Apple announces new MacBook Pro, Mac mini, M2 Pro and M2 Max chips

Apple today announced new Mac mini, new MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips.

There were no special event, however, Apple still had a keynote video describing new hardware.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ij9PiehENA
Meet the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini | Apple

M2 Pro chip comes with 19 GPU cores and M2 Max doubles than number. M2 Max could be equipped with 96GB of RAM.

New Mac mini comes with M2 and M2 Pro chips. Also Mac mini with M2 Pro provides 4 Thunderbolt ports. Intel-based Mac mini is no longer available.

MacBook Pro now supports WiFi 6E nearly doubling throughput. 16" model offers up to 22 hours of battery life.

Apple Newsroom:

References:

Weekend good reads for Apple developers, issue #50

Wow! It's 50th episode here. Let's get something interesting for today's good reads.

Big list for this week. And, as always, more to come next time!

Apple announces new iPad, iPad Pro and Apple TV 4K refresh

Apple made couple of hardware announcements today.

iPad

New iPad gets new form-factor, USB-C port and new color options. iPad is now powered by A14 Bionic chip. Touch ID is moved to Power button.

Interestingly front facing camera is using landscape placing.

Controversially new iPad supports first generation of Apple Pencil and will require dongle to pair and charge via USB-C.

New iPad supports WiFi 6 and 5G.

9th generation iPad is still on sale. 10th generation sees significant price increase comparing to previous model.

iPad Pro

New iPad Pro is powered by M2 chip. It now supports Apple Pencil hover which provides guidance on pencil position before it touches the screen which should provide better visual clues in various applications.

New iPad Pro supports WiFi 6E.

Pricing is unchanged for both iPad Pro models.

Apple TV 4K

Apple TV 4K refresh is now using A15 Bionic chip. Apple TV 4K now supports HDR10+. Storage is increased for both models, however, smaller storage model does not have Ethernet port anymore and also does not provide Thread support.

Apple TV Siri Remote now has USB-C port.

Apple shared video announcement of iPads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKRkPKg5_U
Apple announces new iPad and iPad Pro

Apple also announced that iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1 and macOS 13 Ventura will be released on October 24.

Apple Newsroom:

References:

VirtualBox now supports Apple Silicon

VirtualBox 7.0 brings support for Apple Silicon Macs. VirtualBox is an open-source virtualization software available for various platforms. Now it could be used on Macs with Apple Silicon.

Download: Download VirtualBox

Release notes: VirtualBox 7.0.0 (released 2022-10-10)

Reference: Oracle VirtualBox brings Apple Silicon Mac support in version 7.0 beta

Apple publishes beta versions for new minor releases, new macOS 12.4 build for M2 Macs

While we're waiting for iOS 16, macOS 13 Ventura and other major platform updates, Apple is still working on new releases for iOS 15 and macOS 12 Monterey. Third beta versions are releases for iOS/iPadOS 15.6, watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6 and macOS 12.5.

No corresponding Xcode beta is published though.

Notably, there is also new macOS 12.4 build for M2 Macs. macOS Big Sur gets update that fixes Mail app issues.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Releases notes:

References:

Apple starts WWDC22 with many great announcements for developers

WWDC22 is here! Apple's annual conference started with Special Event day, Keynote, State of the Union and Apple Design Awards.

Apple Developer Center

It actually started on Sunday June 5th. Apple presented its new Apple Developer Center to public. Center provides an opportunity to development teams to participate in workshops hosted by Apple and meet Apple teams while working on interesting projects. Overall, Apple Developer Center brings Apple Store aesthetics to developer-focused venue.

Apple did not provide any announcements on how often it would invite developers to visit Developer Center, but general recommendation is to monitor for emails and news in Developer app.

Keynote

Before going into OS updates, let's mention Apple M2 announcement which is iterates over success of M1. New chip is presented in new MacBook Air with design following recent MacBook Pro principles. New MacBook Air is fan-less and provides full day battery life.

M2 MacBook Pro 13" is also announced with no body changes.

iOS 16

iOS 16 brings many new features including:

  • Personalizable Lock Screen with widgets based on WidgetKit;
  • Live Activities which extends notifications on Lock Screen with realtime updates;
  • Focus mode API for developers – Focus Filters;
  • Live Text API;
  • Shared With You API;
  • Collaboration API to allow easy collaboration start via Messages app;
  • Improvements in Apple Pay, Apple Pay Later, Apple Pay Order Tracking;
  • SharePlay in Messages;
  • Developer mode should now be explicitly enabled on devices to allow debugging or UI automation testing;
  • Simpler way of integrating Siri support – App Intents.

iPadOS 16

iPadOS gets more desktop-like features:

  • M1 iPads will now be able to use Stage Manager – display up to four applications per screen (totaling with 8 apps when connected to external display) at the same time, and resize app windows;
  • Finally iPad gets its own Weather app.

watchOS 9

watchOS 9 brings many features focused on fitness and health including:

  • AFib constant monitoring will help people to monitor their condition and check how their behavior affects it;
  • New monitoring features will help better understand the quality of the workouts and overall fitness progress.

macOS 13 Ventura

macOS also gets attention this year:

  • Continuity camera now allows using iPhone in video conferencing;
  • Also FaceTime calls could be handed off to Mac easily;
  • Stage Manager is here to help with window clutter.

Xcode 14

Xcode 14 focuses on developer performance and adds multiple useful features for developers. Xcode Previews were rebuilt and are expected to run more smoothly.

Frameworks

As always, many existing frameworks get important updates:

  • SwiftUI gets new charts library, new approach for navigation and navigation views;
  • Metal 3 focuses on performance for resources and shaders;
  • Nearby Communications (UWB) improvements;
  • MapKit brings Maps features including Look Around to third-party apps;
  • WeatherKit for weather apps;
  • And many more...

App Store Review Guidelines are updated

2.5.4: Deleted requirement that apps using location background mode include a reminder that doing so may dramatically decrease battery life.
4.2.3: Deleted requirement to include sufficient content in the binary for the app to function at launch.
4.7: Deleted restriction on lotteries or charitable donations in code that is not embedded in the binary.
5.2.5: If your app displays Apple Weather data, it should follow the attribution requirements provided in the WeatherKit documentation.
5.3.3: Deleted restriction on purchasing lottery or raffle tickets or initiating fund transfers in the app.

Apple Developer

New Human Interface Guidelines are published

New Apple Human Interface Guidelines are now unified across platforms, provide links to relevant talks and design resources.

Apple Newsroom:

Apple Developer: