Apple

Apple's first product event of 2022 is here and happening on Tuesday, March 8th. Expect to see a new iPhone SE, new iPad Air, and maybe even a new Mac ...

With Apple expected to introduce many new products across its various lines this year, consider this just the start of things to come. As usual, we’ll be live blogging the event below and will have plenty of follow-up coverage and reviews of whatever it is that Apple decides to announce. The time has come for Apple’s first product announcement event of 2022.

“With its powerful CPU, massive GPU, incredible Neural Engine, ProRes hardware acceleration, and huge amount of unified memory, M1 Ultra completes the M1 family ...

Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio and Mac Pro. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio and Mac Pro. Testing was conducted by Apple in February 2022 using preproduction Mac Studio systems with Apple M1 Max, 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU, and preproduction Mac Studio systems with Apple M1 Ultra, 20-core CPU and 64-core GPU. Performance was measured using select industry‑standard benchmarks. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Studio. Testing was conducted by Apple in February 2022 using preproduction Mac Studio systems with Apple M1 Max, 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU, and preproduction Mac Studio systems with Apple M1 Ultra, 20-core CPU and 64-core GPU. Performance was measured using select industry‑standard benchmarks. The foundation for M1 Ultra is the extremely powerful and power-efficient M1 Max. To build M1 Ultra, the die of two M1 Max are connected using UltraFusion, Apple’s custom-built packaging architecture. M1 Ultra can be configured with up to 128GB of high-bandwidth, low-latency unified memory that can be accessed by the 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, and 32-core Neural Engine, providing astonishing performance for developers compiling code, artists working in huge 3D environments that were previously impossible to render, and video professionals who can transcode video to ProRes up to 5.6x faster than with a 28-core Mac Pro with Afterburner.1

Here are my quick-hit reactions to Apple's March 8 event, at which the company updated the iPhone SE and iPad Air, rolled out a brand-new Mac and external ...

Since this is the end of the era, I’d expect Apple to turn the page soon and introduce the first wave of M2-based Macs. The M2 will probably be a somewhat modest improvement—you can’t make a big leap in performance and energy efficiency like the M1 every time out. The M1 Max chip itself is intelligent about saving energy by shutting off unused elements, so there doesn’t need to be a micromanager at a high level trying to spread the load. And it will please a lot of people who want a bit more than the 24-inch iMac, but don’t need to spend $2000 on a Mac Studio and then find a display to use with it. While it’s true that an Apple silicon-based Mac could probably do all that work itself, it’s important to remember that the Studio Display is also compatible with Intel Macs, including models from all the way back in 2016. The Mac Studio could be seen as an attempt to let the iMac and Mac mini go back to what they were before, with the Mac Studio shouldering the load as the provider of computing power to people who want it. There’s a good reason the M1 Ultra wasn’t named something like the M1 Max Duo: it’s not two chips, it’s two complete systems-on-a-chip combined into a single package. You heard Apple’s John Ternus right: The M1 Ultra is the final chip of the M1 era. It’s also processing the audio being sent to it, creating spatial audio effects for the Studio Display’s speakers. But here’s why: That A13 is doing the work of Center Stage, scanning the wide-angle camera image for faces and scaling and moving the view so that people are always in frame. With an A15 processor inside, I’d imagine this SE will be on sale for a couple of years at the very least. One of these days, this design will fade into oblivion like the original iPhone SE design (based on the iPhone 5). But Tuesday was not that day. I’m more struck by the fact that the iPad Air’s specs show just how efficient Apple can be about standardizing hardware and re-using it across multiple devices.

Apple's (AAPL) spring event introduced Mac Studio and the M1 Ultra as well as revealing updates to the iPhone SE and iPad Air.

The fully fitted top-line Mac Studio will feature a 64-core GPU, 128GB of memory, and 8TB SSD along with the M1 Ultra, running the price north of $8,000. Center Stage will allow the camera to pan and fit everything in front into its frame. The updated iPhone SE 3 comes with the latest 6-core A15 Bionic processor that the iPhone 13 sports, as well as 5G capabilities.

The new iPad Air gets a desktop-grade chip. Consider it a sign of things to come.

But the inclusion of the M1 in the iPad Air, a tweener of a device that was always more expensive than the most basic iPad and less powerful than the most souped-up iPad, means yet another Apple tab has been elevated to “PC” status. But next week, Apple will begin shipping a device that closely resembles a MacBook with a touchscreen. Will Apple ever ship a MacBook laptop with a touchscreen?

Convenient features like SD card slots, HDMI ports, and a traditional laptop keyboard were unceremoniously booted from MacBooks in favor of USB-C and a ...

The pairing of a Mac Studio and Studio Display is a less expensive, more flexible alternative to the iMac Pro’s computer-inside-a-screen. I don’t want to overstate Ive’s influence — or understate his accomplishments — at a company that’s as massive and successful as Apple. But with each passing Apple event, it’s hard to ignore the fact that a product shift is happening at the company. The last iMac Pro started at $4,999, while the starting price of a Mac Studio with Studio Display is $3,598. At least, that was my takeaway after watching Apple comparing the performance of the Studio’s M1 Ultra with the kinds of Intel Xeon processors it used to include on its professionally focused all-in-one, and which Apple now includes in its more expensive Mac Pro. That means four Thunderbolt 4 ports on its rear and the continued existence of traditional USB-A, Ethernet, 3.5mm audio, and HDMI ports for the vast majority of users that still need them. Apple’s professionally focused Mac Pro was given a space-efficient cylindrical redesign that failed at the basic task of keeping power-hungry components (like those a professional user might actually need) cool.