All The Biggest Updates At Apple's WWDC 2023

Mar 30, 2023

Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year has proven itself to be chock-full of mind-blowing updates across the US tech company's many operating systems and Apple products. The company even unveiled a brand new product category with its Apple Vision Pro, its first-ever "spatial computer" for augmented reality.

Beyond just developer updates, Apple users also got treated to an unveiling of updates to its many operating systems (iOS 17, iPadOS 17, WatchOS 10, macOS Sonoma), on top of an overpowered system-on-chip (SoC) based on Apple Silicon's M2 that comes with its 2023 Mac Pro systems. Below is a collection of all Apple's major announcements at WWDC 2023.

Related article: Apple Introduces Final Cut Pro And Logic Pro To iPad

Users will soon be able to use their TV to video chat with friends and family when tvOS 17 adds FaceTime to their Apple TV 4K box.

Users can take advantage of the new FaceTime app on their Apple TV and initiate calls directly from Apple TV, or start calls on iPhone or iPad, and hand them off to their TV. FaceTime on Apple TV uses Continuity Camera to wirelessly connect to the user's iPhone or iPad, using the device's camera and microphone to bring participants together in FaceTime on the TV with Centre Stage keeping everyone in the frame.

And it's not just FaceTime that is making an appearance. According to Apple, video conferencing apps like Webex by Cisco and Zoom will launch on tvOS, bringing their communications capabilities to Apple TV 4K.

tvOS 17 also brings an updated control center that now displays system status, including the time and active profile, access to key settings and information, and expands with other helpful details based on a user's activity. It also adds the ability to find their Siri Remote (2nd generation or later) in a way somewhat similar to an Apple AirTracker.

tvOS 17 is adding a karaoke-like function for users who love singing. Apple Music Sing lets users sing along to their favourite tracks — will also integrate Continuity Camera so users can see themselves onscreen and add entertaining filters.

While WWDC 2023 announcements like the new Apple Mac Pro with M2 Ultra and the Apple Vision Pro spatial computer stole the show, Apple hasn't forgotten to share some love with its more mainstream products, like its true wireless earbuds.

The US tech company announced a major update to its second-generation Apple AirPods Pro. It adds three new noise-cancellation features to make these buds even more useful when you’re out and about.

Personalised Volume is what the AirPods Pro uses to understand your audio conditions and preferences over time, where it employs machine learning to grant its user a better listening experience.

Additionally, there's Conversation Awareness for the 2022 Apple true wireless earbuds. When speaking to someone in person, this feature automatically lowers the audio volume and brings up voices, all while keeping environmental noise to a minimum.

Also implemented across the Apple devices and AirPods lineup is Automatic Switching. Apple claimed that the AirPods buds would be faster at hopping between active Apple devices (iPhone, Mac, etc.) for listening, although the specific ways it does so remains to be seen.

Also new is a new mute/unmute shortcut on AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation,), AirPods (3rd generation), and AirPods Max. To mute yourself in a call, press the stem on the true wireless earbuds, or turn the digital crown on the headphones.

Apple said that these new audio features will roll out "later this year" as a free firmware update.

Apple has finally unveiled the Mac Pro. On any other day, this would have been big news, but it's understandably overshadowed by the Vision Pro headset.

It doesn't look all that different from its predecessor, which was launched way back at WWDC 2019. It has what has become widely referred to as the "cheese grater" design, which is supposed to improve cooling.

Inside, it's finally running Apple Silicon. All Mac Pros will come with Apple's most powerful M2 Ultra chip with 24 CPU cores and 60 GPU cores. Users who demand more graphics performance can spec their Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra chip that has 72 GPU cores. The maximum memory possible is 192GB and the maximum possible storage is an 8TB SSD.

What makes the Mac Pro stand out is its expandability. It has six PCIe 4.0 expansion slots – two x16 and four x8 slots. Apple says professionals can use the slots with dedicated DSP cards, serial digital interface I/O cards, or to further expand networking and storage.

