Apple’s virtual “Unleased” event was held yesterday and the tech company has some announcements about its products. The event took off at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. The virtual event saw the announcement of new Apple products including two new MacBook Pro 2021 models and also, two new chips in the M1 Pro and M1 Max. With these two new chips, Apple plans to provide users who are still not convinced about the MacBook products it launched with its self-designed chips, that its product will provide an indelible experience as well as a quantum leap in performance. Apple called it quits with Intel chips months ago for its self-made chips, and this has been a reason for doubt for some people.
The Mac Book Pro 2021 14-inch variant comes in variants of M1 Pro chip and M1 Max chip and starts from $1,999. The M1 Pro chip offers a significant speed boost over the M1. The differences are obvious in relation to graphics performance while delivering a longer battery life. Other features that the product highlights include a mini-LED display, MagSafe charging, HDMI and SD Card slot and a 1080p camera, and also a notch. The MacBook Pro (16 inches) starts at a price of $2,499. It features a 16.2-inch display so you get more room than the previous model, and like the MacBook Pro 14-inch, there’s a 6-speaker sound system. You get up to 64GB of unified memory, which is a first for the Mac and up to 21 hours of battery life.
Apart from the two new MacBook Pro that Apple announced, the tech giant also announced new AirPods – the AirPods 3. According to Apple, these new Airpods will deliver a new design, longer battery life and enhanced quality, all at a price of $179. The AirPods 3 is Apple’s update of its AirPods in two years. AirPods 3 offers a newer design with shorter stems and improved touch controls with a new sensor. It also features Spatial Audio support for music and longer battery life – 6 hours within the earbuds and 30 hours within the case.
Apple also announced new chips – the Apple M1 Pro chip and M1 Max chip. The new M1 Pro chip comes with a 10-core CPU with 8 high-performance cores and 2 efficiency cores along with up to 32GB of unified memory. You get 70% faster CPU performance versus the M1. There’s also a 16-core GPU (up from 8 cores before), which delivers up to 2x graphics performance. The M1 Max, on the other hand, is the super chip with up to 400 GB/s of memory bandwidth (vs 200 GB/s for M1 Pro). And you get up to 64GB of unified memory, double the M1Pro. There’s a 10-core CPU but even more powerful graphics with a 32-core GPU.
Apple announced the HomePod mini for $99. The HomePod mini will be available in three new colours – yellow, orange and blue and 360-degree audio in a compact design.
Apple also talked about its Apple Music Voice Plan which is designed exclusively for Siri. It gives users access to 90 million songs, unlimited playlists and new moods all for $4.99.
