iOS 17 to Apple Vision Pro: Everything announced at WWDC 2023

Apple Park hosted the latest edition of the brand’s annual developer conference or WWDC 2023 earlier this week. On the occasion of the App Store’s 15th anniversary, the tech giant had an abundance of new announcements to make, across software and hardware. From a new way to use AirDrop on iOS 17 and native PDF support on iPadOS 17 to the world’s thinnest 15-inch laptop and Apple’s first entry into the AR/VR space, here are all announcements from WWDC 2023.

MacBook Air M2 15-inch

Apple’s new MacBook Air is the world’s thinnest 15-inch laptop at 11.5mm. It’s also pretty light, coming in at 3 pounds (about 1.36kg). Powered by the M2 chipset, the new MacBook comes with a Retina Display with 5mm bezels and 500 nits peak brightness, MagSafe support, two Thunderbolt ports, 6 speakers and a 1080p webcam.

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Apple also claims the laptop is entirely silent and twice as fast as Intel i7-based machines. The new MacBook Air also comes with 18-hour battery life and will be available in four colour variants. MacBook Air 15-inch price in India starts at Rs 1,34,900.

Mac Studio Gen-2

Following up on the original Mac Studio that made an appearance last year, the new Studio comes with an Apple M2 Max chipset. Apple claims the machine is 25% faster than M1-powered Macs and four times faster than older, Intel-based Macs.

For those who want extra punch under the hood, the new Mac Studio is also available with the new M2 Ultra chipset, which Apple claims are as powerful as two M2 Max chips fused together. This new chip makes the Gen-2 Mac Studio even more powerful, allowing it to do feats like to process 22 streams of 8K video at once, or output to six Pro XDR displays at the same time. The new Mac Studio price in India starts at Rs 2,09,900 and will be available from June 13.

Mac Pro with M2 Ultra

The new M2 Ultra is also the default chip for the upgraded Mac Pro, which can now support up to 192GB memory and comes with the performance of seven Afterburner cards built-in. The new Mac Pro also comes with eight Thunderbolt ports as well as support for PCIe Gen-4 slots which allow users to add everything from network cards to graphics cards to their system. The new Mac Pro price in India starts at Rs 7,29,900. The machine will also be available from June 13.

Apple Vision Pro

Perhaps the most talked-about tech at WWDC, the new Apple Vision Pro is the brand’s much-awaited mixed reality (MR) headset. For those of you new to the term, mixed reality refers to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) fused together, with a device being able to offer a controllable VR experience incorporated with your surrounding area.

The Vision Pro does precisely that, complete with a rotatable crown that allows you to dial up (or down) the immersiveness level. Being Apple’s first device to offer what the brand calls spatial computing, the Vision Pro is basically an amalgamation of all Apple devices in a headset. The capabilities of the headset cover entertainment-related needs as well as work-focused features, including the ability to participate in VR FaceTime calls with the headset using an AI-powered version of your face in real-time, so participants don’t have to see you with the headset on.

The new Apple Vision Pro also comes completely free of any controllers and is instead controlled entirely by eye tracking, finger tracking and basic hand gestures like tapping and flicking. It is also not as bulky as other VR headsets thanks to clever engineering and an external battery pack. Another highlight of the device is the glass visor across its front, which also doubles up as a display for those on the other side, letting them know if they’re immersed in a VR experience or not using the new EyeSight feature.

It even supports Apple Arcade games and magnetic power inserts for those who use spectacles. Seamless connectivity with other Apple products also allows you to do things like access the display of your Mac Pro from the headset by just looking at it. The Apple Vision Pro has no Indian price yet, but it will cost $3,499 (about Rs 2,88,700) in the US once launched.

iOS 17

Apple’s newest iPhone software doesn’t bring big visual changes this year, but it does pack a lot of features. This includes new additions to the Phone app with personalised calling posters and live voicemail. FaceTime also now has the ability to record and leave video messages for users who aren’t immediately available.

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The Messages app now gets search filters to quickly find older texts, along with other features like Check-in which lets your contacts know you’ve safely reached home even when you forget to tell them so. There is also location-sharing, audio message transcriptions, location sharing and a WhatsApp-like Swipe-to-Reply feature. iOS 17 also lets you turn live photos into animated stickers and a system-wide implementation of stickers also lets you use them in more apps.

A new AirDrop feature called NameDrop makes contact sharing easier than ever, letting you share contact details by just bringing two iPhones close to each other. You can also use the same gesture of ‘bumping’ two iPhones together to share photos or video files. AirDrop transfers of larger files will now continue even when you go out of range, via the internet.

Other features iOS 17 features include a better keyboard, a new Journal app to inspire writers and a StandBy mode that lets you turn your iPhone into a nightstand. There is also support for offline maps, and Siri can be triggered by just saying “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri”.

iPadOS 17

Along with most features from iOS 17, iPadOS 17 also brings interactive widgets for the home screen and lock screen, which let users do more without completely opening their favourite apps. The Health app also comes to the iPad, along with native PDF support and real-time collaboration. The Stage Manager feature is also more capable than before with iPadOS 17.

macOS Sonoma

The successor to macOS Monterey is named macOS Sonoma and it brings a bunch of new features to supported MacBooks, iMacs, Mac Pro and Mac Studio variants. The new features with macOS Sonoma include new live wallpapers, along with Apple’s own implementation of desktop widgets.

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There is also a new game mode which boosts performance and reduces latency on accessories. Apple also revealed that many ported games will soon be coming to Mac, including Death Stranding Director’s Cut. macOS Sonoma also comes with new video conferencing features, while Safari gets some upgrades for new features and better privacy.

tvOS 17 and watchOS 10

tvOS 17 brings a new control centre to Apple TV and lets you keep photo memories as screensavers.FaceTime support also comes to tvOS, allowing you to make video calls from the big screen using your iPhone or iPad camera, while SharePlay support lets you do activities together with your friends and family.

Meanwhile, with watchOS 10, users will be able to bring portrait watch faces to the Apple Watch series. The UI now features dynamic widgets that will be able to reorder themselves based on importance or relevance. watchOS 10 will also support new activities like cycling and hiking, while the Health app brings some new features targeted at better mental health.

Audio software, CarPlay upgrades

Apple is also bringing new changes to the software that powers the AirPods series. With adaptive audio, AirPods Pro now get the ability to intelligently turn noise cancellation levels up or down based on ambient sound. On the AirPods Pro, conversation detection also turns down noise cancellation when someone approaches you for a conversation. Users can also now take calls and mute themselves on calls from the AirPods Max without pulling out their iPhones. Apple also claims it has improved switching between devices.

Apple CarPlay also now gets SharePlay support, allowing everyone in the car to request to join the music session so everyone has control over the playlist.