in your phone.
In closing,
That is all for now, stay tuned for the next post in which we break down what we know so far about the elephant in the room. The Apple Vision Pro VR headset.
TJ