News hardware iPad Pro M1, new iMac, Apple TV 4K … What you should know about the Apple conference in April 2021
,
Apple has just unveiled a number of new features for the coming months at an online conference. There’s a lot to do between the new iPad, the redesigned iMac, new colors for the iPhone 12, and a more powerful Apple TV. We’ll summarize it all for you.
Apple’s very first conference in 2021 had a similar shape to last year: no event on stage for obvious reasons of a global pandemic, but a long video of an hour in which engineers and designers followed each other to showcase the most important ones Company news for the coming months.
A new color for the iPhone 12
If the presentation of the iPhone 13 will wait at least in September 2021, Apple was still unveiling a new color for its iPhone 12, which is now all dressed in purple. Aside from this new chassis, nothing really changes and this new model will be available for pre-order starting Friday April 23rd, as long as it’s available on April 30th. Note that this new color doesn’t apply to the iPhone 12 Pro.
Having almost become an Arlesian at Apple, the AirTags have finally finally shown themselves. Apple shows its desire to expand its accessories more cheaply and will shortly be offering a kind of “button” that you can hang up as a key ring on all your important objects. They will then be geolocated and you can find their locations using the Find My application. AirTags use a technology called Precision Finding that allows you to simply navigate through the Find My app to find out what has been lost. Useful, for example, if you are constantly looking for your keys or your wallet.
A single AirTag costs $ 35 and the set of 4 costs $ 119. It will also be possible to buy AirTag leather key rings that have been manufactured in collaboration with Hermès and are accordingly priced between 299 and 499 dollars. AirTags will be available from April 30th and can be pre-ordered from Friday April 23rd.
A new, more powerful 4K Apple TV
The Apple TV Box will also have a new version. If the design doesn’t change, the interior will evolve and the Apple A12 Bionic Chip will arrive. A chip that is not very current (2018) and can be found on the 8th generation iPad or on the iPhone XS and XS Max. This new Apple TV 4K, however, is Can process HDR and HFR (High Frame Rate) content and is therefore theoretically able to play videos at 120 FPS.
An interesting option from Apple is color matching, which is done automatically with the iPhone. It is enough to bring the iPhone to the TV screen for Apple TV to do its calibration work to display a more faithful image. In the end, The new Apple TV 4K benefits from a largely redesigned remote control, with more prec ise control via a wheel (a bit like an iPod) and a button for accessing Siri that is on the side.
The new Apple TV 4K is available for a 32 GB version for 199 dollars and for a 64 GB version for 219 dollars. It can be pre-ordered from April 30th and will be available from the second half of May.
New iMac: M1 chip and completely redesigned design
As a very large part of this conference, Apple also presented its new version of the iMacwhose design has been completely redesigned. Forget the arched back and wide bands around the screen of previous iMacs. The new all-in-one computer from the Californian company relies on a lot of finesse and a much more discreet front frame. To achieve this new look, Apple is integrating its M1 chip, which is already included in the latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. A SoC (System of Chip) that consumes and heats little and therefore drastically reduces the need for cooling. The result is a much simpler internal design and space saving fans. According to Apple, the processor on the new iMac is 85% more powerful than the previous version (which uses an aging Intel Core i7 CPU) and graphics capabilities are 50% higher.
On the screen side, we are entitled to a 24-inch retina display that shows a definition of 4480 x 2520 pixels.. Apple also claims to have largely taken care of the speakers on the front under the screen, equipping the all-in-one with a 1080p webcam that uses the analysis capabilities of the M1 chip to improve the picture . The new iMac is available in 7 different colors and starts at 1449 dollars. You can pre-order it on April 30th, from the second half of May.
The iPad Pro is switching to the M1 chip, 5G and mini-Led technology
Unsurprisingly, Apple saved its biggest announcement for the last time. After a somewhat surprising sequence in which Tim Cook infiltrated Apple’s Mission Impossible-style R&D department to steal the M1 chip from a MacBook and install it on an iPad, the company unveiled the new version of the iPad Per. Apple’s high-end tablet is still available in two versions: 11-inch and 12.9-inch. The design therefore remains essentially the same, However, the A12Z Bionic chip is giving way to the M1 chip, which is definitely embedded everywhere and would be 50% more efficient.
On the screen side, the big change is on the side of The 12.9-inch version that uses mini-Led technology to display a brighter and more contrasty image than ever before. This “Liquid Retina XDR” screen can thus achieve up to 1600 nits (or “cd / m2” in French), with the 2020 iPad Pro version having difficulty exceeding 620 nits (which was already excellent). As a reminder: The mini-Led technology consists in placing many more LEDs behind the panel (here 10,000 on the iPad Pro) in order to drastically improve the backlighting. According to Apple, the result is “the best picture on a mobile device” that enables creatives of all kinds to work more efficiently.
Apple has also improved the on-board cameras for the new iPad Pro, including a 12-megapixel front camera that can track one or more subjects so that they always stay in the center of the frame.
The new iPad Pro with the M1 chip is available from 899 dollars in the 11-inch version and from 1219 dollars for the 12.9-inch version with mini-led display. Old models Magic Keyboard and Smart Keyboard are compatible. Pre-orders will start on April 30th and will be available from mid-May.
By Jiikaa, Journalist igamesnews.com
MP
Table of Contents