In terms of ports, the Mac Pro has eight USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. There are two on the top panel and the other six are at the back. On top of that, it has three USB-A ports and two "higher-bandwidth" HDMI ports that can output at up to 8K and 240Hz frame rates.

For professionals who do not need the expansion slots or perhaps something more compact, Apple has updated the Mac Studio. It's now powered by the newer M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips.

That right, you can outfit the Mac Studio with the same range-topping M2 Ultra chip with 24 CPU cores and 72 GPU cores as the Mac Pro. Maximum memory and maximum storage are the same at 192GB and 8TB respectively.

Physically, the updated Mac Studio looks identical to the model it replaces. There are two USB-C ports on the front as well as an SD card reader. Behind, there are four USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, a 10Gb Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones.

The Mac Pro and Mac Studio will be available to pre-order starting 9 June.

Prices of the Mac Pro start at S$9,999 while prices of the Mac Studiovstart at S$2,999.

There's a new MacBook Air and it's the largest yet. It has a 15-inch display. Well, 15.3, to be exact.

To keep it short, this new 15-inch model is really just a 13-inch MacBook Air with a larger display and more speakers. The colour options are identical: Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Space Grey.

It's remarkably thin for a 15-inch notebook, measuring just 11.5mm thick. The weight is 1.51kg. In the hands, it feels noticeably heavier than its smaller sibling, but it's still impressively light for a 15-inch notebook. The body is aluminium and, like any other MacBook, feels absolutely rock solid.

The display is Liquid Retina and it is 15.3 inches large. It looks substantially larger than the 13-inch MacBook Air. The display's resolution is 2,880 x 1,864 pixels, which gives it a pixel density count of 224 pixels per inch – identical to the smaller MacBook Air. Peak brightness is unchanged at 500 nits and the larger display also supports the P3 colour space and True Tone technology.

The other notable difference is the speaker system. Presumably because of its bigger size, Apple was able to outfit the 15-inch MacBook Air with a six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers. The smaller MacBook Air has a four-speaker system.

Inside, like the smaller model, the larger MacBook Air is powered by the M2 chip. However, there's only a 10-GPU core option. You can equip your 15-inch MacBook Air with up to 24GB of memory and the maximum storage is a 2TB SSD.

Ports are unchanged so you get two USB-C Thunderbolt 3/USB4 ports on the left and a 3.5mm audio jack on the right. There's MagSafe so you won't have to sacrifice a USB port to charge.

Based on first impressions, this looks like a solid option for anyone who wants a relatively affordable MacBook with a larger display. Performance should be good given that it's powered by the M2 chip and the display looks quite good even with the terrible lighting in the hands-on area.

The new 15-inch MacBook Air will be available to pre-order on 7 June with prices starting at S$1,899.

In conjunction with this announcement, the 13-inch MacBook Air also gets a price cut with prices now starting at S$1,599 – S$100 than its launch price of S$1,699.

At Apple's WWDC 2023 the company unveiled iPadOS 17 and a host of new features that come along with it.

To kick things off, Widgets have been made interactive. Users can take an action without needing to access the App the Widget is for. For example, users can turn on the lights, play a song, or mark a reminder as complete, right from a Widget. These new Interactive Widgets can be added to both the Lock and Home Screens to make it easy to either take action or get relevant information. Updates to WidgetKit will allow developers to build interactivity into their widgets.

To take full advantage of the larger iPad screen, users can now personalise the Lock Screen by customising it with new Wallpapers and their Photos. Users can select a photo, a set of photos that shuffle throughout the day, or a Live Photo with added smooth slow-motion effect, whenever they wake their iPad.

Besides Photos, users can customise their Wallpaper with different font styles and colours to customise the look of the date and time or create unique designs with their favourite emoji and colour combinations.

Live Activities allows users to keep track of things that are happening in real-time. For example, they can keep track of a food order, a sports score, and a timer.

iPadOS 17 makes it easier to work with PDFs by using machine learning to identify fields in a PDF so that users can quickly add details, such as names, addresses, and emails from Contacts. The way we view them is also better with iPadOS 17 allowing PDFs to appear full width, making it easy to flip through pages, make a quick annotation, or sketch directly in the document with Apple Pencil.

The Notes app has been updated to give users new ways to organise, read, annotate, and collaborate on PDFs. With Live Collaboration, updates appear in real-time when users are sharing a note with others.

iPadOS 17 will also bring the Health app to your iPad. With an optimised design for the iPad display, Apple has upgraded the app in multiple ways, allowing users to receive insights into their health data with Trends, Highlights, and detailed interactive charts, manage their medications, use Cycle Tracking, log their momentary emotions and daily moods, and view their available health records from multiple institutions.

Newly added Emoji and Live Stickers are new ways to interact when using Messages. Users have access to a new drawer that gathers all of a user's stickers in one place across iPadOS.

Users can now record Audio messages to be sent and are transcribed automatically so users can read them in the moment or listen later. When a user shares their location in Messages, it shows up live in the conversation until the sharing session is over.

Safari has now added Private Browsing to allow users to lock the window they’re viewing with Face ID or Touch ID, and removes trackers used for cross-site tracking. With Profiles, users can keep their browsing in Safari separate between topics like work and personal. Each Profile has their own history, cookies, Tab Groups, and Favourites, and it's easy to switch between them.

Other additional updates in iPadOS 17 include:

The developer beta of iPadOS 17 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available to iPadOS users next month at beta.apple.com. More information can be found here.

When you think the Apple Watch couldn't get any better, Apple shows how it doubles down on the smartwatch's operating system — WatchOS 10 — at its WWDC 2023 keynote to make it even more comprehensive. We’ve summarised all the key updates below.

A significant change lies in the way you interact with your Apple Watch. Now, you can turn the digital crown to check your Smart Stacks notifications from any watch face.

You can long-press widgets to add to the Smart Stack. This makes it possible to set just about any crucial widget as part of the stack for all that crown rotation. The examples Apple gave include your flight boarding passes in Apple Wallet and Reminders for any upcoming meetings.

Default apps, like Weather, Stocks, Home, Maps, Messages, World Clock, and more, now use the full Apple Watch display to show all metrics and information at a glance. This also applies to Streaks (progress-based metrics) for the Activity and Fitness apps.

Third-party app developers can also implement Smart Stack compatibility with their apps, should they choose to do so.

Apple Watch gets two new watch faces, Palette (a colour-shifting watch face), and Snoopy & Woodstock. The Snoopy-branded watch face is also interactive, where it plays with watch hands, reacts to weather conditions, and workouts.

The Cycling app for Apple Watch gets new features — Apple Watch can now connect to Bluetooth-connected cycling sensors (s power meters, speed sensors, and cadence sensors) to acquire additional data like cadence and cycling intensity (Functional Threshold Power) and power zones.

The Cycling app has also been optimised for the iPhone, so it now shows all your cycling data as a Live Activity, where you can tap and check all the metrics on a full-screen format — helpful if you have the phone mounted on a bicycle.

For hiking, there are new features via the Compass app. One is the Last Cellular Connection, which estimates the nearest place with mobile data with your network provider. Next is the Last Emergency Call Waypoint, which pins any network for emergency calls on your map.

For route preparation, there's Elevation View which shows three-dimensional data in Maps. US-based users even get additional topographic map features to show your routes with more hiking data (contour lines, hill shading, elevation details, and points of interest).

For developers of other sporting apps, a new high-frequency motion data is now available, which lets users refine motions via added velocity and acceleration data. For example, golfing uses high-frequency motion data to check your golf swings.

WatchOS 10 also improved upon two health-related measurements to the devices — mental health and myopia.

For mental health, the Mindfulness app now lets users log their momentary emotions and daily moods via multidimensional shapes. It also works with the Health app on iPhone even if you don't have Apple Watch.

Additional screening tools like depression and anxiety assessment are also available via the Health app. To use them, answer questions about how you feel, and it will generate a PDF report of results for caregivers to refer to when you attend therapy sessions. Apple caveated that the assessments are not medical reports, so it's important to bring them with you during treatment.

In myopia prevention, Apple Watch can measure the time spent under daylight. This helps to see if the user meets the U.S. health recommendation of 80 to 120 minutes of daylight activity to reduce myopia.

Another addition via the Health app is Screen Distance for iPad and iPhone, where the feature uses the device's TrueDepth Camera and measures if a person is holding the device too close to their face to encourage healthier viewing habits.

Both mental health and myopia metrics are viewable as metrics via the Health app.

Apple's WatchOS 10 will be available "later this year," and it requires Apple iOS 17 for its full set of features to work.

Apple has officially ventured into the Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) space, with the unveiling of the Vision Pro, an extended reality (XR) headset, at their WWDC 2023 developer conference. This is Apple's first major hardware launch since the debut of the Apple Watch in 2015.

The device features a battery pack connected via a wire, designed to be stowed in a pocket or attached to a belt. Details regarding the specifications remain under wraps but Apple did reveal that the Vision Pro can last for up to two hours with its battery pack.

Heres a quick look at the just announced Apple Vision Pro! It's surprisngly compact and looks super sleek. #hwz #hwzsg #apple #visionpro #applevisionpro #ar #vr #headset #visionos #wwdc23 #wwdc

♬ original sound – HardwareZone – HardwareZone

Operating the Vision Pro promises to be intuitive for iOS and iPadOS users, featuring a home screen with movable apps and widgets. Applications appear as though they are suspended in the user's space, casting realistic shadows and reacting to light in the room. The headset allows users to easily switch between AR and VR modes.

Interaction with the Vision Pro is achieved solely through eye movements, hand gestures, and voice commands, eliminating the need for a separate controller. Moreover, Apple has incorporated the EyeSight feature, enabling users’ eyes to be visible on an external screen, an effort to maintain a connection with others in the vicinity and indicating whether the user is in AR or VR mode.

In terms of productivity, users can create an ‘app canvas,’ allowing apps to be placed freely within the screen. The headset replicates a floating Mac interface, with the ability to seamlessly switch between apps by simply turning one's head.

Compatible with Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard, the Vision Pro also offers the option to project a Mac's screen onto the headset, functioning as a sizable 4K display. Apple has also integrated a version of FaceTime into the device, permitting digital interactions during calls.

Showcased as a versatile multimedia tool, the Vision Pro allows users to view photos floating in their space or immerse themselves in iPhone-captured panoramas. Equipped with a camera, users can take photos and videos to later view in 3D. The device subtly blinks to signal to others when images are being captured.

The Vision Pro also doubles as a personal cinema, enabling users to customise screen size within their space while incorporating spatial audio. Users can also simulate a movie theater experience larger than their home. An example of the device's capabilities was demonstrated with a 3D viewing of Avatar: The Way of the Water.

For gaming, Apple says the Vision Pro has been equipped with game controller support, promising access to a vast library of Apple Arcade games upon launch.

Last but not least, Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, joined Apple CEO Tim Cook at WWDC to showcase the entertainment potential of the Vision Pro.

Disney Plus, including customised versions of shows like The Mandalorian, as well as customised ESPN game views featuring 3D replays, was revealed. Disney also previewed a Marvel: What If? game that immerses you in the role of a superhero. Iger affirmed that Disney Plus will be ready on the launch day of Vision Pro, showcasing the strong partnerships Apple has cultivated for the headset. Clearly, Apple is not venturing into this new frontier alone but is backed by robust partnerships, ready for a game-changing launch.

The Vision Pro is priced at US$3,499 and will be available in 2024.

