WWDC21 Preview from the Apple Silicon Labs!
Everything we’re expecting (and Hoping for) at Apple’s 2 June events! http://iCaveDave.com/merch Is WWDC still for developers? Software platforms, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS and macOS. And it seems that this year, according to Apple’s own job listing that was hastily corrected, homeOS may well be joining the party. This is most likely to be the name for HomePod software although many have speculated that it could incorporate tvOS too, being the OS that supports Apple’s HomeKit smart home devices. iOS is expected to get updated lock screens, though even this may not be announced if its designed specifically for the rumoured always on displays on the next generation of iPhones, with their variable refresh rate displays. There have also been some minor tweaks seen to the way that iOS settings are displayed, with pill shaped options rather than full width that we have right now. Over at iPadOS everyone is hoping for some bigger changes to the way the OS works, separating it a bit further from iOS. tvOS will get deeper integration with HomeKit devices I’d guess, the colour calibration could have been a new OS feature easily but Apple introduced it for the new model in April, so perhaps they have more up their sleeves or perhaps we’ll get trailers for another AppleTV Plus show and Ted Lasso merchandise. You know, because Devs love Ted Lasso. watchOS could well be adding more to Apple Fitness Plus, Sleep Health or something similar, and perhaps there could be some detection of conditions like Sleep Apnea included too. And then Hardware. As we all know, WWDC is a software event where Apple doesn’t release hardware. Except 2017 where Apple Announced updates to the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, the iMac Pro, 10.5” iPad Pro and the first HomePod. Or 2019 with the new Cheesegrater Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR. Or last year when Apple announced the transition to Apple silicon. OK, not a system, but the M1 is hardware, so I’m taking it. As usual, renders are provided by the very talented Apple Tomorrow who also rendered the lab behind me. Go check out Saad on Twitter. @Apple_Tomorrow So in order of, for me, most likely to least likely but possible… MacBook Pro 14” and 16” tops the list, and introduces the M1X or whatever Apple calls their high performance variant of the M1 generation. Rumoured to have 10 cores, 2 efficiency and 8 high performance along with a 16 or 32 Core GPU. These MacBooks are also rumoured to bring back MagSafe, HDMI ports and an SD Card reader built into the system, along with improved displays, possibly with miniLED XDR displays. These are questionable though due to possible supply constraints but we’ve seen conflicting information on both sides of this. I’d expect pricing to be consistent with the machines these replace at 1799 and 2399 for the larger model, maybe adding $100 to the price if the XDR Displays are ready, just like iPad Pro 12.9”, though with the removal of the Touch Bar, this price bump may not be needed. Next, the redesigned Mac mini. We’ve seen leaked schematics turned into renders by Jon Prosser and Ian Zelbo but there’s no word on when this could be launched The iMac we’re expecting is between 30 and 32” for the display, with my money on 31.5” (though they may market it as 32”). And just like the MacBook Pros and Mac mini, this iMac will also cary the M1X chip, which to me suggests it should also launch sooner rather than later. Don’t want to be overlapping with the M2 chips in October, which as we’ve explained before won’t be there to compete on raw power with M1x, but will perform 20-25% faster than M1 because the individual cores will be faster. M1X will likely perform around 80-100% faster than M1 on multithreaded tasks, and even better in graphics processing, assuming the higher 32 Core GPU models. I think there’s also an outside chance that we see the Apple Silicon Mac Pro, which I’m still betting contains multiple M1X SOCs, though how they’re combined to work together is way beyond me, but the core counts line up perfectly. 20 cores, with 4 efficiency and 16 performance is a pair of M1Xs, and 40 cores with 8 efficiency and 32 performance is four working together, also giving a maximum of 128 GPU cores. Now I don’t think we’ll see this released, but it could get announced for a December which has historically been when the high end pro machines from WWDC like iMac Pro and Mac Pro get their public releases. And that would be all, except that we now have a second event just 2 hours after the beginning of WWDC for Apple’s Spatial audio being introduced Join the conversation http://iCaveDave.com/twitter http://iCaveDave.com/facebook http://iCaveDave.com/instagram http://iCaveDave.com/youtube http://iCaveDave.com/merch http://iCaveDave.com/discord
