WWDC announcement hot take

The week kicked off with Apple’s WWDC event with both software and hardware-related updates. There were updates announced for iOS, MacOS, WatchOS and iPadOS – which sees some pretty cool updates that helps make multitasking one step closer to MacOS. Apple has announced two MacBooks with M2 chips, but one of the laptops is recycled hardware. The MacBook Air gets refreshed hardware, and it looks spectacular, but before we cover that let’s talk about the M2.

M2 MacBook Air gets my vote

Apple has unveiled the successor to the industry-changing M1 chip. The M2 sees beefed up CPU and graphics performance on the next-generation 5nm tech. The improvement is about 18% with 35% more powerful graphics, not enough for someone with an M1-powered laptop to make the upgrade. Even then, Apple is going to continue to sell the M1 MacBook Air, but the M2 MacBook Air gets a significant update.

The MacBook Air gets fourth-generation hardware with a new M2 chip. The beloved wedge design is gone and replaced with a flat unibody look. It looks more like the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, though way thinner at 11.3mm (MacBook Pro 14 is 15.5mm). It has an updated Liquid Retina display with the same notch as the other MacBooks containing the 1080p Facetime camera.

This new 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 is a very strong entry-level offering for Apple’s notebook lineup. The return of MagSafe for the MacBook Air is also a welcome change for a laptop that still only comes with 2 USB-C ports and a headphone jack.

13-inch MacBook Pro? new chip, same hardware

Although the MacBook Air got some love this WWDC, the 13-inch MacBook Pro did too, kind of. The 13-inch MacBook Pro that launched in 2020 is now outfitted with the M2 chip, but that’s the only update it gets. We are still wondering why the 13-inch MacBook Pro exists when the new Air just became a compelling option.

13-inch MacBook Pro keeps Touch Bar and previous-gen Retina

I feel like Apple wants to keep the 13-inch MacBook Pro around, but it isn’t a true “Pro” without the SD card and extra ports from the larger models. The MacBook Pro 13-inch does get the new chip, and it still does come with an active cooling fan – but the performance benefits between the two remain to be extremely similar.

Apple has moved on from the Touch Bar, but this laptop has not. So perhaps if you are someone who want to keep the Touch Bar around, then this seems to be the only real reason to have one when the price gap up to the 14-inch MacBook Pro is not much more for the XDR display, M1 Pro’s added performance, MagSafe, and extra ports.

iPadOS will feel more like working on a Mac

New updates to iPadOS have made it possible to work with an external display on M1-powered iPad Pros. And not to mirror the main image, but have a secondary workspace when plugged into an external display. This will make multi-tasking more useful for productive iPadOS users.

iPadOS 16 external display support

There’s also a new Stage Manager feature that makes it possible to resize and manipulate windows when multi-tasking on an iPad which makes for a nice alternative to split-screening it. This should make the experience that much closer to feeling like you’re using a real computer. Sadly, Stage Manager and external display features will only be available for M1-powered iPads.

src="https://fdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/news/22/06/ipados-16-official/inline/-1200/gsmarena_001.jpg" width="1200"> iPadOS 16 Stage Manager

There’s also now an official Weather app on the iPad which had many folks clamoring. It’s a long time coming for Apple to not have released an official Weather app for the iPad (just as it has a weather app on the iPhone) until now. But up until now, Apple didn’t see the need to make one at all.

iOS 16 sees minor updates

iOS 16 was announced, and the most significant changes were mostly adding features that Apple’s competitors already used. This is the part where you tell me that Apple did it better – meh, you’re probably right.

One of the most chat-worthy updates are those coming to iMessage, with the ability to unsend messages and edit recently sent-iMessages.

Undo Send or Edit a message

The Lock Screen is getting a significant update to the way it acts, the way it looks, and the way you interact with it. Basically, Lock Screens are now customizable – and you can make many of them - with widgets inspired by Apple Watch Complications, which is a great way to tie it into iOS.

The new lock screen

There are also glanceable widgets called Live Activities, which are honestly just widgets on the lock screen.

Live Activities

The Photos app gets some new sharing features and facial recognition suggestions. Again, iOS 16 doesn’t get any major changes, just big changes to small things.

MacOS Ventura and wrapup

I am a MacOS user, so seeing Center Stage for MacOS Ventura is something that I can see improving the way I multitask on MacOS. It looks like it will be more manageable to have over 20 program windows open and not losing them when activating Mission Control.

One really cool thing was Continuity Camera, which is the ability to use an iPhone’s main cameras as a web camera and the ultrawide on the iPhone enables “Desk View” letting the recipient see what you’re doing on your desk using some AI and image distortion to look like you are using an overhead camera.

WWDC wrapped with minor updates to MacOS, iOS, watchOS 9 gets some new watch faces and Health features, while iPadOS and iOS get some new UI improvements. The most significant announcement in my eyes is the updated MacBook Air with M2 chip – which, again, is a great-looking MacBook.

We look forward to seeing what Apple announces later this year in September, focusing more on iPhone announcements and iPhone-related hardware.

Adblock test (Why?)

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: