In Case You Missed WWDC 2023
In case you missed it heres a summarized run down of what was revealed at 2023’s edition of WWDC.
· Mac Hardware
· iOS 17
· iPadOS 17
· MacOS
· Ecosystem
· Vision Pro
Mac Hardware
Apple came out swinging at this year’s WWDC event with their first product to be announced being the much anticipated 15" MacBook Air. The new MacBook Air will feature a much larger 15.3 inches display, 11.5mm thin and 3.3 pounds (1.49kg) form factor, 6 speaker system with subwoofers, M2 processor, and 18 hours of battery life 🤯. Making it the best pound for pound 15 inch laptop on the market.
The new and improved Mac Studio was announced shortly after with the M2 Ultra chip. The new Mac Studio comes with the M2 Ultra chip or the M2 Max Chip. The M2 Ultra chip being the combination of two M2 Max chips into one large and powerful processing unit.
The M2 Ultra allows the Mac Studio to connect up to 6 Pro Display XDRs, a maximum of 196GB of memory which is double that of the M1 Ultra, a 24 core CPU, a 76 core GPU, and more. With all these specs Apple claims that this chip is 50% faster than the M1 Ultra, 6 times faster than their fastest intel Mac Pro and allows video editors to playback up to twenty two 8K video streams while editing.
Apple also unveiled their new Mac Pro which makes use of the M2 Ultra chip, which makes it 3 times faster than their fastest Intel Mac Pro. The new Mac Pro will come with 6 open PCI expansion slots which allows for better customization and more cards to be added to the machine, and also comes in both rack and tower enclosures.
iOS 17
The introduction of iOS 17 was pretty neat with Apple demoing some of the cool new features that it will be introducing. One of those features being NameDrop. Which seems like a copy of Androids tap to share feature but who remembers that 👀?
NameDrop is a convenient feature that enables you to effortlessly share your contact information with someone simply by bringing your phone in close proximity to their device.
Along with NameDrop iOS17 brings a lot more features to the way you communicate such as:
- Personalized contact posters using photos, memojis and custom texts, which allow you to customize the way you appear on your friend’s phone app. This feature is also made available with Callkit to developers of apps that make use of VOIP
- Live voicemail transcription which is handled on device allows voicemails to be transcribed as the caller is recording it.
- Unavailable Facetime message recording, this makes it so that whenever someone is unavailable Facetime allows you to record a video message for them to open whenever they either online or choose to open it.
Messages also got some pretty cool feature additions this year.
- A catch up arrow to take you to the last message that you didn’t read in your iMessage chats. For days when the group chat is popping off 😂.
- Audio message transcription in case you’d prefer to read them instead of listen.
- CheckIn to alert your friends and family for times when you don’t make it home on time or divert from your usual route home. In case you don’t make it home on time or divert from your usual route, your device will send your realtime location to your emergency contacts.
- Stickers are finally coming to iMessage 🎉 you can turn any of your photos into stickers and share them in iMessage chats. Apple has also taken the liberty to convert all the emojis into stickers. This feature also enables you to add sticker reactions to any message bubble and it also lets you rotate and scale it whichever way you want.
Last but not least iOS 17 will be coming with an improved version of autocorrect (FINALLY!!!!). Airdrop can now happen over the internet and there is no need to be in close proximity with the other device.
iPadOS 17
With the introduction of iPadOS 17 users will now be able to customize your lock screen just like on the iPhone, you can make use of live images on your lock screen — on application these images will be given a cool slow motion effect, users can now make use of interactive widgets, add widgets to the lock screen and view live events from the lock screen.
PDFs and the Notes app on the iPad are getting super charged for power users. You can now fill PDFs, modify PDFs and export PDFs directly from the Notes app. The Notes app will also have a collaborative mode for users to collaborate with one another in realtime.
MacOS
Introducing MacOS Sonoma, I know the name is… so so. Moving past the name MacOS Sonoma introduces Game mode to the Mac along with live wallpapers, interactive widgets that can be placed right on the desktop, camera reactions, presenter overlay, safari profiles and locked private browsing windows, web apps on MacOS and more.
