All The Important Stuff From Apple's 'Spring Loaded' Event
It's 4/20/21, and you know what that means… Apple had another event today! "Spring Loaded" brought a new iPad Pro, a new line of iMacs in seven colors, a purple iPhone, and AirTags, which are Bluetooth trackers you can affix to personal items and track with your Apple devices.
Here's what was announced during the event, along with some dates for when you can order and get your hands on everything.
Apple Card
With Apple Card, Apple aims to reinvent the credit card, including the ways families can share credit lines and build credit together. It can now be used by anyone in a family over the age of 13, and you can implement spending limits for certain members of the family.
Apple Podcasts
Apple is redesigning the Apple Podcasts app, making it easier to follow, listen and share. They're also introducing channels to help you find shows from your favorite creators, and premium podcast subscriptions, which can allow you ad-free listening, early access and more.
Apple Podcasts will launch in 170 countries and regions next month.
iPhone 12
Apple is introducing the iPhone 12 in a new purple color, with color-matched aluminum edges. It joins the Apple 12 lineup for pre-order this Friday, April 23, and will be available as of April 30.
AirTags
Apple is expanding its "MyFind" feature in a novel way: with AirTags, attachable tags that you can affix to items and track with your Apple devices.
The AirTags use Precision Finding, which will help guide you directly to your AirTag. They've also worked with Hermès to create leather luggage tags that you can put your AirTags in for a more elegant look.
(Apple notes that these tags are intended for items, not people.)
Apple TV & Apple TV 4K
Apple has announced a new season of "Ted Lasso" coming up this July — and some news about Apple TV 4K.
Apple TV 4K comes with the A12 Bionic chip, high frame rate HDR and Dolby Vision, along with a greater range of colors and more detail. It'll also allow videos to play more smoothly and appear more lifelike.
With a new color balance feature, Apple TV will also work with your iPhone in order to give you improved image quality with better color balance. It will automatically tailor its video output so you don't ever have to manually adjust your TV.
The Siri remote has some updates, too, with a new aluminum frame, made from 100% recycled aluminum, and a five-way clickpad for better accuracy while still preserving the fast directional swipes. There's also a new circular gesture so that you can scroll through the video and find the exact scene you're looking for.
The iMac
With updates to Apple laptops with its proprietary M1 chip, there are now ample universal apps that work with M1. Now, Apple has redesigned its iMac with the M1 chip.
The iMac introduces a sleeker, cleaner computer in a new spectrum of seven vibrant colors — an homage to the colors of its original, boxy iMac, but this one couldn't be further from that in its design. From the side, the iMac is so thin as to be barely noticeable.
The cooling system has been replaced by two small fans, which keep the components cool, operate quietly and help reduce the iMac's physical volume.
The new iMac's display has nearly 11.3 million pixels with a 4.5K retina display.
Its camera, mic and sound systems are also the best Apple has ever put in a Mac.
With the M1, this iMac's processing power blows prior models out of the water: you can run games and make FaceTime calls at the same time, edit video footage seamlessly, and more.
As for iMac's connectivity: it has up to 4 USBC ports and support for up to a 6K display. It also has a new power connector that attaches magnetically, so it's quicker and easier to connect. Its power adapter will also have an ethernet connection built into it to keep your machine and your desktop less cluttered.
The new keyboard will have some new keys to help you manipulate its functions more easily. Its Touch ID is improved, too: very handily, you'll be able to use Touch ID to switch between users' individual desktops on the same machine.
The new iMac has also been built with environmental friendliness in mind, using 100% recycled materials in its magnets and in its main logic board.
This iMac joins the prior updated Macs and comes with the M1 chip.
The iPad Pro With M1
The 8-core CPU of the M1 chip delivers a CPU performance of up to 50% faster than other models on the market, and up to 75 times faster than its prior models in the new iPad. The 8-core GPU delivers up to 40% faster graphics than models from other brands, and up to 1,500 times faster than older Apple models. The new iPad will also have a 2 TB storage option for those who want ample space.
Apple is also adding the Thunderbolt connection to the iPad, allowing the tablet up to 4 times more bandwidth. It will also have 5G.
The iPad's new camera includes HDR 3, which automatically adjusts color contrast, light and shadow in your photos. It will also still have the TrueDepth camera to unlock the iPad with FaceID and take high-quality selfies.
Its machine learning capacity will also allow for an ultra wide camera that can maintain its focus on you, so that you can move around while on a video call and have the camera automatically track you onscreen.
To allow for a brighter and more complex image display, Apple redesigned its screen with 10,000 mini LEDs, each 120 times smaller in volume than the previous LED design. They grouped the mini LEDs into dimming zones to display very specific amounts of light on different parts of the screen to bring out light and contrast in images.
The iPad Pro will still be compatible with the Apple Pencil, the Magic Keyboard (which now comes in a new white color), and the keyboard folio.
You can order the iPad Pro beginning April 30, and it will be available beginning in May.
