Yesterday, Apple held their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and it came with more than a few announcements. In the following article, we’re going o go through the entire conference and talk about everything Apple announced!
Hardware
There was only one hardware announcement at the conference, but it was more than enough for the event (I don’t think I could handle anymore announcements). This was of course the all-new Mac Pro, which is built for the most pro of users. This powerhouse features an all-new design (which some have pointed out looks a little cheese-grater-ish, and I can’t help but agree), and is a nod to the old design of the Mac Pros prior to the 2013 modular Mac Pro. This is a highly customisable machine allows the user to access of the internals of the machine from any angle. This is enabled by the aluminium case that can be lifted up and taken off, which will then show the user the eight internal PCIe slots.
When ordering this machine, the user can have the Mac Pro customised to have up to a 28-core Intel Xeon Processor, 1.5TB of RAM, 4TB of an SSD (Solid-State Drive), two Radeon Pro Vega II GPU (Graphics Processing Units) and a brand new Apple-designed (because that’s always a plus) card called ‘Afterburner’.
This computer is not available to get right away, but users should be able to get their hands on this powerhouse sometime in the Fall.
Alongside this supercomputer, Apple unveiled the next generation of their Pro Displays – the ‘Pro Display XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range). The world’s first 32″ 6K Retina display is no small upgrade from the previous generation.
As Apple stated at the event, a display to the equivalent spec of this one is around $42,000. This of course, is not cheap, but certainly isn’t as expensive as this one. It will be starting at $5,999 plus an extra $999 for the stand.
The display allows for up to 1600 nits of brightness. An astonishing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and superwide viewing angle. There are over a billion colours presented in this display. Apple are calling this display the “world’s best pro display” and it certainly looks the part.
This display is using a new nano-glare technology, which effectively dissolves glare the second it hits your display. It comes with a stand and you can detach the screen from the stand. The stand is fitted with a multiple-angle viewing bolt and possibly the coolest thing about this display is that it can be horizontal and also vertical.
Apple have invented a new technology they are calling the “Extreme Dynamic Range” or XDR for short. Typical desktop displays have sustained brightness around 350 nits. Some pro displays exceed this, but most can only sustain it for short periods of time. Pro Display XDR produces an industry-leading 1000 nits of full-screen sustained brightness and 1600 nits at its peak. The special thing about this is that the display will never dim under heavy workload. Along with efficient backlight control, this delivers outstanding contrast between the brightest brights and the blackest blacks. The result is an incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and stunningly real XDR imagery.
Software
tvOS 13
Let’s start with the smallest of the updates, but despite it being small compared to iOS 13 and iPadOS does not mean that it is not a welcome update.
This is the software for the Apple TVs and this version of its operating system brings with it some nice improvements. Perhaps the most important update in this update is the fact that multi-user support is coming to the Apple TVs. This allows each user to receive an “up-next” panel customised to their liking.
Another excellent feature arriving is the support for the current generation consoles’ controllers on the Apple TV. This includes Sony’s PS4 DualShock 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One Controller. This enables many people who currently own either of those controllers to play games from the App Store or Apple Arcade on the Apple TV.
Apple TV has got a reputation for having the most beautiful screensavers, and Apple certainly want to continue that tradition. With tvOS 13, Apple have worked with BBC Geographic to bring underwater screensavers to the Apple TV, and I personally love them.
tvOS 13 will be available in the Fall of 2019, possibly a week after the Apple Special Event.
macOS 10.15 Catalina
Following the rumours that macOS 10.15 would be called macOS Mammoth, Apple officially revealed the next version of macOS as Catalina. This is, in my opinion, one of the best updates for Mac in a very long time.
Apple have divided the iTunes application into three separate applications – Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. These are not apps built from Catalyst. They are built from the ground-up using iTunes code. The sad thing about this update is that it is the death of iTunes, but after seeing how easy to use the new Apple Music application is to use, I cannot help but love it. Of course, I should clarify that the iTunes Store is NOT dead. It is moved from the Apple Music app to the Finder, where there is a link to the iTunes Store.
Alongside these apps, Apple unveiled the Find My application for Mac, which means that even when your Mac’s cover is closed, it can still be tracked in the event that it is lost or stolen.
Apple unveiled their own version of Duet Display, named SideCar. This allows an iPad to be used a second display for their Mac.
In Apple’s nature of designing software for everyone, Apple have brought a feature called ‘Voice Control’ to the Mac, iPhone and iPad. It helps people with disabilities control their devices using their voices and enables them to use their Apple products using their voices. I love this feature, and I’m incredibly happy that Apple have opened this up for everyone to use.
macOS Catalina will be launching in the Fall also.
iPadOS 13
The biggest surprise to me at WWDC was the announcement of splitting iOS on the iPhone and iOS on the iPad up. The iOS for the iPad is now named iPadOS – the most fitting name, in my opinion. iPadOS is no small jump for the iPad, and users will be getting a much better experience going forward.
First off, this version of iPadOS is gaining Mouse Support (as an accessibility feature). you can use wired or wireless mice, and it does not have to be Apple Mice in order to use this feature.
Alongside this, you will be able to run multiple windows on Applications that are already open and you are now able to detach and move SlideOver applications. The files Application is more like Finder on the Mac now and is gaining true external drive and SD Card support (which is probably the most exiting update for me) and images can be uploaded directly from cameras to apps such as Lightroom and Photoshop.
iPad is also gaining a true downloads manager, similar to the one found on the Mac, with iPadOS. Also, the long awaited font manager is also arriving with iPadOS.
watchOS 6
The next version of watchOS came with some really great features, including new watch faces! It also comes with official Apple apps such as Audiobooks, Calculator (which can also calculate tips!), Voice Memos, and an officially-independent App Store just for the Apple Watch.
Apple are also bringing a new app to the watch called “Cycles”, which allows users to track and monitor their menstrual cycles and when they might be most fertile. This app is not only arriving to the Apple Watch, but to the Health app on the iPhone so non-Apple Watch users can monitor their menstrual cycles too.
iOS 13
I saved the best, or at least most anticipated, for last. iOS 13, which leaked on multiple occasions prior to the announcement of it yesterday, really brought some great new features to the table.
Of course, the most anticipated feature is finally coming to iOS. Dark Mode makes the UI go from light to dark, similar to macOS Mojave. The difference is that this is using true dark mode (true blacks) to take advantage of the OLED screens.
Apple have brought a fast typing keyboard called ‘QuickPath’ to iOS. This is where to keep your finger on the later your start with and drag to the letters in the sentence. iOS will then fill in the letters for you, so you don’t need to hit every key individually.
Alongside this, Apple is bringing a redesigned volume indicator that will not take up the entire screen when trying to turn up the volume. Alongside that, Face ID on the X-Series iPhones is now 20% faster than iOS 12! Thanks, Apple!
Some major improvements were made to the Photos and Camera. Using Machine Learning, your Photo Albums will be nowhere near as cluttered as they previously were. This is especially great for those of you (including me) who take 10 pictures of the same thing in order to pick out the best one later, but for some reason, always forget to do it.
There is also new Animoji’s including a squid (yay!), a new share sheet, Memoji makeup, a new Apple Maps that comes with a street-view equivalent (but looks slightly better) and much more little, but welcomed, features!
Conclusion
Apple truly scored with this year’s WWDC, and I’m super excited to get my hand on all these pieces of software! These will all launch in the Fall of this year, and will all be free as they have been in the last few years! Over the next few days, I hope to go through these updates and talk about everything new inside these updates instead of a summarised version. The Mac Pro is a super intricate machine, so I’ll do the same with that one!
Thank you for reading! It’s greatly appreciated!