It had been almost five months since Apple last held an event, so this week's "Peek Performance" event was a breath of fresh air that delivered not only some long-expected updates in the form of new iPhone SE and iPad Air models, but also a brand-new Mac Studio and Studio Display pairing.
There are plenty more product introductions coming from Apple throughout 2022, but read on below for our summary of this first round of updates!
Apple held its "Peek Performance" event this week and introduced several new products, including the Mac Studio desktop computer powered by Apple's latest M1 Ultra chip, a 27-inch Studio Display, a third-generation iPhone SE, and a fifth-generation iPad Air.
Apple also released new color options for iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands, made black and silver Magic accessories available to purchase separately, discontinued the 27-inch iMac, and more.
We've put together a video that recaps everything that Apple announced at its event in just over seven minutes.
At its event, Apple announced a new high-end M1 Ultra chip with a 20-core CPU, up to a 64-core GPU, and a 32-core Neural Engine. The M1 Ultra chip is essentially two interconnected M1 Max chips.
The first Mac to use the M1 Ultra is the new Mac Studio desktop computer, which looks like a taller version of the Mac mini. The computer can be configured with up to 8TB of SSD storage and up to 128GB of unified memory and has a wide range of ports on both the back and front sides.
Mac Studio pricing starts at $1,999 when configured with the M1 Max chip and at $3,999 with the M1 Ultra chip.
Nearly six years after discontinuing the Thunderbolt Display, Apple has finally re-entered the consumer-grade external display market.
The new 27-inch Studio Display features a slim all-aluminum enclosure with a built-in stand, 5K resolution, up to 600 nits of brightness, an A13 Bionic chip that powers advanced camera and audio features, a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera with Center Stage, and more.
Studio Display pricing starts at $1,599, with a height-adjustable stand and nano-texture glass upgrade options available.
After months of rumors, the third-generation iPhone SE has finally been announced. As expected, key new features include the A15 Bionic chip and 5G support, as well as an increased 4GB of RAM.
The new iPhone SE starts at $429, up from $399 for the 2020 model, and the device is available with 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB of storage. Keep in mind that the new iPhone SE doesn't support the fastest mmWave 5G bands.
The fifth-generation iPad Air is now official, with key new features including the same M1 chip in the iPad Pro, 5G support for cellular models, an upgraded 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage, up to a 2x faster USB-C port compared to the previous-generation iPad Air, and more.
iPad Air pricing continues to start at $599 and there is a new purple color option to choose from.
For the second consecutive year, Apple has introduced a new iPhone color at its spring event.
This year, there are actually two new colors, with a Green finish now available for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini and an Alpine Green finish added for the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
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