On Tuesday, Apple held their first event of 2022. Apple revealed a “new” iPhone, a new iPhone color, new Apple silicon, a new Mac, a new display, and an iPad update.
Oh, and Apple TV+ now has Friday night baseball.
A few of these items will go on sale this week, with releases later this month.
If I were to describe Apple’s hardware strategy for this event, it would be, “Filling in the blanks.” Apple found ways to close the Intel/Apple silicon gap, bring first-party monitors to the masses, bring the iPad Air up to the iPad Pro, and update their least expensive iPhone. Apple’s tightening their lineup. But that means few big surprises.
In This Article:
iPhone SE
The new iPhone SE looks a lot like the old one. It’s the same body, an iPhone 8 with a 4.7-inch screen, but now with some upgraded internals. For $429 you get an A15 processor, a camera that is primarily upgraded through that processor, and the same three colors, black, white, and red.
Apple also added 5G in the iPhone SE, though it’s not the ultra-fast mmWave 5G. Still, it’s faster than 4G, and you’ll notice that if you can get a 5G signal. They have been finally spreading through the U.S. more. Still, is 5G worth the extra $30? It could be in a few years, so perhaps it’s worth the investment now.
It’s interesting to look at what you sacrifice when you go with an iPhone SE (2022) instead of the iPhone 13 mini. The iPhone 13 mini is $270 more, but you can also still buy the iPhone 12 mini for just $599, $170 more. For that money you get a better camera, an ultra-wide camera, more battery life, a larger screen, ceramic shield, MagSafe, better water resistance, a brighter screen, HDR video, higher pixel density, audio zoom, night mode, and an even smaller body. With everything you sacrifice, this year’s iPhone SE may actually be the worst iPhone deal, even if it is the cheapest. However, it’s also still the most accessible device. Thanks to that physical home button with Touch ID, it’s still the best phone for people with visual impairments, who can’t use Face ID reliably or securely.
The iPhone SE will go on preorder this Friday, 3/11. It’ll ship 3/18. But unless you need a home button, I’d recommend saving up for the iPhone 13 or even last year’s iPhone 12 mini instead. 5G and a processor bump just aren’t worth the price increase of this year’s iPhone SE.
iPad Air 5
The iPad Air has been the iPad to buy for some time now. In fact, that’s why I did it. The iPad Air has a fast processor, Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard support, and, unlike the Pro version, it has Touch ID. This is perfect if you use your tablet for note taking, as the angle won’t always be perfect for Face ID.
Now it’s even better.
Apple added the M1 chip from the iPad Pro into the iPad Air 5. On top of that, it also gets Center Stage support through the new ultra wide front-facing camera. Apple also brought over the same 5G support from the iPhone SE for fast (but not ultra fast mmWave) download speeds anywhere. It’s also $200 less than the iPad Pro. Sure, it “only” goes up to 256GB of storage. The camera on the back is… passable. Rather than a Thunderbolt port, it has USB-C. Still, it’s probably worth the $200 in savings to let those features slide.
The iPad Air is closer than ever to the performance of the iPad Pro. I’d feel silly recommending anything else to most people. It’s the best iPad to buy if you want pro power without the pro cost.
Green iPhone
Now both the iPhone 13 series and iPhone 13 Pro series come in a green color.
Neat.
Why Apple continues to release colors after the iPhone launched is beyond me. They go through the effort to make a new color and then accept that it won’t sell as well now that most of the first adopters already bought an iPhone. Would I have gotten green? Probably not. But I know people who would have preferred it. It’s a shame Apple couldn’t just release them on day one. They’re missing out on giving their most eager fans exactly what they want.
M1 Ultra
It took me a while to realize why “M1 Ultra” rubbed me the wrong way. It’s not that it makes Apple’s processor naming scheme even more difficult to understand. It’s not that it’s basically just two chips pressed together. It’s that it’s one character away from being “MK Ultra.” Creepy.
In case you need a refresher, the M1 is Apple’s processor architecture. It comes in a few flavors, of improving performance. There’s the M1, the M1 Pro, the M1 Max, and now, the M1 Ultra. The M1 Ultra is actually two M1 Max chips working in unison as one chip. The M1 Max had an undisclosed feature, what Apple’s now calling “UltraFusion.” This is a low latency, high bandwidth connection at the bottom of the die that allows it to be doubled up. By doing this, it acts as one processor with twice as much memory, storage, and transistors. Performance is greatly improved over the M1 Max. The M1 Ultra supports up to 128GB of unified memory between the CPU and GPU, for performance-intensive tasks.
So what’s going to be using all of that power?
Mac Studio
Apple unveiled a new Mac this week, the Mac Studio. The Mac Studio is a pro-level desktop that sits between the Mac mini and iMac and the Mac Pro. It has the same footprint as a Mac mini, but a little over twice as tall and over twice as heavy. It comes with either the M1 Max or the new M1 Ultra processor. It’s a simple machine, with intake fans on the bottom and exhaust in the back. Up front there’s an SD card and two either USB-C or Thunderbolt 4 ports. In the back are four more Thunderbolt 4 ports, an ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a higher amperage headphone jack for use with high-impedance headphones and speakers.
If I’m being honest, the front looks a little goofy. There’s just something kind of off balance about it. I almost want to make a little goofy face out of those ports. But this isn’t made to be the center of your desk. Unlike the iMac, it doesn’t come in a variety of fun colors. This is a purpose-driven machine, and its focus is on performance. It’s Apple’s most powerful M1-based Mac, by a lot.
See? Now it’s cute.
Studio Display
Apple also introduced a display and, for once, it’s one you might be able to afford. That’s not to say it’s an inexpensive display, it’s just inexpensive by Apple’s standards.The Pro Display XDR started at $4,999. It was $999 more for Apple’s stand.You could, fully decked out, spend around $7,200 for Apple’s display. Fortunately, the Studio Display is considerably more affordable. It starts at $1,599 and that includes a mount. Crazy, right? You can also get it with a tilt and height adjustable stand for $1,999 in total. For an extra $300, Apple will throw on their nano-texture glass for extremely low reflectivity with a crystal clear display.
So what makes the display so special? Apple actually put an A-series chip in it. This is using the A13 Bionic to power its camera. Apple brought their ultra wide camera from the iPad, which features Center Stage. This can crop the video to focus on just you, even as you move around your space. It also features Apple’s Spatial Audio, expands your ports with three USB-C and one Thunderbolt port, and can charge your devices. Did I mention it’s a 5K display? It’s that too. It will also work with some Intel-based Macs and may even work with Windows machines, though with some limitations.
Still Left…
Apple still hasn’t been able to replace the Mac Pro. Perhaps that’s because with its massive expansion possibilities, it can support a 28-core CPU, new graphics cards, and up to an unfathomable 1.5TB of memory. Apple just hasn’t made anything that can compete with that yet. It may be a while before they can replace the Mac Pro, either with multiple M-series processors, or something completely new altogether.
We also didn’t see favorite mentions for the past few years: the AirPods Pro 2 and Apple’s AR glasses. I’m sure they’ll come one day. It’ll be when we stop asking for it. So, be really nice, and maybe Apple will bring us new AirPods and AR glasses instead of another lump of Apple silicon. Apple’s new products will come out this month, with sales starting on Friday.