Apple keynote: the new iPad Pro and other news
30.10.2018
Translation: Eva Francis
Apple’s Keynote event didn't produce any major sensation, but the engineers definitely put in a lot of effort. A new MacBook Air, a new Mac Mini and a new iPad Pro were presented. The iPad is especially impressive.
«There's more in the making» – this was the motto of Apple’s keynote, which ended a few minute ago. Sounds promising. Is Apple hinting at a new device? If so, which one? A laptop? An iMac? Nothing could really be taken from all the talk and rumours in the run-up to the event.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, sheds light on the matter. On stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, he enticed the audience by displaying the slogan «Apple loves NY» onto the screen behind him and stressing the importance of the city – one of the most important places on earth – for Apple. He ended his introduction by naming New York the reason why this keynote was all about Apple products for creative people.
The new MacBook Air: smaller and faster
As Tim Crook states, the Mac is part of every creative mind’s set of tools. He shows a video with staged scenes of creative people at work, which are supposed to look relaxed and improvised. Among them are singer and eco-nuisance Bono, Malala Youszafi and Kanye West.
«We're truly inspired by these people and how they use their Mac,» Tim Cook says. And then, very unlike Apple, Cook names figures: 100 million Macs are in use worldwide – a growth of 51%; 76% of which in China.
He quickly repeats the features he once presented. Dark Mode, Stacks and the new Mac App Store. They were all introduced under macOS Mojave.
The tension rises – and so does Tim Cook's voice. He speaks of the love for a device that goes anywhere with you: The MacBook Air. Cook mentions how this device changed the industry with its unibody, its long battery life and its nature of proving that less can be more. According to Cook, the MacBook Air has redefined the modern notebook and is the «most beloved notebook ever».
And this is why, he states, it’s time for the new MacBook Air. The new MacBook Air features a Retina display and other fancy features – the details of which are kept a secret for the time being. Are they revealed in the video? No. Is there quite a bit of marketing talk? Yes.
- Almost bezel-less display
- Over four million pixels resolution (exact numbers unknown)
- 48% more colour (exact numbers unknown)
- Screen glass all the way to the edges
- 13.3 inch screen diagonal
- FaceTime HD camera still above the screen
- TouchID: The sensor is located next to the F12 button
- Siri integration
- Apple Pay
- T2 Security Chip: A secure enclave that stores fingerprint data, monitors the device's boot process and ensures that it hasn't been manipulated
- The keyboard is four times more stable (exact numbers unknown)
- Each key is lit individually by LED
- 20% larger Force Touch Trackpad
On top of this, it comes with improved sound quality; it's supposed to be 25% louder and have twice as much bass. But again, no exact numbers are mentioned. The new MacBook Air has three integrated microphones, which is said to improve communication. On top of this, it comes with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, which aren’t only used for charging, but also serve to connect peripherals.
And finally, Tim Cook presents the specs. Good timing; the last round of applause is a while back:
- Up to 16 GB RAM with 2133 Mhz
- Up to 1.5 TB memory on hard disk, which is 60% faster
- Up to 12 hours of wireless Internet
- Up to 13 hours of Apple Movie Playback
And here comes the sensation: The new MacBook Air is 17% less voluminous than its predecessor. It weighs no more than 1.24 kilograms. The MacBook Air is made of recycled materials as much as possible. The aluminium used for the unibody consists of a new alloy, taken from waste products from the production of the previous MacBook models. Therefore, the new MacBook Airs are made from 100% recycled aluminium.
The presentation is lame, but this device sounds extremely powerful. If the keyboard remains as good as its predecessor's and the connections don't require loads of dongles, this new MacBook Air should really pack a punch.
The Mac Mini: «There's another small Mac»
Tim Cook gets straight to the point. The MacBook Air is followed by another device: The Mac Mini.
The Mac Mini is announced by Tom Boger, Head of Development of the Mac Mini. He speaks of the «biggest update ever». He begins by mentioning the new design in Space Grey and then moves on to what's inside this device: a quad-core architecture that takes performance to a new level. The top version of this device features hexa-core architecture, making it five times faster than its predecessor. The target group is clear: people who need a lot of resources. That's why the device comes with 32 GB RAM, 64 GB RAM SO-DIMM and a hard disk that stores up to 2 TB of data in the All-Flash memory.
In addition, there's an Ethernet port that supports 10 Gbit, four Thunderbolt ports for peripherals, one HDMI port and a few more ports. The device can be stacked, which means videos can be rendered even faster.
Apple creates creative centres around the world
Tim Cook takes up the theme of creativity again and mentions the «Today at Apple» sessions, in which artists meet and exchange ideas in Apple stores or town squares. These meetings began with photographers, musicians and app developers. Later, teachers and entrepreneurs joined in. Attendants are taught how to be creative and productive with Apple products.
In her presentation, Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President of Apple, highlights the increased smartness of the Sessions app: It chooses sessions for you based on your devices. She then introduces 60 new sessions (content): more video material, more excursions and more Apple technology involvement – Siri and the such.
You can see the Swiss Session events on the Swiss Apples website.
«Wow. No one else has anything like
The new iPad Pro has no home button
Cook goes on to explain that the iPad is a device that turns into anything you need right there and then. With 400 million iPads sold, the device is a global leader. As Cook claims, the total number of iPads that were sold last year was higher than the total number of laptops that were sold from all laptop manufacturers in the world combined.
Cook emphasises the importance of the iPad Pro, which has undergone a general overhaul.
The edges have been made flatter, making them easier to grip. The Apple Pencil magnetically attaches to the side of the device, allowing you to be more productive and creative – as Cook explains.
A hurricane of applause follows. John Ternus, Vice President of Hardware Engineering, tells us more about the device, which marks the biggest change since the first iPad was launched. The LCD is almost bezel-free and makes use of iPhone technologies, Liquid Retina to be precise, which is designed to give a nice and round finish to the corners of the display. And the screen has grown; it now measures 11 inches diagonally and has 250,000 more pixels. The larger version still has a diagonal size of 12.9 inches, but features much thinner edges and is almost as large as an A4 sheet of paper. A bit wider than that in fact.
It is 25% lighter than its predecessor, has a thickness of 5.9 millimetres and is equipped with Face ID. But no home button. No problem, you surely know the gestures from iPhone X or its successors. In addition, the engineers have extended Apple's drag’n’drop functionality and improved multitasking.
The entire platform runs on the new 7 nm A12X Bionic. The chip has over 10 billion transistors and offers an Octa-Core architecture. All eight cores can be addressed simultaneously. According to Cook, this results in up to 90% more efficiency, making the Pro up to 92% faster than the competition. The graphics chip is equipped with seven cores and performs twice as well as its predecessor. But again, exact numbers are missing, even if they'd be really impressive. Want an example? The iPad's Neural Engine performs up to five trillion operations per second and lets you store up to one terabyte of data on the device. As Cook states, it can compete with the big game consoles. As a demo of the latest edition of the game series «NBA 2k» shows, the players are almost photorealistic.
What's more: The new iPad Pro has USB-C connection. Finally! Why this is so great? It makes the iPad Pro compatible with just about any piece of modern technology, including 5k screens. The technology's bidirectional traffic also makes it possible to charge other devices.
The Apple Pencil has been revamped and now resembles the affordable, minimalist Caran d'Ache ballpoint pens. But the pencil attaches magnetically to the iPad and recognises gestures to switch between modes. Plus, while it's attached to the iPad, the pencil recharges.
A Photoshop version designed for touch interaction will be available on the iPad Pro. This looks very, very exciting.
«One more thing»? Not quite, but «one more update»
Tim Cook enters the stage again. He announces iOS 12.1. Facetime, Dual SIM with eSIM, more emojis.
«This is the best iOS version ever,» he concludes.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
Computing
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
75 comments
later