Everything we’re expecting (and Hoping for) at Apple’s 2 June events! http://iCaveDave.com/merch Is WWDC still for developers? Software platforms, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS and macOS. And it seems that this year, according to Apple’s own job listing that was hastily corrected, homeOS may well be joining the party. This is most likely to be the name for HomePod software although many have speculated that it could incorporate tvOS too, being the OS that supports Apple’s HomeKit smart home devices. iOS is expected to get updated lock screens, though even this may not be announced if its designed specifically for the rumoured always on displays on the next generation of iPhones, with their variable refresh rate displays. There have also been some minor tweaks seen to the way that iOS settings are displayed, with pill shaped options rather than full width that we have right now. Over at iPadOS everyone is hoping for some bigger changes to the way the OS works, separating it a bit further from iOS. tvOS will get deeper integration with HomeKit devices I’d guess, the colour calibration could have been a new OS feature easily but Apple introduced it for the new model in April, so perhaps they have more up their sleeves or perhaps we’ll get trailers for another AppleTV Plus show and Ted Lasso merchandise. You know, because Devs love Ted Lasso. watchOS could well be adding more to Apple Fitness Plus, Sleep Health or something similar, and perhaps there could be some detection of conditions like Sleep Apnea included too. And then Hardware. As we all know, WWDC is a software event where Apple doesn’t release hardware. Except 2017 where Apple Announced updates to the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, the iMac Pro, 10.5” iPad Pro and the first HomePod. Or 2019 with the new Cheesegrater Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR. Or last year when Apple announced the transition to Apple silicon. OK, not a system, but the M1 is hardware, so I’m taking it. As usual, renders are provided by the very talented Apple Tomorrow who also rendered the lab behind me. Go check out Saad on Twitter. @Apple_Tomorrow So in order of, for me, most likely to least likely but possible… MacBook Pro 14” and 16” tops the list, and introduces the M1X or whatever Apple calls their high performance variant of the M1 generation. Rumoured to have 10 cores, 2 efficiency and 8 high performance along with a 16 or 32 Core GPU. These MacBooks are also rumoured to bring back MagSafe, HDMI ports and an SD Card reader built into the system, along with improved displays, possibly with miniLED XDR displays. These are questionable though due to possible supply constraints but we’ve seen conflicting information on both sides of this. I’d expect pricing to be consistent with the machines these replace at 1799 and 2399 for the larger model, maybe adding $100 to the price if the XDR Displays are ready, just like iPad Pro 12.9”, though with the removal of the Touch Bar, this price bump may not be needed. Next, the redesigned Mac mini. We’ve seen leaked schematics turned into renders by Jon Prosser and Ian Zelbo but there’s no word on when this could be launched The iMac we’re expecting is between 30 and 32” for the display, with my money on 31.5” (though they may market it as 32”). And just like the MacBook Pros and Mac mini, this iMac will also cary the M1X chip, which to me suggests it should also launch sooner rather than later. Don’t want to be overlapping with the M2 chips in October, which as we’ve explained before won’t be there to compete on raw power with M1x, but will perform 20-25% faster than M1 because the individual cores will be faster. M1X will likely perform around 80-100% faster than M1 on multithreaded tasks, and even better in graphics processing, assuming the higher 32 Core GPU models. I think there’s also an outside chance that we see the Apple Silicon Mac Pro, which I’m still betting contains multiple M1X SOCs, though how they’re combined to work together is way beyond me, but the core counts line up perfectly. 20 cores, with 4 efficiency and 16 performance is a pair of M1Xs, and 40 cores with 8 efficiency and 32 performance is four working together, also giving a maximum of 128 GPU cores. Now I don’t think we’ll see this released, but it could get announced for a December which has historically been when the high end pro machines from WWDC like iMac Pro and Mac Pro get their public releases. And that would be all, except that we now have a second event just 2 hours after the beginning of WWDC for Apple’s Spatial audio being introduced Join the conversation http://iCaveDave.com/twitter http://iCaveDave.com/facebook http://iCaveDave.com/instagram http://iCaveDave.com/youtube http://iCaveDave.com/merch http://iCaveDave.com/discord