WWDC 2022: New MacBook Pro and software – Here’s everything Apple announced

Apple kicked off the World Wide Developers Conference 2022 (WWDC 2022) with its customary keynote this week.

The tech giant announced both software and hardware at the event on Monday.

It was also the first in-person event Apple has hosted since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with developers and some press allowed on campus to check out the latest hardware.

WWDC 2022 announcements

MacBook Air

Apple introduced a completely redesigned MacBook Air and an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro, both powered by the new M2 chip which it says takes the breakthrough performance and capabilities of M1 even further.

The new MacBook Air features a larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, with 500 nits max brightness and P3 gamut.

It also boasts a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, four-speaker sound system, up to 18 hours of battery life, MagSafe charging, and has a headphone jack.

The new MacBook Air also comes with the M2 chip delivering up to 24GB of unified memory, ProRes acceleration, and up to 20 hours of battery life.

The MacBook Air offers a number of charging options, including an all-new 35W compact power adapter with two USB-C ports, so users can charge two devices at once.

And for the first time, MacBook Air supports fast charge for charging up to 50% in just 30 minutes with an optional 67W USB-C power adapter.

“The new MacBook Air and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro join the even more powerful 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max to round out the strongest lineup of Mac notebooks ever offered.

Both laptops will be available next month,” Apple said. The MacBook Air is available in four finishes – silver, space grey, midnight, and starlight

The MacBook Air starts at R18,500 and the MacBook Pro starts at R19,999. Both will be shipped next month, and both offer an R1,550 discount for students and educators.

Prices exclude other costs when shipping to South Africa.

MacBook Pro

Apple’s second best-selling laptop also saw an upgrade to the M2 chip.

With up to 20 hours of battery life, the new 2022 MacBook Air brings a fresh design with a larger 13.6-inch notched display as well as some nice quality-of-life upgrades such as MagSafe charging and a new 1080p webcam.

Additionally, the M2 chip still comes with an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. It will also provide up to 2TB of SSD storage.

The MacBook Pro will retail for R19,999 or R18,500 for those in education. Prices exclude other costs when shipping to South Africa.

iOS16

Lock screen

The latest version of the iPhone’s operating system focuses on customisation.

A new Lock Screen gallery features a range of options for inspiration, such as:

• Apple collections, which include Pride and Unity to celebrate special cultural moments;
• a Weather wallpaper to see live weather conditions as they change throughout the day; and
• an Astronomy wallpaper for views of the Earth, Moon, and the solar system.

Users can also create Lock Screens using their favourite emoji or colour combinations. With multiple Lock Screens, users can switch between their favourites with just a swipe.

Libraries in the cloud

Cloud Shared Photo Library gives families a new way to share photos seamlessly with a separate iCloud library for up to six users to collaborate on and contribute to.

Users can choose to share existing photos from their personal libraries or share based on a start date or people in the photos.

A user can also choose to send photos to the Shared Library automatically using a new toggle in the Camera app.

Messaging

Messages will allow editing, undoing sends and marking messages unread.

SharePlay is improved for easier sharing within FaceTime and Messages. Dictation blends with text and touch on the fly so you can use any input type at any time.

Similarly, Live Text (Apple’s answer to Google Lens) expands to video, letting you pause on any frame and interact or grab text from the video.

Apple says it will be able to smartly extract images from a background and automatically paste them into apps like Messages.

Apple Wallet

Changes to Wallet include more partners for wireless keys, such as car manufacturers, tap-to-pay on iPhone for contactless payments and Apple Pay Later, which splits the cost of a purchase across four payments.

Users will also see cycling, Look Around high-resolution imagery and expanded details for landmarks and especially detailed coverage for specific cities. It will also show transit card balances.

Apple News, TV Plus

Apple News is getting expanded sports coverage in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

TV Plus gets Family Sharing for up to five members, with parental controls for apps, movies, books and music.

Photos also improves sharing – new shared libraries via iCloud let you collaborate – and offer rules and automatic sharing based on proximity.

Safety Check, Car Play, Fitness

iOS 16 introduces a new feature called Safety Check, which can help you quickly revoke access for someone threatening you, sign out of iCloud on all devices, and limit Messages to a single, in-hand device.

CarPlay is redesigned to unify car and iPhone screens, including powering your entire instrument cluster.

The Fitness app comes to the iPhone from the Watch as well, while if you use Apple’s Spatial Audio, you’ll be able to use the depth camera to customise it.

The new software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 8 and later

iPad OS16

iPadOS 16 takes a step closer to laptop-level multitasking

Apple previewed iPadOS 16 which it says is a major update that makes the iPad experience even more versatile.

“iPad is our most versatile device, and we’re excited to take what it can do even further with iPadOS 16,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.

Taking advantage of the power of the M1 chip, Stage Manager brings a new way to multitask with multiple overlapping windows and full external display support.

Collaboration is easier than ever with new ways to start working with others in apps across the system using Messages, and the new Freeform app provides a flexible canvas to brainstorm together.

New tools in Mail help users be more productive, Safari adds shared Tab Groups to browse the web with others, and the browsing experience gets even more secure with passkeys.

The new Weather app takes full advantage of the iPad display, and Live Text now interacts with text in video.

Like Ventura, iPadOS gets the new Metal API update for gaming, plus it gets background downloading. Game Center adds Activity rivers, and SharePlay (coming later this year, as well as to iOS and iPadOS) will allow group play.

There are a bunch of tweaks to the interface and capabilities to give iPadOS more desktop-like power.

It also adds reference colour (Reference Mode) for consistent colour matching across devices (personal yay!).

Watch OS9

WatchOS9, which brings new features to the wearable operating system.

Apple Watch users will now have more watch faces to choose from, with richer complications that provide more information and opportunity for personalisation.

In the updated Workout app, advanced metrics, views, and training experiences inspired by high-performing athletes help users take their workouts to the next level.

Currently, the ECG app and irregular rhythm notification on Apple Watch can identify potential signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib). Left untreated, AFib is one of the leading conditions that can result in stroke.

Previously, there has not been an easy way to track the frequency of AFib over an extended period of time, or to manage lifestyle factors that may influence one’s condition.

With watchOS 9, users who are diagnosed with AFib can turn on the FDA-cleared AFib History feature and access important information, including an estimate of how frequently a user’s heart rhythm shows signs of AFib, providing deeper insights into their condition.

The new Medications experience on Apple Watch and iPhone helps users manage and track their medications, vitamins, and supplements, allowing them to create a medications list, set up schedules and reminders, and view information on their medications in the Health app.

Custom schedules can be created for each medication, whether it needs to be taken multiple times a day, once a week, or as needed, and users can set up reminders to help keep them on track.

In the US, users can receive an alert if there are potential critical interactions with medications they have added to the Health app.

MacOS Ventura

Apple says MacOS Ventura takes the Mac experience to a whole new level.

Stage Manager automatically organises open apps and windows so users can concentrate on their work and still see everything in a single glance.

The current window users are working in is displayed prominently in the center, and other open windows appear on the left-hand side so they can quickly and easily switch between tasks.

Users can also group windows together when working on specific tasks or projects that require different apps.

Continuity Camera now gives Mac customers the ability to use their iPhone as a webcam and unlocks new capabilities.

With the power of Continuity, Mac can automatically recognise and use the camera on iPhone when it is nearby — without the need to wake or select it — and iPhone can even connect to Mac wirelessly for greater flexibility.

Continuity Camera taps into the Ultra-Wide camera on iPhone to enable Desk View, which simultaneously shows the user’s face and an overhead view of their desk — great for creating DIY videos, showing off sketches over FaceTime, and more.

In macOS Ventura, Safari introduces a powerful new way for users to browse together: With shared Tab Groups, friends, family, and colleagues can share their favourite sites in Safari and see what tabs others are looking at live.

Mail now uses state-of-the-art techniques to deliver more relevant, accurate, and complete results. Users can quickly find what they are looking for as soon as they click into search, including recent emails, contacts, documents, photos, and more, all before they even start typing.

Mail now intelligently detects if items such as an attachment or cc’d recipient is missing from their message.

Messages on the Mac now include the ability to edit or undo a recently sent message, mark a message as unread, or even recover accidentally deleted messages.

Now, when a user shares a file via Messages using the share sheet or drag and drop, they can choose to share a copy or collaborate. When they choose to collaborate, everyone on a Messages thread is automatically added. And when someone makes an edit to the shared document, activity updates appear at the top of the thread.

Spotlight includes an updated design that makes navigation easier, new features that provide a more consistent experience across Apple devices, and Quick Look for quickly previewing files.

Users can now find images in their photo library, across the system, and on the web. They can even search for their photos by location, people, scenes, or objects, and Live Text lets them search by text inside images.

With iCloud Shared Photo Library, users can now create and share a separate photo library among up to six family members, so everyone can enjoy all of their family photos. Users can choose to share all of their existing photos from their personal libraries or share based on a start date or people in the photos.

tvOS

Apple has started seeding new software updates to developers.

tvOS 16, the newest version of the tvOS operating system for the Apple TV 4K and HD, is now available.

tvOS 16 was not previewed at the event, but there is indeed a new beta

M2

Apple ALSO announced M2, beginning the next generation of Apple silicon designed specifically for the Mac.

The system-on-a-chip (SoC) design of M2 is built using enhanced, second-generation 5-nanometer technology, and consists of 20 billion transistors — 25% more than M1.

The additional transistors improve features across the entire chip, including the memory controller that delivers 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth — 50% more than M1.

It also delivers 50% more memory bandwidth compared to M1, and up to 24GB of fast unified memory.

Apple also unveiled new tools, technologies, and APIs designed to help developers create even richer experiences for their users.

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