Live from Apple Park in Cupertino, here is a summary of everything announced in WWDC 2023. There are too many goodies to talk about, so strap up and let’s go! 

Hardware Updates

Apple surprisingly went hard on hardware this time around, with three new Macs, so let’s talk about the new 15-inch MacBook Air first.

15-inch M2 MacBook Air

The brand-new 11.5mm thin MacBook Air will be fanless, weighs just under 1.51kgs and features a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina Display.

Now, powering this device is the M2 Chip which supports up to 24GB of unified memory and 2TB of storage, then other notable specs would be the 1080p webcam, 6 speakers, MagSafe charging, two Thunderbolts, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

It has a claimed 18 hours of battery life and it starts at a price of RM5,729 for the education and RM6,199 for the official retail price, and it’ll come in four colors.

Mac Studio

Then a new Mac Studio will also be coming soon, with a brand new M2 Ultra chip. Now, like the M1 Ultra, it is basically a combination of two M2 Max chips together where it features 24 CPU cores, 32 neural engine cores, and up to 76 GPU cores. Then the unified memory RAM can be configured to a mind-boggling 192GB! 

Now, to give some perspective on its performance, it can run 22 streams of 8K video all at once, and those are some hardcore numbers over there! So what’s the price? It starts from RM9,499 and RM8,549 for education.

Mac Pro

Then as for the final Mac, we are finally getting an update on the Mac Pro, which is powered by Apple’s M2 Ultra chip. 

It has the same Tower design with an updated internal design, with six open PCIe Gen 4 slots for expansion and 8 Thunderbolt ports built-in and it starts at just RM32,999 and RM31,109 for Education.

Now, as you may or may not know that Apple has also released one hardware but don’t worry I’ll talk about that later.

Software Updates

iOS 17 

As for software, there are major updates that is coming to iOS 17 and this could be broken down to basically being very customized, very simple, and also very convenient.

First, the phone app will have Contact Posters where you can customize how you’re portrayed to the other person when making a call. 

Then you can share your contacts, similarly like how you would do on an AirDrop but this is called NameDrop where it will also work from iPhone to an Apple Watch.

Then there’s Live Voicemail where there’ll be a live text displayed on the phone screen as a person leaves a voicemail, so you can read and actually pick up the call mid-through.

Then on FaceTime, you can also leave a video voicemail if a person doesn’t pick up your call at that moment in time.

Then Messages gets a huge update, with improved search, Catch-up with long conversations easier with the arrow up button which takes you to the first message that you haven’t seen, Swipe to reply, and automatic message transcription to know what people are saying in an audio message without actually listening to it, and Inline Location to give you a live location.

Then there’s also a Check-in feature where you can let a loved one know if you reach home safely automatically or if you’re delayed. And if there’s no response from you, the app will let your loved one know your last location, along with a route that you took. Now, this is quite a super useful and a safety feature which I think is great that it is coming on iOS 17. 

Then on the keyboard side, Autocorrect has been much improved with a new Transformer language model where it’s not only more accurate but also customized to your style of writing. Then Dictation has also been improved along with predictions on what you want to type next appearing in line as you type. 

Then the Journaling app is now official as predicted where it suggests and inspires you what to write from the photos, your music, and recent connections among other things. You can bookmark entries that are important to you and you can even schedule reminders to write something. 

Now, don’t worry because everything is kept in the device and you also have the ability to lock your app so don’t worry about how your mom, your uncle, your auntie, or your brother or sister is going to be taking your phone and look into your journaling app. 

Then this is one of my major favorites which is this Standby feature where if you set your iPhone horizontally while charging, it can host useful information like the time, calendar, and widgets. You can even see food delivery status, have HomeKit smartphone controls, or even turn your phone into a digital photo album.

Then Siri is always on standby for iOS 17, so you don’t have to say “Hey” before Siri to activate it.

Then there are the smaller updates including offline maps and your photo gallery being able to recognize your pets now.

iPadOS 17 

iPadOS 17 had smaller highlights, such as having the ability to customize your lock screen and add widgets to the side, and Live Activities such as keeping multiple running timers at the same time.

And the Health app is finally available for iPad and as for a person like me who always uses an iPad when I’m on a treadmill, this would be very beneficial for me and probably for you as well. 

Then there’s also a comprehensive PDF feature where you can now take pictures of documents and have them to autofill information which saves a lot of time and you can even add multiple PDFs into your notes and live collaborate with another iPad.

macOS Sonoma

So the new macOS is called Sonoma – never in a million years that I would predict that, so that was kind of cool. 

