April showers bring May flowers. But before that, March brings the Apples. This week, the company used its first launch event of 2022 to unveil an updated iPhone SE, the small but powerful Mac Studio, the Mac Studio Display and an upgraded iPad Air. If you missed the event on Tuesday, you can relive the magic through our live blog.
There were a few short announcements before Apple showed off its products. We learned that Apple TV Plus will add new shows and movies, including MLB Friday Night Baseball with two live games. And the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro will each be available in a new variant of green.
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The long-awaited successor to the iPhone SE (2020) was announced by Apple during its March 8 “Peek Performance” event. It features Apple’s A15 chip (which is the same one found in the iPhone 13 series), 5G and stronger glass, but the same overall design as the previous generation.
Pricing for the new iPhone SE starts at $429 and it’s available now.
Read our iPhone SE (2022) review.
Apple
The first upgrade to the Air lineup since 2020, the all-new iPad Air brings Apple’s powerful M1 chip, a 12-megapixel ultrawide front camera, 5G connectivity and other updated features, all in a similar design to the fourth-gen iPad Air.
Pricing for the new iPad Air starts at $599 and preorders start on March 11.
Read our iPad Air 2022 review.
Apple/Screenshot by Jared DiPane/CNET
M1 Max has a die-to-die interconnect, which lets Apple link two of them to create the Ultra, giving it basically double servings of everything — processor and GPU cores and so on. It uses high-bandwidth memory and supports up to 128GB, but combined it takes less power than two separate chips.
The chip debuts in the new Mac Studio, a computer that looks like a double-height Mac Mini, though the base configuration comes with the M1 Max. Apple has positioned its performance as equal to or better than the Mac Pro, making it what sounds like a great option for the bulk of creators who really don’t need the expandability of the Mac Pro.
The new Mac Studio is full of venting and a big cooling system, has six Thunderbolt 4 ports and can drive up to four Pro XDR monitors. It’ll cost you $1,999 (£1,999, AU$2,499) to start or $3,999 (£3,999, AU$6,099) for the version with Apple’s new M1 Ultra chip. You can order it today and it ships starting March 18.
Apple also hinted that there’s a Mac Pro upgrade coming, “but that’s for another day.”
Apple
The 27-inch 5K Retina display has the same iPad-like profile as the 24-inch iMac. It incorporates an A13 Bionic chip, the same one as in the entry-level iPad, so it can process iPad-like features such as Center Stage via the built-in 12-megapixel webcam, plus multiple mics, six speakers and four USB-C ports, one of which is Thunderbolt. If you want a stand that can raise and lower it or the good antireflective Nano surface screen, it’ll cost you extra. The base price is $1,599 (£1,499, AU$2,499) and you can order it now, available starting March 18.
Read more about the Apple Studio Display.
