Apple WWDC 2017 Recap – New iMacs, macOS & iOS 11 features

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It’s that time of the years again. Yes, it’s that when we see a bunch of new software announcements from the Cupertino, tech giant. And just like every year, Apple has made a bunch of new announcements this year as well, in terms of software and well, we also got to see a couple of new hardware products. Kicking things off with the software announcements, the keynote, started with tvOS updates.

tvOS

The first announcement and the only announcement on the tvOS was the fact that Amazon Prime Video will be making a debut. Well, that’s it. That was the only announcement here. We hope to hear more on this over the course of this year.

watchOS

Next in line was the watchOS. The company announced the new watchOS 4. The first thing, as usual, was the introduction of the new watch faces. We now have three new faces, i.e. Siri watch face which is a new proactive assistant powered watch face to give you more info when you need it. We also have a new kaleidoscope watch face and Toy Story watch faces. This was followed by a bunch of new smaller upgrades to the activity app on the Apple Watch. They also announced the new Gym equipment support to make your workouts even better. The developer preview of the same is already available with the full upgrade coming later this fall.

macOS

It has been a while since the company actually pushed a scalable upgrade to macOS and unfortunately tonight was no different. For starters, the new macOS is called macOS high Sierra. They announced a bunch of new upgrades to Safari like the Autoplay blocking, etc. They also stressed on the upgrades to Photos app such as facial recognition, photo editing, etc. Nothing fancy here, but most of them are worth the upgrade.

However, coming to the technological side of upgrades here, we have a new file system called “Apple File System, ” and this will be replacing the HFS on the Macs. We also got a new version of Metal called the “Metal 2”. It improves upon the graphics processing powers of last gen Metal, and it is now also available for external graphics cards as well. And Metal for VR is also now coming to high sierra. The developer beta is already available as of today, and the full upgrade will be available for free later this fall.

We also got a bunch of new iMacs, and the prices for the same are as follows –

Apart from the new iMacs, we also new upgrades to the MacBook laptops. All the new laptops now come with Kaby Lake processors. The pricing for the same is as follows –

iOS

And finally, we got the new iOS announcement, the iOS 11. The big focus is on technology more than anything. The first set of upgrades comes to iMessage. It comes with redesigned app drawer for stickers, etc. iMessage now also syncs with iCloud which will always keep your chats, etc. safe across all the devices. announcements was followed was Apple Pay upgrades or let’s just say an upgrade. Apple Pay now also supports person-to-person payment.

We also got a bunch of Siri upgrades like new and more human sounding voice. Siri can now also do some translations for you on the go whenever you need it. The camera app also got some new upgrades. The videos on the iPhone will now be using HEVC code for higher storage efficiency, etc. They also announced the new Depth API which the third party developers can take advantage of. The photos app also got some noticeable new upgrades that are worth checking out live photos, memories, etc. Lastly one of the huge upgrade which we saw for the control center on the iOS 11. It has a new interface which supports more 3D touch options. Unfortunately, if you were expecting some new visual upgrades, then you would be disappointed here.

Maps now support detailed floor plans for Malls, Airports, etc. It also has new lane assist on the road to tell you which road to be in for taking the next turn. Car Play also got a bunch of new upgrades which ensures that drivers are always safe while driving. This was followed by the home kit upgrades and the app now also supports speakers. We also have the new Airplay 2 protocol for better sharing and listening experience where you can control which speaker plays what.

Finally moving on to the biggest announcement w.r.t to the iOS 11, i.e., App Store. First of all, we have a brand new design. It now has separate tabs that shows new recommendations to the users. These tabs have rich contents like videos, images, etc. Do make a note that the design remains the same across all these tabs. Metal 2 and the HEVC makes their way to iOS 11 as well. On top of all, the iOS 11 also has built in AR developer tools. According to the company, this is going to be the largest AR platform in the world. They finished the keynote for iOS 11 by giving a quick demo of the AR.

iPads

As far as the iPad upgrades are concerned, we first got to see the new iPad Pro. It is the new iPad Pro that comes with 10.5″ Retina display It now has fewer bezels which allow the company to put a larger display on the same sized package. It also has better internals and upgraded cameras. You can head over to the company’s official website for learning more about it. And yes, we have new smart covers for it as well. Even the older iPad Pros now has better displays and comes with double the storage.

iPad will also be upgraded to the iOS 11, and the iPads comes with a bunch of new upgrades. For starters, it comes with a new Dock which is actually a nice addition. And just as we had reported earlier, the iPads will also have a new app called Files. This is more like a one-stop app to manage all your files in one place. The Apple pencil can do a bunch of new things as well with new iOS 11 for iPads.

HomePod

And finally, we also got a new product from Apple, the HomePod. This is the new speaker from the company. We will be covering more about this in a separate story, and hence we suggest you stay tuned for more on that.

Well, that pretty much sums the whole WWDC 2017 keynote this year. We indeed saw a bunch of new announcements. Having said that, be sure to let us know which announcements excited you the most and why. Be sure to let us know by dropping a comment down below and also, stay tuned to PhoneRadar for more info like this.

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