Let’s break some of these down. First we’ll start with camera reactions. With the camera reactions feature you can add cool reaction animations to your background and foreground while you are on a video call. You can also setup hand gestures that display certain reactions. Here’s what that looked like in the demo.
Kind of a gimmick but looks like a fun feature.
Another cool feature is presenter overlay. This feature allows you to overlay yourself over your screen whenever you are presenting something from your screen. This feature is super useful for meeting presentations and weekly stand ups.
Concerning gaming Apple invited Hideo Kojima to announce the launch of Death Stranding on Apple Silicon Macs.
Along with the latest version of MacOS Apple will be releasing a toolkit that makes it much easier for game developers to port their games for the Apple Silicon architecture as well as estimate the games performance on Apple’s hardware.
Ecosystem
I’ll be grouping most the features launched on peripherals and ecosystem improvements into this category. Here’s a brief list of things launched under this category:
- AirPlay support in select hotels.
- AirPods Adaptive audio which dynamically blends noise cancellation and transparency mode to block out distracting noises like construction and let in useful sounds like bicycle horns or screams 👀 in case you need to get the hell out of there. Intelligent volume based on preference, and volume lowering whenever you’re having a conversation.
- CarPlay and Music now work together. While in the same car you can play and stop music while in the same CarPlay music session with your friends.
- Apple TV support for video calls. This feature allows for users to easily start and transfer calls to and from their Apple TV devices.
- WatchOS: Better WatchOS faces, tools and interactions. WatchOS 10 introduces smart stack which is a stack of widgets ogranised by AI based on time of day, activity level, your habits and other metrics. New watch faces were also introduced such as the palette watch face as well as the Snoopy watch face.
Vision Pro
Finally for what you’ve been waiting for, the Vision Pro AR headset. Apple truly left the best for last.
Apple has unveiled the future of Augmented Reality (AR) with Vision Pro. This groundbreaking technology allows you to effortlessly scale, launch, and place virtual objects in your physical space, all with a simple touch.
Vision Pro goes beyond basic AR capabilities, offering immersive experiences that will leave you in awe. With a physical crown, you can customize the level of immersion in serene mindfulness sessions, creating moments of calm tailored to your preferences.
Gone are the days of awkward gestures. Vision Pro introduces natural hand movements for seamless navigation within the AR world, ensuring a comfortable and intuitive user experience.
One standout feature is Eyesight, which brings a transparent mode similar to sunglasses, seamlessly blending the digital and real world. This fusion creates breathtaking visual experiences like never before.
Vision Pro seamlessly integrates with your Mac, extending your screen and enabling the use of other apps alongside your AR experience. It also offers spatial video and photos, allowing you to connect with loved ones and relive precious moments in an immersive way.
Prepare to be amazed by the incredible 3D environments Vision Pro offers. From sports to movies and even a touch of Disney World, it transports you to astonishing digital realms that will leave you in awe.
Crafted with precision, Vision Pro features an elegant design with 3D formed glass, a laminated frame, and a refined crown and button, all made from aluminum alloy. Its thermal design ensures quiet operation by efficiently drawing air out of the system.
For comfort, Vision Pro comes with spatial audio-enabled straps and a 3D knitted headband. Those who wear glasses will appreciate the seamless integration of Zeiss optical extensions for an optimal AR experience.
With the powerful Apple Silicon M2 chip and dedicated R1 processor for quick calculations, Vision Pro delivers lightning-fast performance, eliminating any lag in your AR interactions.
Video conferencing becomes extraordinary on Vision Pro, as advanced encoding and decoding technology bring your digital persona to life, making interactions captivating and lifelike.
Developers will find endless possibilities with Vision Pro, using tools like Xcode, SwiftUI, Reality Kit, and Reality Composer Pro. Additionally, full compatibility with iPad apps expands the potential for immersive experiences.
Security and privacy are paramount, with OpticID encryption ensuring your data remains protected and your personal privacy is respected.
Stay tuned for the launch of Vision Pro next year, as Apple revolutionizes AR and sets new standards for immersive technology.
For a more in depth look at what the Vision Pro has to offer check out my article on it:
Whew 😮💨 and that’s all folks. Hope you enjoyed this article. If you did, don’t forget to share it to someone that missed WWDC 2023.
