Just as expected, there were a great number of products and services announced at Apple’s WWDC 2019 event. In just under 2 hours of the keynote, Apple had all the audience on their nerves with the announcements. Although WWDC mostly focuses on where Apple’s software is heading to, this time around, even the hardware announcements were made.
As the rumors were suggesting, Apple did kill the iTunes but it’s the new MacOS which steals the daylight here. The new MacOS helps in making the apps that are available on iOS to 100 million Mac users.
Here’s everything Apple has announced in today’s event
iOS 13
Apple firstly has renamed the OS on their iPads from iOS to iPad OS. Although everything ditches in similar kind, both the iOS and iPad OS have their own set of differences. Setting off with improved performance as claimed by Apple, they said they have worked out a way to fast up the slowed down phones. Also, Apple promises that the Face ID would be 30% faster and the apps would open twice as fast in the new iOS 13.
Dark Mode is something, every iOS user was looking out for. And Apple has heard you this time after all. Yes, the iOS 13 gets the dark mode which can be deemed as the biggest visual change Apple made to the iOS since the iOS 7. With this new system-wide dark mode, all of the Apple’s first-party apps are supported, including the notifications and the dock getting the dark hue which adds up to the dark theme.
Along with the visual changes they made, Apple also introduced a new swiping keyboard in which the feature “Quick Path” lets you slide across the letters in order to form a word. Also, the Reminders app is entirely changed on the iOS 13 visually and feature wise. In here, Apple is also pushing AI integration so that it is easy to create your reminders, tag contacts, and suggest you a time for reminding you.
In iOS 13, Apple is also pushing out major updates to their Apple Mail (which gets a new desktop formatting), Safari browser (getting per-website preferences), and Notes app (which gets a new interface for looking at all your notes at once). Along with these, the new Apple Maps will get its own version of Google’s Street View.
In the new photos app, you’ll get a new photo and video editing tools and then there is Find My which is the combination of Find my Friends and Find My iPhone which will help you track your missing devices even if they are offline with the help of other Apple devices around. Also, iOS 13 adds support to share files from SD card and USB flash drives into the Files app. And yeah, Siri is getting a new voice in the iOS 13.
Mac Pro!
After the fail of the Mac Pro 2013, Apple has reconsidered its options with the Mac Pro line up and gave it hard thinking. The result is the all-new redesigned Apple Mac Pro 2019. The design is new, the interior is structured for easy upgradations. The Mac Pro is powered by the new Intel Xeon processor which has up to 28 cores, with up to 300W of power supported with heavy-duty cooling.
Coming to the system memory, the RAM, Apple says you can load up to 1.5TB with six-channel memory across 12 DIMM slots. With the power supply maxing out at 1.4kW, three big fans are housed just behind the aluminium grill. This setup blows air across the system at a rate of 300 cubic feet per minute.
The new Mac Pro will be launching this fall with a starting price of $5999. For the price paid, you will get 32GB of RAM, octa-core Intel Xeon CPU, Radeon Pro 580X graphics and a 256GB SSD.
WWDC 2019: Pro Display XDR
Along with the redesigned Mac Pro, Apple also announced the 32-inch LCD with 6016 x 3384 6K Retina display. The XDR stands for extreme dynamic range and the display stands up for it with P3 and 10-bit color with reference modules built in. Being 40% larger than the iMac 5K display, this has an anti-reflective coating and also comes with a matte option which Apple calls nanotexture.
The Pro Display XDR has the similar design language to that of the Mac Pro, the “Cheese grate” design which helps cooling. It is capable of producing 1000 nits at full screen and can max out at 1600 nits. The Pro Display XDR is priced at $4999 and the Pro stand which you definitely need if you buy the display is priced at $999 separately.
Update to the tvOS
Apple launched a redesigned Apple TV app last month at their Show Time event and now, they are out with some changes and new features coming to the tvOS. Tim Cook announced in the keynote that the new tvOS will have a redesigned home screen with richer and full-screen content previews. Other than that, he said that the tvOS will add multi-user support.
With the help of this multi-user support, you and everyone in your home will get their own personalized recommendations for both Apple TV and Apple Music. Here, Apple Music will add lyrics to the songs that are being played in the tvOS. Launching this fall, tvOS 13 will also add the support for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One controllers.
Along with this, Apple’s new subscription video service, Apple TV Plus is also supposed to launch this fall and we have got a preview of their Original called ‘For All Mankind’.
WatchOS 6
Apple also announced the new WatchOS 6 in WWDC 2019 with minimal yet effective changes. Even though the update doesn’t change much from the previous one, there are iterative improvements and modifications that Apple has talked about. To start with, Apple has introduced more watch faces with change in data that is shown on the display.
Apart from the newly added graphically active watch faces, Apple is bringing more apps to the Watch including a calculator, audiobooks, and voice memos. All these apps can be installed on the watch without the need of the app being installed on the paired iPhone. All this is possible because the WatchOS 6 will have its own App Store.
Apart from this, Apple is definitely expanding the watch’s health features with the new WatchOS 6 with more data and information about your activity. Features include monitoring how noisy the surrounding is and tracking of your menstrual cycle which will help women track their cycle and get notifications about their fertility window. The update will be released this fall and will be made available to the developers this week.
iPad OS
As rumored earlier, Apple has cracked their tablets open from iOS and introduced something called iPad OS. This came as a result after Apple kept tweaking the iOS and they being always struck with some difficulties and issues in either of the platforms.
The new iPad OS consists of a home screen with plenty of widgets which are capable of expanding alongside the app icons. Also, by adding new gestures for multi-tasking, Apple is making it easy to slide between the apps, drag and drop applications side by side on the iPads.
As a result, Apple will have the ability to tweak most of their apps to the users’ comfort. They have the new Files app which now supports native file sharing between the USB drives and the Files. Also, Safari will get 30 new keyboard shortcuts which will help you navigate through the browser easily. You can also use your iPad a secondary display for your Mac with the help of Sidecar feature.
WWDC 2019: macOS Catalina
Apple announced the next version of the macOS, version being macOS 10.15 in the WWDC 2019 and it is called the macOS Catalina. The major update which it pushes is that it helps the developers make the iPad apps available on the Mac easily by using Xcode to target the iPad apps. This is called Project Catalyst as announced by Apple.
By killing their iTunes, Apple cracked it down to three different apps; Apple Music, Podcasts, and Apple TV. You can also use your iPad as a secondary display with the help of Sidecar feature. Apart from this, macOS Catalina also introduces a new way of controlling your Mac, with just your voice. You can watch the video below to know what you can do with this accessibility feature.
Apart from these, Apple also announced new sign-in tool in competition with Facebook and Google. It works similar to the other two, but you can simply use your Apple identification to log into several services. Again, this all comes with provided privacy as promised by Apple.
So, these are the key products and services that were announced in today’s WWDC 2019 event. All that are announced are going to be available this fall and in the software part, the developer previews will be launched this week.
