Apple ‘Unleashed’ event highlights

It hasn’t been long since the big iPhone and Apple Watch reveal but Cupertino’s launch machinery was out in full force last night at the ‘Unleashed’ virtual event, where Apple delivered significant updates to its silicon, its music offerings and, after what feels like forever, its Pro lineup of laptops. In less than an hour, Tim Cook and his gang of merry Apple execs unleashed update after update so fast it was hard even for seasoned tech media to keep up! No fear, here’s my breakdown of what was launched to bring you up to speed.

AirPods 3: The base non-Pro AirPods are getting an upgrade after two years, and it goes beyond the new look that features shorter stems, a force sensor for touch controls a la the AirPods Pro and improved sweat/water resistance. With the recent emphasis on Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos in Apple Music, it was no surprise that the AirPods 3 added these capabilities along with dynamic head tracking, across Apple devices. The new AirPods use the Apple H1 chip to deliver Adaptive EQ, adjusting the sound to the fit and seal of the ear cushions by measuring the sound signal delivered to a user and tweaking the low and mid-frequencies in real time. Apple claims a battery life upgrade as well, bumping the promised run time from 5 hours to 6 hours on a single charge, and up to 30 hours of listening time with the charging case. AirPods 3 will be available for Rs. 18,500 and are available to order from Apple’s official online store starting October 18, with availability beginning October 26.

HomePod mini and Apple Music Updates: HomePod mini (Rs. 9,900) sees a visual update, with three new colors – dark blue, orange and yellow – on the mesh fabric, color matched with the tinted touch surface, volume icons, and woven power cable. Apple’s added a new subscription tier to its Apple Music service at Rs. 49/month which allows voice-access to request music across all Siri enabled devices (including HomePod mini, AirPods, iPhones/iPads/Macs or your iPhone in the car). The new plan allows access to the service’s catalog of 90 million songs and thousands of playlists (including some new editorially curated mood- and activity-based playlists), all through Siri.

M1 Pro and M1 Max silicon: Apple threw down the computing-chip gauntlet with the absurdly fast M1 chip last year, evidence of which we’ve seen in the M1 MacBook Air and the M1 iMac. At the event, Apple’s scaled the M1 chip to two new chips – the M1 Pro and M1 Max – and from the looks of it, both chips are the M1 on steroids! Apple says the M1 Pro CPU is up to 70% faster than the original M1, with a GPU up to 2x faster, 32GB of unified memory, and 200GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the M1 Max bumps the unified memory up to 64GB. Both offer scorching performance while using 70% (Pro) and 40% (Max) less power than competing laptops, a claim which I’m personally eager to test simply on account of the battery life it will bestow the new laptops with these chips. Both chips support up to 10 CPU cores, while on the graphics (GPU) front, the Pro does up to 16-cores, while the Max supports up to 32-cores.

MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max: What’s a bunch of new silicon if you don’t have new powerhouse laptops to take advantage of all this new found power? On cue, Apple released the new generation of Macbook Pros with M1 Pro and Max chipsets, although certain aspects will trigger an element of nostalgia for long time Mac users. How the performance and design elements will play out are best left to hands-on reviews but know this – the new MacBook Pros will come in two sizes – 14-inch and 16-inch. They’ll see the return of the much-loved ports, including an SD card slot, an HDMI port, three Thunderbolt 4 ports and a magnetically detaching MagSafe connector for charging. A full-height function row key replaces the divisive Touch Bar, and the audio system has been overhauled to a six-speaker sound system (with two tweeters for a clearer soundstage and four force-cancelling woofers for more bass). The screens see the biggest upgrade, with support for 120Hz ProMotion for smoother scrolling and lower battery consumption when the screen is being used for reading text, watching 24fps video and the like. Interestingly, the screen features the mini-LED technology previously used in 2021 iPad Pro, the display delivers up to 1,000 nits of sustained, full-screen brightness and an impressive 1,600 nits of peak brightness alongside a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. There’s a new 1080p camera as well with better low light performance, but it’s encased in a camera notch atop the display, a design element that is bound to be the subject of much discussion in the months to come. The new 14-inch MacBook Pro model is available to order today starting at Rs. 1,94,900, as is the 16-inch MacBook Pro model which starts at Rs. 2,39,900.