New iPads, New iMac Pro, iOS 11 And Other Important Stuff You Missed From The Apple WWDC 2017 Event

No, not the announcement of the new iPhones, but the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2017.

As expected from the event, the mega tech company announced a whole new line-up of iProducts as well as new features for their existing ones.

In case you couldn't stay up late to watch the keynote, fret not; here are Rojak Daily’s highlights from Monday’s event:

1. There's a brand new MacOS - the High Sierra

Available as a developer beta starting Tueday, the sequel to last year’s Sierra will include faster performances for Apple's built-in applications such as Safari and Photos. There will also be new upgrades to their video formatting and a new Apple File System thrown in.

2. iOS 11 is introduced

A brand new year, a brand new iOS for your iPhone. Releasing this fall, iOS 11 includes your usual UI redesign and a ton of improvement to apps:

The App Store gets a new UI redesign. Borrowing elements from their own Apple Music app, the new App Store layout includes detailed information about the app, bigger screenshots, videos, and a more prominent purchase button.

Siri now has real-time translation! Any time you need something translated, just launch Siri and ask her to translate the sentence for you and she will do it. Especially useful when you are in a foreign country.

You can send money to your family or friends just by texting. With Apple's new Apple Pay feature, you can request as well as send money to your loved ones instantly and securely, just by using the Messages app.

There's a new feature that helps you concentrate on driving. The ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ app can automatically detect when you're in your car and prevent you from being distracted by calls, text messages, and notifications until later. Those who call or text you will get a notification.

3. There's a brand new insane iMac Pro

Dubbed the most powerful iMac ever, the insane iMac Pro boasts 18 cores and its Turbo Boost function will boost your iMac speed up to 4.5GHz. It also comes with a 5K Retina display, complemented with a Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics processor.

With crazy specs as listed above, this iMac is definitely not targeted at average consumers but for graphic artists, photographers, UI designers or professionals in general. Available this December, the new iMac Pro goes for US$4,999 (RM21,296), which is relatively cheaper compared to building a custom Windows PC rig.

4. Meet the new iPads

Available to order starting Tuesday, the iPad Pro with a new display size of 10.5” aims to cut into the niche market of consumers aiming to replace their laptops with smaller-form tablets. According to Apple, the new iPad Pro is fitted with the powerful A10X Fusion chip with 64‑bit architecture and six cores, making it more powerful than an average PC.

Only weighing a pound or 450g, with trimmed bezels and beautiful graphics (with improved graphics hardware), perhaps what’s most attractive about this new iPad is that it has a 120hz refresh rate. This means animations are now at least two times smoother and faster.

5. We get a bump in Macbook specs

With the rest of its iProducts getting an upgrade, there's no way they'll forget the MacBooks, right? Turns out, Apple has some grand plan for the laptops too. The MacBooks are getting upgraded with the new generation Intel processors called the Kaby Lake. Thanks to the processors and faster solid state drives, the MacBooks are now a little bit more powerful but uses less energy.

There’s also a version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar that starts at a cheaper US$1,299 (RM5,532).

6. Apple introduces a new member to the family - the HomePod

Evidently butting heads with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, the HomePod is Apple’s latest smart home device. With the ability to control different aspects of your home with voice or OTA commands, it is extremely smart and downright gorgeous.

The HomePod boasts a fuss-free, minimal and simple design. According to Apple, the HomePod is wrapped in a seamless mesh fabric designed for both aesthetic and acoustic performance.

Perhaps what’s unique to it is that it uses spatial awareness - a technology that uses sound waves to detect its surrounding then cleverly adjusts the output to complement its background.

The HomePod is also powered by an A8 chip - yes, like the ones in our iPhones! The chip enables faster buffering of audio and real-time modeling of the woofer mechanics.

The HomePod goes for US$349 (RM1,486) and starts shipping in December. Perfect Christmas gift, don't you think?

Apart from these highlights, we should not also forget other announcements made on Monday night, including the Apple VR, AR, watchOS and also tvOS.