Apple WWDC 2022 highlights: new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with M2 chip, iOS 16, and more
We always love to see what Apple has in store—and we know you do too. From 2 new MacBooks to iOS and watchOS upgrades, here’s everything that Apple announced at WWDC 2022.
From supporting underprivileged developers to initiating Tech Talks exclusively for developers, Apple has supported a growing developer community. At today’s Apple WWDC 2022 keynote, the brand announced that iOS 16 has a brand new lock screen, updated Messages, CarPlay support, and more.
Moreover, Apple’s original M1 chip got an upgrade to M2, and you’re going to love the new MacBook Air with M2 and MacBook Pro 13.6″ with M2. Along with this, Apple announced macOS Ventura, iPadOS 16, and watchOS 9. So WWDC 2022 was packed with a lot of new tech to make the lives of Apple fans like us so much easier. Get into the details below.
Look forward to iOS 16
Starting with an all-new lock screen, iOS 16 also has a personalized Safety Check. It’s got some of the most requested features we’ve all wanted for years—and some cool things we never expected.
All-new Lock Screen
This iOS 16 update reimagines how the Lock Screen looks. It gives you new ways to personalize it by just pressing and holding the screen.
You can actually change every element, including the time, date, and font. In fact, you can actually add a widget gallery. Even if you get a lot of notifications, the new Lock Screen makes them look better by rolling them out or hiding them.
Live Activities
This offers compact, glanceable experiences for the many notifications you get. Additionally, the Live Activities feature can improve your experiences with apps like Music by expanding screens.
Focus
The new Lock Screen will let you customize it based on your set Focus mode. You can elevate your app experiences with Focus Filters that help you see what you truly want to see.
Messages
You can finally edit a sent Message. Or you can even Undo Send if required. And you can mark messages as Unread to make it easier to remember to reply when you have time.
SharePlay
From listening to bedtime stories together to listening to the same music, you can now experience your SharePlay directly through FaceTime calls. Additionally, SharePlay is now coming to Messages as well.
Dictation
Used 18 billion times per month, Dictation is definitely a popular feature. The new Dictation features enable you to switch fluidly between voice and touch. And Dictation will now automatically add punctuation to the text.
Live Text in video
Now you can pause a video in any frame and add text impromptu. The new camera view will let you edit a Live Text even faster and make editing a breeze.
Visual Look-Up
You can now select an object from an image and place it as a separate entity without a background.
Wallet
Wallet will offer in-app ID verification—along with necessary privacy features. Sharing Keys will now be easier via a one-tap feature through Messages.
With Tap to Pay on iPhone, you can now use contactless payments via Apple Pay. Additionally, you can now use Apple Pay Later to pay for a purchase in 4 installments. There’s also Order Tracking, which will allow you to check all your Apple Pay orders with proper information and status.
Maps
The new Maps will be enabled in a few more countries, including France and Switzerland. One of the most requested features is Multistop Routing, where you can more effectively set up multiple stops and navigate accordingly.
Getting around in Transit will allow you to gauge the cost of your trip with direct Apple Pay integration, making it easier for you to load your Wallet without leaving Maps. You can also get an immersive Street View experience inside apps like Zillow.
Sports
You can now get live score updates on your new Lock Screen from the Apple TV+ app. Additionally, the Apple News section will now hold a separate section for Sports so you can get the desired updates without any hassle. This new Sports experience will be available in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia for free.
Family Sharing
With options to add account privilege for 5 users at a time, Family Sharing will make it easier for you to manage content across the entire family.
Additionally, Parental Control is improved with Quick Start setups where you can not just control access across apps but also set up screen times with just a single tap.
The best place to make the most of the new Family Sharing features is in Photos. From sharing selective photos to ensuring the edited version of a photo is for everyone to enjoy, you can do it all with the new Family Sharing feature.
Safety Check
Designed to help those in abusive situations, this new set of settings lets you quickly revoke access from people you’ve already shared your settings with.
From not sharing your location to stopping Message sharing, Safety Check is ideal for anyone who would want to revoke access at any given point in time.
Home
The new smart home connectivity standard Matter is now compatible with HomeKit and maintains the highest level of security for your smart home system.
Even Apple can’t see your secure data with this integration. The underlying architecture of the new Home is not just easy to control but also more secure for homes with a lot of smart devices.
There are new categories for climate, lights, security, and more that show a quick highlight of the data right from the home screen. You can also set up widgets on the lock screen to view your data easily.
CarPlay
CarPlay is a must-have feature when shopping for a vehicle in the US. And the next-generation of this service provides content for all of the driver’s needs. Deep integrations with the car’s setup will let you take actions in your driving experience without leaving the CarPlay app. It actually powers your entire driving setup, keeping your privacy in mind.
Enjoy new watchOS 9 features
Astronomy face, lunar calendar, play time, and metropolitan are the new faces in the list. They let you see more information in a small space. From banner notifications to setting up new metrics for fitness, watchOS 9 will enhance your Apple Watch experience even more.
Fitness app
The Fitness app is now available to all iPhone users using the iPhone motion sensors. In it, you can set up distance and time intervals that you can quickly repeat as well as heart rate zones.
And haptic and voice feedback tell you when to switch modes while working out. There’s also a new workout type for triathletes that can automatically switch between cycling, swimming, and running.
Sleep app
Additionally, the Sleep app will now show you Sleep Stage in the watchOS 9 update. It comes with new stages that include REM, Core, and Deep sleep.
Apple is also adding features to help people diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. In fact, watchOS 9 can now track the amount of time your heart spends in A-fib and can identify the time of day or week your A-fib is most active.
Medication Alert
But what makes this watchOS upgrade even healthier is the medication alert system. You can track and manage your meds in the iPhone Health app. All you have to do is scan the medication label and introduce it to your reminder system accordingly.
Be wowed by Apple Silicon M2
The new M2 chip comes with 20 billion transistors, and it includes 100 Gbps memory bandwidth. It also has up to 24 GB of unified memory.
This chip offers 18% greater performance than the M1 version and has 1.9 times faster performance than the latest 10-core PC laptop chip, according to Apple. Furthermore, the M2 has 25% better GPU performance than the M1 at the same power level as well as 35% more at the maximum power level.
With a new neural engine and secure enclave, its new media engine supports 8K video. Furthermore, systems with the M2 will offer playback of multiple streams of 8K and 4K video.
Power through tasks on the MacBook Air with M2
With a strikingly thin design, this new MacBook Air comes with a unibody enclosure that is built to last.
Here are a few other features of the M2 MacBook Air.
- 20% reduction in volume: just 11 mm thin & 2.7 lbs
- 4 finishes: Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, Midnight
- MagSafe charging & 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Headphone jack supports high-impedance headphones
- 13.6″ Liquid Retina Display
- 25% brighter with 500 nits of brightness & 1 billion colors
- New 1080p camera with 2x the low-light performance of outgoing Air
- New beamforming mics & speakers with Dolby Atmos support
- Silent fanless design
- 18-hour video playback battery life
- Power adapter with 2 USB-C ports, supports fast charge: 80% in 20 min
- Starts at $1,199
Work all day on the MacBook Pro 13-Inch with M2
The M2 also comes to the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Though the physical design hasn’t changed, the fan allows the M2 to run faster without thermal throttling. It starts at $1,399.
Do more with macOS Ventura
This software upgrade offers a new way to keep windows automatically organized: Stage Manager. It is basically a single window mode for apps.
You click on an app, it becomes the single window, and everything else goes off to the left. You can group windows, arrange them, and switch between groups.
Additionally, Mail is also getting new search features, autocorrect, and typo correction.
Safari supports new web standards and lets you share tabs with friends. Passwords may be replaced with Passkeys, which use biometrics built into your device and will work seamlessly across platforms—the standard is called the Fido Alliance.
Gaming with Metal 3
Metal Effects upscaling lets you run at higher frame rates by rendering lower-res frames and upscaling them. Moreover, fast-resource loading API minimizes loading time.
Continuity Feature
You can now handoff FaceTime calls from an iPhone to a Mac. In fact, you can now use your iPhone as a webcam with Continuity. And the Continuity camera has Center Stage and Portrait Mode support.
Watch for the iPadOS 16 release
New collaboration features let you kick off collaborating on a file from a button on the share sheet.
The Apple WWDC 2022 demo also showed us a sneak peek at a brand new app called Free Form coming later this year to iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Furthermore, you can now share a set of tabs in FaceTime and see what tabs people are looking at in the tab bar.
Also, Desktop-class apps are coming to the iPad. To add to this, Reference color mode is coming to iPad for photo and video workflows. There’s also a new display scaling setting that allows you to increase the display density to see more apps.
Get ready: Stage Manager window management is also coming to iPad, along with full external display support.
Another fun announcement
Apple is working with Belkin on mounts for iPhone-as-camera setups, which will be coming later this year.
What are you most excited about from today’s event? Let us know!