Apple is bringing many new features to its iPhone operating system, all packed within Apple iOS 17. We’ve summarised all the key updates below, as seen at Apple's developer conference, WWDC 2023.

Phone, the default iPhone calling app, now supports Personalised Contact Posters. In a nutshell, you can customise specific callers and contacts with features similar to how you’d personalise your Lock Screen. Personalise Contact Posters lets you specify the font, colours, and images used for each contact, and it also supports vertical text for languages that use them (such as Japanese and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese). App developers can use CallKit API also to support Personalised Contact Posters in their calling apps.

Voicemail now gets real-time transcription just as voicemail messages start coming in, allowing users to determine if the message content is important enough to drop what they’re doing and join the call. Real-time voicemail transcription is handled on-device, so the message content isn't sent anywhere beyond your iPhone for processing.

FaceTime now gets Record FaceTime Messages for users who want to make a video note, if the other party isn't available to take a call.

Messages (the default short message app on iPhone) now come with search filters, letting users narrow down their search results among their many text messages.

For groupchats, users can use the new Catch-Up arrow, which jumps to the first unread message in the groupchat.

The app is also now slightly more intuitive, supporting Swipe To Reply, where you can swish a finger to reply to a specific message.

Voice messages also get transcription, so you can read voice messages when it's inconvenient for users to listen in.

Like WhatsApp's Live Location, Messages now get In-line Location for users to keep others updated on their journey without leaving the Messages app. Added to that is the Check-In feature, which prompts users to press when they’ve arrived at their destination. The receiver gets a notification if they arrived safely, and a host of information (battery levels, last seen location, etc.) should they not.

The Plus button (sub-menu inside Messages) now gets significantly more menu options. One is Stickers, where all user-created Stickers and emoji Stickers are housed within a Sticker tab.

Finally, you can reply to messages with Stickers without having to respond to specific messages with symbols strictly. Stickers also have third-party app support so that other apps can use Stickers should app developers enable the option.

A new feature is NameDrop, where you use AirDrop to trade contact details with new people. You can select specific information (number, email, etc.) to share with people, along with your Personalised Contact Poster. NameDrop also works between iPhone-to-Apple Watch.

Large files now come with Internet connectivity support, so users trading large files don't have to stay nearby for the file to finish its transfer. The AirDropped large file will hand off its transfer to an Internet connection (mobile data, Wi-Fi) should these users move apart.

SharePlay API is available to app developers who want to tap further into AirDrop's sharing features.

Word prediction now uses a Transformer language model to run its predictions, which runs every time you tap the keyboard (rendering more accurate predictions).

The new language model also offers sentence-level grammar correction. In addition, users can tap underlined words to check what they originally wrote, and undo any edits they don't need.

The same applies to Dictation, where speech is more accurate with its new language model.

Journal is a new app to the iOS ecosystem that does exactly what it says on the sticker tin — it's an app for users to journal significant memories for their well-being.

The Journal app relies on on-device machine learning to piece together an eventful day on behalf of the iPhone user, taking cues from the user's photos, location, music, workouts, and more. When journaling, the app puts out writing prompts to entice users into writing down their thoughts, based on the pieces of memories shown.

Content in Journal is highly private, and nobody has access to what's inside, not even Apple.

Users can now turn the iPhone sideways when charging to get an alarm clock-sque Always On Display that shows the time, alarm and date.

StandBy comes with several faces, where you can select your preferred StandBy screen or favourite Widgets or Widget Stacks for display (e.g. your upcoming schedule, food delivery, etc.). Finally, StandBy also has a low-light adaption feature, where it switches to a red overlay when it's time for bed.

Users can also say "Siri" to use the voice assistant. In addition, Apple Maps now support offline maps (just like Google Maps), and albums in Photos now come with pet recognition to create pet albums.

Apple iOS 17 will come to iPhones "this fall", Q3 2023.

This article originally appeared in Hardware Zone.

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