Apple ‘Peek Performance’ March 2022 Event: iPhone SE 3, iPad Air 5, Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and all the top announcements

Apple ‘Peek Performance’ Event March 2022: Tech giant Apple held its first launch event of 2022 on Tuesday. Called ‘Peek Performance’, the event was full of announcements around iPhones, iPad, Mac and even a new Apple Silicon. In case you missed the action-packed event, don’t worry. FinancialExpress.com is giving you a round up of everything that was announced.

iPhone 13’s new look

No, don’t worry! The entire iPhone 13 lineup is not changing. We’re starting with the easiest announcement first. Apple announced new finishes for the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro, as had been anticipated. Cupertino has come a long way in its colour offerings, and yesterday, it decided to add more. With this announcement, users will now be able to get their hands on an iPhone 13 that is green in colour and an iPhone 13 Pro that is Alpine Green. The phones would be available for pre-order on March 11 and the phones themselves would be available starting March 18.

Also read | iPhone SE 2022 launched: Everything to know about Apple’s most affordable iPhone in 10 points

New iPhone SE (third-gen) announced

Apple also announced the new iPhone SE. This marks the third-generation phone of the affordable iPhone lineup. Apple’s previous iPhone SE was announced in 2020, which was equipped with an A13 Bionic chip that brought it up to speed with the then flagship iPhone lineup – the iPhone 11 series.

However, the new phone is a massive upgrade, fitted with the same A15 Bionic chip that powers the most recent iPhone series – iPhone 13 that was announced late last year. Much like its predecessor, the iPhone SE 2022 would also be available in three colours – Midnight, Starlight and Product (Red) and has three storage options – 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB. It will be available for pre-order from March 11 and the availability of the phone will begin on March 18.

Also equipped with 5G technology and iOS 15, the phone is priced starting at Rs 43,900 in India. It has the home button and the Touch ID, which means that the iPhone SE lineup has, at least for now, not been enabled with the Face ID technology. Looks wise, it seems similar to the iPhone SE 2020, contrary to reports suggesting that it might inherit iPhone 13 Mini’s form.

The biggest drawback to iPhone SE 2020 was its poor battery life. However, Cupertino has claimed that the new iPhone SE has an improved battery life. As usual, Apple has not revealed the battery mAh in its specs, but has stated that the iPhone SE 2022 is capable of up to 15 hours of video playback, up to 10 hours of streamed video playback, and up to 50 hours audio playback, which is the same as the battery capabilities of iPhone 12 Mini.

It is certainly an upgrade over iPhone SE 2020’s battery capabilities and therefore, does seem like a good deal, especially with the latest Bionic chip and the 5G connectivity.

‘Most powerful and versatile’: The new iPad Air

Apple has announced the new iPad Air, and this one is powered by the M1 chip. Apart from this, the iPad Air has also been given a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage to make it more suitable for video conferencing and the cellular model of the iPad will have the 5G connectivity. The new iPad also has support for Apple Pencil 2nd generation and a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and a Touch ID built into the top (lock) button of the iPad Air. It is compatible with Magic Keyboard as well as Smart Keyboard Folio.

Also read | iPhone SE 2022 launched with Apple’s A15 Bionic chip, iPad Air 5 gets the “pro” M1: Check prices, full specifications

The iPad Air has two storage models – 64GB and 256GB – and is available in five colours – space grey, starlight, pink, blue and purple. While the WiFi model of iPad Air begins at Rs 54,900, the cellular model starts at Rs 68,900.

Apple’s new silicon: M1 Ultra

Apple announced its last silicon in the M1 family – the M1 Ultra – which it has branded as the “world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer”. The M1 Ultra SoC has been made by interconnecting the die of two M1 Max chips and it consists of 114 billion transistors, which Apple claims is the most ever in a chip for personal computers. “M1 Ultra can be configured with up to 128GB of high-bandwidth, low-latency unified memory,” Apple says, along with a CPU that has 20 cores, a 64-core GPU and a Neural Engine with 32 cores.

Out of the 20 cores of the CPU, 16 are high-performance cores and four are high-efficiency cores. According to Cupertino, the chip delivers 90% higher multi-threaded performance than “the fastest available 16-core PC desktop chip in the same power envelope”, and it achieves the PC chip’s peak performance while using 100 fewer watts.

The all-new Mac Studio

During the event, Apple also announced the all-new Mac Studio and Studio Display, which would be powered by M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips. This is an entirely new Mac desktop and display which aims to help people build their studios, be it for music or for graphics.

The Mac Studio is a modular system that has a 7.7-inch square base and a 3.7-inch height to fit comfortably on the desk under most displays. “With its ultra-powerful media engine, Mac Studio with M1 Ultra can play back 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, which no other computer in the world can do. Mac Studio also shatters the limits of graphics memory on a desktop, featuring up to 64GB of unified memory on systems with M1 Max and up to 128GB of unified memory on systems with M1 Ultra,” Apple said.

“Mac Studio includes four Thunderbolt 4 ports to connect displays and high-performance devices, a 10Gb Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a pro audio jack for high-impedance headphones or external amplified speakers,” Cupertino said.

Along with the Mac Studio, Cupertino has developed a Studio Display, which has a 27-inch 5K Retina screen, an A13 Bionic chip of its own, a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage and a six-speaker sound system. It also has a three-microphone array.

The Studio Display has three USB-C ports for peripherals, storage as well as networking and a Thunderbolt port that connects “Studio Display and any connected peripherals to their Mac with a single cable”. “And up to three Studio Displays can be connected to MacBook Pro, creating a powerful edit bay or animation workspace,” Apple has said.

The Mac Studio and Studio Display are available for order now, and shipping will begin on March 18.

The Studio Display comes in Standard Glass, for Rs 1,59,900, and in Nano-texture glass for Rs 1,89,900. Meanwhile, the Mac Studio with M1 Max can set a user back by Rs 1,89,900 and the model with M1 Ultra costs Rs 3,89,900.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz