Apple’s WWDC 2017 – iMac Pro, HomePod, MacOS High Sierra and More

Every year we get super excited about Apple’s WWDC. We love to see their latest iOS and OS versions and, if we are lucky, some new products as well. This year wasn’t an exception. Apple has released a few updates for its products and we can’t wait to get our hands on them. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s WWDC.

watchOS 4 

• New Watch Faces
• Personalized Activity Notifications
• Enhanced Workout App (multiple workouts in a single session)
• Sync your iWatch with Gym equipment (starting this fall)
• Enhanced Music App
• watchOS 4 Will be available Fall 2017

Mac OS High Sierra

Safari Improvements:

• Auto-play blocking (for all these annoying auto-play videos on the web).
• Intelligent tracking prevention

Mail Improvements:

• Split View while composing new emails
• 35% Faster

Photos App Improvements

• Filter photos by keywords, location
• Improved Face Recognition
• Enhanced Editing (curves, selective color)
• Synched edited photos from 3rd party apps.

New File System (APFS – Apple File System)

• Advanced architecture
• Instant file and directory cloning
• Fast directory sizing
• Zero copy snapshots
• Parallelized metadata operations
• Frequently used items in inode
• Sparse file writes
• 40% Better compression with H.264 format

Graphics

• New Version of Metal (Metal 2) offers 10X better draw call throughout
• Mission Control now uses Metal
• Metal is now available for machine learning
• Metal for external graphics
• Metal for VR
• Steam VR dk is now available for the Mac

Developer beta will be available today, public beta will be available late June 2017 and the public launch will be this fall.

iMac Updates

• Better iMac displays (up to a billion colors)
• Faster processors (7th-gen Intel Core) / 10-bit HEVC decode
• Higher memory: 27-inch up to 64GB of memory
• Super fast storage (Fusion Drive on all 27-inch/Up to 50% faster SSDs/Up to 2TBs)
• 2x Thunderbolt 3 connectors
• Next Generation Graphics for all models (80% faster graphics for the 21.5 inch/3X faster graphics for 27 inch 4K/Up to 5.5 Teraflops for the 5K 27 inch iMac)
• 4K iMac starts at $1,299

Macbook Updates

• Faster processors (7th-gen Intel Core) / 10-bit HEVC decode
• Faster SSDs (50% faster)
• Better graphics
• 13-inch Macbook Pro now starts at $1,299
• All of the updated models are available today (June 5th 2017)

iMac Pro Sneak Peak

• Available in Space Gray
• Workstation class performance
• Increased cooling capacity by 80%
• 8-Core Xeon Processor/10-Core Xeon Processor/18-Core Xeon Processor
• The most powerful Mac ever made
• Radeon Vega Graphics (up to 16GB cram)
• Up to 11 Teraflops single precision power
• Up to 22 Teraflops half precision power
• Up to 128 GB ECC memory
• Up to 4TB of 3GB/second SSD
• 4X Thunderbolt ports
• 10Gb Ethernet
• Up to 44 Million pixels
• 1080p FaceTime camera
• VESA mount option
• Available for $4,999 in December 2017.

iOS 11

• iMessage iCloud Sync + redesigned App drawer
• Apple Pay Cash Card for person to person payments
• Siri now supports deep learning
• New visual interface for Siri
• Siri can now help you translate live (English, Chinese, German Italian, Spanish) (beta)
• Improved Camera app – it will use 2x less storage on your device and on the cloud, Depth API.
• Improved Photos app – Uses machine learning to identify things like weddings, soccer games etc.
• Improved Memories by using machine learning
• Redesigned Control Center
• Redesigned lock screen
• Redesigned Notification Center
• New effects for Live Photos
• Apple Pay within iMessage
• Enhanced Maps – now include maps to malls and airports with lane guidance and speed limit.
• New Do not Disturb While Driving mode that syncs with Car Play.
• Improved HomeKit
• New AirPlay 2 Protocol – Supports speakers (AirOlay 2 audio API)
• New Apple Music feature – What your friends are listing to?
• MusicKit for Apple Music

Redesigned Appstore

• New Today tab
• New app page features
• New Featured tab
• New Games tab
• App Stories
• App of the Day

New Developer APIs based on Core ML

• Vision API
• Natural Language API
• ARKit (Augmented Reality Kit with Motion Tracking)

New iPad Pro with 10.5-inch Display

• Weight: 1 lb.
• Larger display / 50% brighter display
• Full-size on-screen keyboard
• HDR Video / 600 nits brightness / ultralow reflectivity
• Pro Motion up to 120 Hz refresh rate  (smoother content and scrolling)
• Only 20ms latency for Apple Pencil
• A10X Fusion Chip (Six-core CPU) 30% faster CPU performance and 40% faster graphics performance
• 12MP camera with 4K video
• 7MP FaceTime HD camera
• Fast USB 3 transfer and fast charging (50% faster charging)
• Starting at 64GB of memory with $649 for the 10.5-inch and $799 for the 12.9-inch version.
• The new iPads are available today

iOS 11 & the new iPad

• Dock – Switch apps faster and pull apps from the dock.
• New App Switcher
• Drag and drop support
• Quicktype
• New files app (Grid View / List View)
• Screenshot editor
• Camera scanner

HomePod 

• 7 inches tall
• 7 beam-forming tweeter array
• Directional control
• 4-inch woofer
• A8 chip
• 6 microphones
• Siri integration
• HomeKit integration
• Home assistant (weather, news, podcasts, alarms, traffic, sports, etc.)
• Available in 2 colors (Black & White). Starts shipping this December with US, UK and Australia at $379