So here’s what’s new, there are brand-new screen savers and widgets that can be dragged to anywhere on your desktop screen for easy viewing. And what’s cool is that it will automatically fade away when you open a new app, which definitely looks cool. You can even use your iPhone apps on your Mac without natively being installed in your Mac, which was really great to know.

Now, a big shocker is the appearance from Hideo Kojima with its announcement of a Director’s Cut of Death Stranding that will be coming to Macs soon. Now here’s where it really shows that Apple is taking gaming very seriously on the Mac. And there’s also a brand new Game Mode that will prioritize your computer’s resources to gaming when it’s activated.

Then there’s a new overlay for video conferences where you can present yourself as a small bubble or a big person, with a presentation sandwiched between you and your background to give it a sort of professional look when presenting. There’s also a set of new video reactions that could be used to spice things up during online meetings as well.

Other Updates 

Then there’s also other smaller audio updates – with a new Adaptive Audio mode where the AirPods Pro now merges Transparency and Active Noise Cancellation to give the best of both worlds that will automatically lower or increase each depending on your surroundings.

Then AirPlay will also be available in selected hotels where you just need to scan a QR code and stream your content on the hotel’s TV without using a HDMI cable from your Mac to the TV, which I usually tend to do.

Then there’s also a new SharePlay system in CarPlay where you can join your playlist in the car to add your favorite songs in the car with this new SharePlay system.

Then tvOS is getting a new redesigned interface and you can use the iPhone to locate your missing Apple Remote, and select memories from your iPhone to be used as a TV screen saver.

And FaceTime for Apple TV, where you can just connect your iPhone or iPad and use the camera and display it on the Apple TV.

watchOS 10

Now, a surprising chunk of the presentation for software updates actually came in the form of watchOS 10. 

Now first, there’s a new user interface with a digital crown being able to use to show smart stacks of apps that use machine learning on which apps to show up first. 

Then there are also new corner icons for more functionality for apps. 

A new Cycling workout app is now included which uses machine learning to estimate your maximum capability on a bike.

Then Hiking has a major update too where it shows the last place that you are at the Telco reception where you can send SOS messages on any carrier.

Then there’s two new apps that has been added to the Mindfulness app, which is to better gauge your Mental Health state and a vision help to help you mitigate future eye problems by telling you to stay further away from the screen if you get very close to your devices.

Apple Vision Pro

Okay, now for the biggest reveal that we, and I’m sure you, have been waiting for – the Apple Vision Pro headset.

Now, this is a really beautiful piece of technology, it is so beautiful that is so hard to put words to it but you know what? I’ll try my best!

So the Vision Pro is an augmented reality headset that Apple envisions to take the VR and AR experience to a whole new other level. Now, imagine that you can take your computer screen and just paste it in front of you in every corner of your eyes and you can apply to everything that you see into the real world.

Now, the physical product itself is quite unique as there’s an OLED screen in front that is able to display your eyes to let people see whether or not you’re busy on the headset, or able to see you in real-time, with this new feature called EyeSight.

Then it is using the visionOS software where if you open the apps, it will float in front of you and you can turn the digital crown on the head side where you can increase or lower the boundaries between real life and a digital experience.

Now, what’s even cooler is that you don’t even need controllers to control what you see because a Vision Pro will track your eyes and see what exactly that you want to select and you can even use finger gestures to activate what you want to do, and you can even use voice control too.

Then watching movies goes to a whole new level, you can even have a cinema-like experience by expanding the movie as wide as you want, to have a more immersive experience. Apple is also working directly with Disney and Disney+ will be available on a device from the get-go. 

Now, you can even create a 3D spatial video using the device. Imagine capturing a live moment in 3D and being able to playback in 3D as if you were there right at the moment in time again.

Then as for security, there’s a new iris scanning feature called Optic ID that automatically scans your eyes to unlock the Vision Pro.

So with this kind of technology, Apple needs not one but two chipsets – one is the M2 chipset and a new R1 chipset, which is specifically made for this VR headset.

Now as for battery life, you get about 2 hours per charge but you can keep it plugged in to get an all-day use.

Then the headset itself is modular to give you the best fit it possibly can and they’re also working with Zeiss to give you additional prescription lenses if you need so to get the best experience without glasses on.

Now, as for the price, it comes with a very cool USD$3,499! Now, it’s definitely far from affordable for the average Joe but considering the hardware cost itself, that is very much expected and since Apple has over 5,000 patents in this product, I really do understand where they’re coming from with this kind of price factor. 

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So yes guys, that was definitely a lot to take in, quite overwhelming in fact, so with this, do let me know your thoughts and which one of these announcements you like the most!