The annual Apple developer conference, WWDC 2017, has has revealed some of the most amazing work from Apple to date with iOS 11 taking the limelight, while there were other updates in the form of the macOS High Sierra, watchOS 4, and tvOS 11. Along with this were upgrades to the iPad Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMacs, and a new iMac Pro as well as the new Siri-based HomePod speaker. The updates will be rolled out around September. The MacBooks start shipping tomorrow while the iMac Pro will start shipping in December.
iOS 11
iOS 11 introduces numerous new features, such as deep learning, translation, and a new visual interface for Siri. The digital assistant will also be accessible on more third-party devices using Siri Kit. The update will also bring HEVC for video recording that provide better quality videos at lesser size, and photos will be better and lighter too via HEIF. The Control Centre will also get new look with iOS 11. Apple Pay gets person-to-person (P2P) payment option, Apple Maps will get lane mapping, and much more features.
The App Store is getting a makeover of its own as well, and will get separate tabs named Today, Games, and Apps. It will also introduce App of the Day, Game of the Day, and List of the Day. Augmented Reality (AR) is coming full force to iPhones as well with AR Kit for iOS 11 as well.
iPad Pro
There will be a new 10.5-inch variant that is 20 percent larger, and is powered by a 6-core CPU and 12-core GPU that makes it 30 percent faster than the A9X processor. The device weighs just under 0.5kg, and offers max display refresh rate of 120Hz… double that of the predecessor!
The iPad Pro will begin its base storage of 64GB for $649 (approximately R8500), and goes up to $849 (approximately R11000) for the 512GB variant.
The new iPad models will now also feature fast-charging and fast USB 3 transfers while boasting 10 hour battery life. With regards to the software, it will come with a new Files app, new productivity features, drag-and-drop, and searchable handwritten (with Apple Pencil) notes, among others.
HomePod speaker
The newly launched HomePod smart speaker integrates Siri and uses spatial awareness to deliver high-quality audio to wherever the users are seated in the room. The compact wireless speaker is 7-inch in height, and features 4-inch woofer, 7 beam-forming tweeters, and 6 microphones, all covered in a 3D mesh fabric.
The $349 (approximately R4500) speaker comes in two colour options: soace gray and white, and will be available in the US, UK, and Australia in December.
It will be integrated with users’ Apple Music account to play music from it, and the Siri integration allows it to understand queries posed by the users.
It will also be able to interact with other HomeKit devices such as lights, thermostat, and read aloud the news, weather, sports, and set reminders, among other functions.
macOS High Sierra
The new macOS version brings in a faster Safari browser that support autoplay blocking, Intelligent Tracking Prevention that uses machine learning to make your browsing history more private, better photo editing as well as organisation features, new file system, and improved video compression.
The macOS High Sierra public beta will begin in June and will also offer a free upgrade for all supported devices from September.
MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro
The new Kaby Lake processor can now be found in the new MacBook (up to 1.3GHz Core i7, with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz), up to 50 percent faster SSD, and support for up to twice the RAM.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro will also receive the Kaby Lake upgrade (3.5GHz Core i7, with Turbo Boost up to 4GHz), while the 15-inch model goes up to 3.1GHz Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz! The latter now comes with more powerful graphics with more video memory… Apple has also introduced the all-new iMac Pro with 27-inch Retina 4K display, up to 18-core Xeon processor, up to 128GB RAM, up to 22-teraflops of graphics computation, and up to 4TB SSD!!! The base variant of iMac Pro will launch in December at starting price of $4,999 (approximately R65000)
