AT its special event early this morning, Apple released a line of new products and services built around its new M1 chip and Apple product ecosystem.
Chief executive officer Tim Cook pulled the curtain up for the Cupertino-based company's first event of 2021 by pledging the company's commitment towards its carbon neutral move to remove one million ton of carbon a year through usage of recycled materials.
M1-powered iMac and iPad
Among the products that is outstanding at the event is the all-new iMac, which boasts a completely new book and design that its predecessors.
The new machine is much more compact and remarkably thin, enabled by the M1 chip.
It is capable of giving a powerful performance in a design that's just 11.5 millimetres thin, with a striking side profile that practically disappears.
While was the only colour option of the previous iMac, Apple decided that this M1 iMac be a colourful one, with seven colour options - green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver.
The new iMac features a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, 500 nits of brightness, and over a billion colours, delivering a brilliant and vivid viewing experience.
"M1 is a gigantic leap forward for the Mac, and today we're excited to introduce the all-new iMac, the first Mac designed around the breakthrough M1 chip," said Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Greg Joswiak.
"With its striking design in seven stunning colours, its immersive 4.5K Retina display, the best camera, mics, and speakers ever in a Mac, and Touch ID, combined with the amazing performance of M1 and the power of macOS Big Sur, the new iMac takes everything people love about iMac to an entirely new level," he said.
The new iMac starts from RM5,599 (7-core GPU) and from RM6,449 (8-core GPU).
The iMac is not just the only M1 product that Apple released this morning, the other one is the iPad Pro.
The addition of the Apple-designed M1 chip delivers a massive leap in performance, making iPad Pro the fastest device of its kind.
The 12.9-inch device features a new Liquid Retina XDR display that brings extreme dynamic range to iPad Pro, offering a stunning visual experience with more true-to-life details to the most demanding HDR workflows.
There are also cellular models with 5G that could deliver even faster wireless connectivity when on the go, and to provide users with pro-level throughput for high-speed accessories, iPad Pro now includes support for Thunderbolt.
"The revolutionary M1 chip has been a breakthrough for the Mac, and we're incredibly excited to bring it to iPad Pro," said Joswiak.
"With M1's huge jump in performance, a groundbreaking extreme dynamic range experience on the 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, up to 2TB of high-speed storage, Thunderbolt expansion, a four-speaker audio system, pro cameras with LiDAR Scanner, blazing-fast 5G connectivity, an amazing video-calling experience with Centre Stage — combined with the advanced features of iPadOS and a powerful pro app ecosystem all in a device users can hold in one hand — there's nothing else like iPad Pro," he said.
The new iPad Pro starts from RM4,799 for the Wi-Fi model and RM5,449 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
Tiny wonder
A completely new product that debuts at the special event is the AirTag, which is a small and elegantly designed accessory that helps keep track of and find the items that matter most with Apple's Find My app.
This 50 sen coin-sized device can be attached to a handbag, keys, backpack, or other items.
AirTag taps into the vast, global Find My network1 and can help locate a lost item, all while keeping location data private and anonymous with end-to-end encryption. AirTag can be purchased for RM149.
"We're excited to bring this incredible new capability to iPhone users with the introduction of AirTag, leveraging the vast Find My network, to help them keep track of and find the important items in their lives," said Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, Kaiann Drance.
"With its design, unparalleled finding experience, and built-in privacy and security features, AirTag will provide customers with another way to leverage the power of the Apple ecosystem and enhance the versatility of iPhone," she said.
Apple TV, meanwhile, is upgraded to Apple TV 4K, which is capable of delivering high frame rate HDR with Dolby Vision and connecting customers to their favourite content with the highest quality.
At the heart of the new Apple TV 4K is the A12 Bionic chip that provides a significant boost in graphics performance, video decoding, and audio processing. And with an all-new design, the Apple TV Remote makes it even easier to watch shows and movies on Apple TV with intuitive navigation controls. Together with tvOS — the most powerful TV operating system — Apple TV 4K works seamlessly with Apple devices and services to magically transform the living room in ways that everyone in the family will love.
"Apple TV 4K is in a category of its own, leveraging a deep integration of Apple hardware, software, and services that delivers a massive upgrade to any TV for the very best cinematic experience," said Apple's vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Bob Borchers.
"With the A12 Bionic and the all-new Apple TV, Apple TV 4K lets customers enjoy their favourite shows, movies, and more in the highest quality, with simple and intuitive controls. And of course, Apple TV 4K offers easy access to Apple services, along with thousands of apps on the App Store for even more entertainment options," he said.
The Apple TV 4K will be available soon at RM849.
Next-gen Podcast
Apple also unveiled Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favourite creators alongside millions of free shows on Apple Podcasts.
Starting in May, listeners in more than 170 countries and regions can sign up for premium subscriptions that include a variety of benefits curated by creators, such as ad-free listening, access to additional content, and early or exclusive access to new series. Listeners will be able to enjoy premium subscriptions from independent voices and premier studios, including Tenderfoot TV, Pushkin Industries, Radiotopia from PRX, and QCODE, to leading media and entertainment brands, including NPR, the Los Angeles Times, The Athletic, Sony Music Entertainment, and many more.
"Fifteen years ago, Apple took podcasts mainstream, offering creators a premier, open platform to inform, entertain, and inspire hundreds of millions of listeners around the world," said Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue.
"Today, Apple Podcasts is the best place for listeners to discover and enjoy millions of great shows, and we are proud to lead the next chapter of podcasting with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. We're excited to introduce this powerful new platform to creators around the world, and we can't wait to hear what they make with it," he said.
And lastly, Apple unveiled a new colour for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini - purple. The new colour beautifully accentuates the flat aluminium edges of iPhone 12, which are perfectly colour-matched to the precision-milled back glass.
Apple also announced the Apple Card service, but that's unlikely to be available in Malaysia yet.