Apple Event Roundup for March 8, 2022

Apple announced some new products today.  The announcements were small by Apple standards, at least in the consumer space.  Let’s go through them, in chronological order. 

There will be another roundup of the non Apple news over the past few days.  That will be a separate post.

Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+

First up is a foray into sports broadcasting for Apple.  Whenever the 2022 Major League Baseball season begins (thanks, lockout) Apple has secured the rights to a weekly doubleheader of games that will air exclusively on Apple TV+. The exclusivity means that games will not air on local television in the markets of the teams playing in the games, and that Apple TV+ will be the only way to watch those two games every week.

The service will launch in Canada, which means that there may be the occasional Friday night Toronto Blue Jays game that is only available on Apple TV+.  You know… assuming there is a baseball season.

Green iPhone 13

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro now come in Green.  This concludes your iPhone 13 updates.

IPhone SE Gets Spec Bump and 5G

The iPhone SE, Apple’s least expensive new iPhone has received a minor update.  The 2022 model of the iPhone SE includes the same A15 Bionic processor found in the iPhone 13, and the phone now features 5G support.  The phone is otherwise completely unchanged, still featuring the same body and style as the iPhone 8.

Battery life was a concern on the 2020 iPhone SE, so it remains to be seen what the 2022 model with a more power hungry 5G radio will do.

The iPhone SE (2022) is up for pre-order now and will be available on March 18, starting at $580

IPad Air Gets Spec Bump, 5G, And Small Price Decrease

The iPad Air also saw an update.  The 2022 iPad Air now features the Apple M1 Processor that is found in the MacBok Air, MacBook Pro 13, and iPad Pro.  There is optional 5G support as well.  That is the extent of the changes to the iPad Air, but the upgrade to the M1 Processor is an interesting dynamic.  The iPad Air is now just as powerful and the more expensive iPad Pro, with the iPad Pro’s primary advantage being a better display and speakers.

The iPad Air has also received a small price cut in Canada.  The 2020 iPad Air started at $780 for 64GB of storage, while the 2022 model starts at $750 for the same 64GB of storage.  The iPad Air remains an expensive upgrade from the basic iPad, but is now a very compelling option when compared to the iPad Pro.

 The iPad Air (2022) is up for pre-order now and is available on March 18, starting at $750.

Mac Studio Launches, brings new M1 Ultra Processor

There is a new member of the Mac family.  The Mac Studio is a desktop workstation computer that looks like two or three Mac Mini’s stacked on top of each other.  It has all the ports, which is a welcome departure for Apple, and is marketed at professional workflows needing powerful computers.  This is not something you buy to read Twitter.

Powering the $2500 base model of the Mac Studio is the same M1 Max CPU found in the high end version of the 16” MacBook Pro launched in 2021.  But the high end version of the Mac Studio features a new M1 Ultra processor.

What is the M1 Ultra?  It is essentially two M1 Max processors stuck together to form one giant (literally) processor.  The M1 Ultra uses a custom Apple built interconnect between the two M1 Max CPU’s to facilitate this, with Apple claiming speeds of up to 2.5 TB/s between the two M1 Max CPU’s.  This system also allows the M1 Ultra to appear as one processor to software instead of two, which means that software does not need to be re-written to take advantage of the horsepower the new system provides.  Apple provided its usual graphs saying the M1 Ultra is 3.8x better than this or that without providing any actual metrics, so we will wait for reviews.  The M1 Ultra does look like a monster, and will be very capable.  Again, this is not a consumer device, and will find its home among those developing the next Marvel movie, not the person reading Twitter.

The Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra starts at $4500 in Canada.  Both the M1 Max and M1 Ultra models are available for pre-order now and ship on March 18th.

Studio Display is a Monitor From Apple Does Not Cost $5000

Apple finally announced a new monitor that, while still stupidly expensive, is not so absurdly expensive that we should all point and laugh at it.

The Studio Display is a 5k display that starts at $2000 in Canada.  What makes this display interesting is the fact that it includes a webcam that features Apple’s face tracking technology to keep subjects in the center of the screen.  That feature is powered by an Apple A13 processor, the same processor that was found in the iPhone 11.  Yes, there is a monitor with the guts of an iPhone 11 inside.

Your $2000 includes a basic tilt stand or a VESA mount adapter.  A stand that is allows you to ajust the height of the monitor is an additional $500.

The Studio Display is available for pre-order now and ships on March 18.