“A new era begins.” With this message, Apple has announced what could be their most important event of the year. This is the World Developers Conference (WWDC 2023), which is held this Monday afternoon at its headquarters in Cupertino. The latest rumors suggest that the apple company will present mixed reality glasses to compete with other technology giants such as Microsoft, Meta or Oppo. The device, which will reportedly cost around $3,000, aims to change the way users work and play.
“WWDC is always one of my favorite times of the year, and this will be the best of all!” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said on Twitter two hours before the conference began. The event began with him in front of a rainbow in Apple Park, the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, explaining that the company is going to make “some of its biggest announcements at WWDC. We’ll be talking about the future of our amazing software platforms and introducing some exciting new products,” he said.
What’s new on Mac
The first device presented at the event was a 15-inch MacBook Air. Apple’s goal with this laptop is to offer a large screen to users who do not want to opt for a 16-inch MacBook Pro. The device incorporates the M2 chip and is theoretically 12 times faster than the Intel-based MacBook Air. It has a battery that offers an autonomy of 18 hours and its price starts at 1,299 euros.
Apple has also introduced the Mac Pro 2023, a computer that debuts a new processor called M2 Ultra. This is the first major update to the Mac Pro in four years. According to the company, the new device performs three times faster than Intel-powered Macs in several real-world functions. Its price starts at $6,999.
Software Changes
Apple has taken advantage of the event to announce the news of the new iPhone operating system: iOS 17. “We have a powerful new feature to help you make a more informed decision about when to answer and the incoming call,” explained an Apple employee. The company has presented Live Voicemail, a voicemail that transcribes the message that another person leaves you when they call you in real time: “Imagine that you receive a phone call while you are in a meeting and you want to know if it is something urgent or if it can wait . You will see the voicemail directly on your screen to decide whether to go out and take the call or not.
Among the novelties of iOS 17, it also highlights the automatic transcription of audio messages and the possibility of leaving a video message to another person on FaceTime if you do not take the call. Another interesting function is called Check In and it is used to send a notification to family and friends when you arrive safely at home. Apple is also looking at ways to make it easier to share contacts with NameDrop. It would be enough to bring the mobile closer to that of another person to share the number or email by AirDrop. And one more novelty: it will no longer be necessary to say the “hey” of “hey Siri” to activate the assistant.
Some of these new features, like automatic voice memo transcriptions, are coming to iPad OS 17 as well. Apple has also announced some updates to widgets and more lock screen customization. “These interactions with the widgets will make the home screen much more powerful,” they say from the company. In addition, now you can include PDFs within the Notes app and take notes with the Apple Pencil. Apple has also announced that the iPad will detect empty fields in a PDF and suggest how to fill them in.
Expert forecasts
If most years software updates take center stage at WWDC, this time hardware is expected to attract all eyes. That Apple is working on mixed reality glasses is an open secret that has been rumored for years. Mark Gurman, the quintessential whistleblower on everything cooking in Apple’s backroom, has revealed some features of the device, such as the ability to display surround video and an external display for connected Mac computers. Some leaks indicate that the glasses would work with a battery attached to a belt that would be connected to the visor by a cable.
The big question is whether Apple could make this device become a mass product. The apple company, according to Gurman, in January had not achieved a “revolutionary application” to justify a high price and boost its daily use. A “risky” decision according to the analyst, who considers it probable that the first model of these glasses “will be a failure in terms of unit sales”.
Even so, he predicts that the company “could become the market leader in a matter of quarters. While it can take three to five years before a headset becomes a hit, it’s hard to bet against the company’s marketing, engineering and sales prowess. If anyone can make this product category a success, it’s Apple,” he notes.
A few hours before the event, Apple reached an all-time high in market value in the last 17 months and was about to exceed its own barrier of 3,000 million dollars on the stock market. At the beginning of last year, it became the only company to reach this figure. Its last valuation was 2,890 million.
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