Apple had promised a “big week” for the company rumors were swirling that a number of product announcements were planned. It’s true that it has unveiled half a dozen new and updated devices in recent days, as well as more powerful chips for MacBook Pros.
The news started on Monday with the announcements of iPhone 17e And iPad Air powered by M4. The company followed up on Tuesday with the revelation of MacBook Air M5THE M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, MacBook Pro models who use said chips, a refreshed Studio Display and an all-new 27-inch Studio Display XDR.
Additionally, ahead of the official announcement, Apple leaked information about a cheaper MacBook. called the MacBook Neo. Oops ! The company confirmed the existence of this system on Wednesday. It starts at $599, making it Apple’s most affordable laptop yet.
Here’s our recap of everything Apple announced this week:
iPhone 17e
Apple has improved this year’s entry-level iPhone with some pretty solid upgrades, while keeping the starting price at $599. THE iPhone 17e has double the base storage of iPhone 16e at 256GB. It also supports MagSafe with Qi2 wireless charging speeds of up to 15W, double that of the iPhone 16e.
From a design perspective, Apple hasn’t really rocked the boat. The iPhone 17e is pretty much identical to its predecessor. It looks like Apple is also sticking with the same 48MP Fusion camera system used in the iPhone 16e.
That said, the 6.1-inch Super Retina display features Ceramic Shield 2. According to Apple, this provides “3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation and reduced glare.” The company also integrated its C1X cellular modem into the iPhone 17e. It says it’s up to twice as fast as the C1 in the iPhone 16e. The device has the same A19 chip as the iPhone 17, so it supports Apple Intelligence AI tools and runs iOS 26.
Additionally, the iPhone 17e has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, as well as the promise of “all-day battery life.” It also supports satellite-powered features including Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messages and Find My.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 17e are now open. It is available in black, white and soft pink. The device will be available in more than 70 countries and regions on March 11.
iPad Air M4
THE latest iPad Air has Apple’s M4 chip. This means that the mid-range iPad effectively remains a year behind the iPad Pro. The M4 is almost two years at this point, while the high-end model has the new M5 chip. Still, if you only use an iPad for occasional tasks like watching shows, browsing the web, sending emails, etc., the M4 will be more than powerful enough. It will also be better able to handle resource-intensive tasks such as video editing than previous iPad Air models.
Apple also increased the last-generation model’s 8GB RAM to 12GB. Given the sharp increase in RAM prices in recent months, it’s slightly surprising that Apple is sticking to the same prices for the iPad Air. The 11-inch iPad Air M4 starts at $599 while the 13-inch version starts at $799, each with 128GB of storage. There is a $50 discount for those purchasing it for educational purposes.
Apple says the M4 delivers up to 2.3x faster performance than the M1 iPad Air and “more than 4x faster professional 3D rendering with ray tracing performance.” Of course, the new iPad Air runs iPadOS 26.
Apple has given the iPad Air other internal upgrades by including its N1 and C1X connectivity chips. As such, this is the first iPad Air to support Wi-Fi 7. As you would expect, 5G cellular connectivity is also available.
The design of the iPad Air M4 doesn’t appear to have changed, as it appears to have the same LCD screen that Apple has used in the last two iterations of the tablet. The company has also kept the same rear-facing camera and dual-speaker setup.
Pre-orders for the iPad Air M4 are now open. The tablet will be available at retailers in 35 countries and regions on March 11. It will be available in blue, purple, starlight and space gray.
Apple MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and Max
Apple’s most powerful laptop line has finally received the chip upgrades we’ve been waiting for for a long time. In addition to announcing the M5 Pro and M5 Max, the company is offering MacBook Pro versions with these chipsets. However, price increases accompany the upgrades.
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro chipset (with 15 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores), 24 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage starts at $2,199. That’s a $200 increase over the base M4 Pro-powered system. from the end of 2024although Apple has doubled the base storage, which is a welcome touch. If you prefer, you can have a 14-inch MBP with a more powerful M5 Pro (with up to 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores) or M5 Max (with 18 CPU cores and 32 or 40 GPU cores). You can also double the RAM to 48GB.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro features an M5 Pro chipset with 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores as standard. Of course, you can swap it out for an M5 Max if you prefer. The 16-inch model starts at $2,699, a $200 increase over the base M4-powered system. It also starts with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. For what it’s worth, Apple claims that the memory and SSD are faster than in previous models.
Apple has not changed the Liquid Retina XDR display and 12MP Center Stage front camera for these models. However, the company installed its N1 chip to power Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.
Pre-orders are now open and general availability will follow on March 11.
Apple stated that M5 Pro and M5 Max are built using the new “fusion architecture” which “combines two chips into a single system-on-chip (SoC)”. As always, the goal is to provide more power and efficiency. We’ll find out for ourselves if the performance Apple claims holds up when we’re able to test the chips.
Meanwhile, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chipset also got a $100 price increase, to $1,699. To alleviate this a bit, Apple has also doubled this model’s base storage to 1TB. Given that Apple typically charges a premium for increased storage, this isn’t a terrible trade-off.
MacBook Air M5
A year after Apple upgraded the MacBook Air with an M4 chipsetthe company did the same trick by swapping an M5 chip. The company also increased the base storage from 256GB to 512GB, with an SSD that it says can provide “2x faster read/write performance compared to the previous generation.”
While the MBA still has 16GB of RAM as standard, Apple has also upgraded the memory to have 153GB/s of bandwidth – the company said that’s a 28% improvement over what the MBA M4 offered. Meanwhile, Apple has integrated the N1 chip to offer Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.
Alas, these upgrades come with a trade-off. Apple has increased the starting price of the latest MacBook Air to $1,099 after reducing it to $999 for the M4 model. This is for the 13-inch variant. The 15-inch MacBook Air M5 starts at $1,299.
THE latest MacBook Air is available in sky blue, midnight, starlight and silver. You can pre-order one now. It will be available in stores in 33 countries and regions on March 11.
MacBook Neo
Apple further expanded its laptop lineup on Wednesday with the announcement of the MacBook Neo. This is a new entry-level model that starts well below the latest MacBook Air at $1,099 at a very reasonable price of $599 ($499 for educational use). It’s Apple’s cheapest laptop yet and a clear attempt by the company to enter a market saturated with cheap Windows laptops and Chromebooks.
As expected, the laptop runs on an A18 Pro chip, which first appeared on the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The chipset has a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine, as well as 8 GB of unified memory. That’s enough for the MacBook Neo to power Apple Intelligence features (of course, this is a macOS Tahoe machine). Apple also said the MacBook Neo will run for up to 16 hours on a single charge.
The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display (with 500 nits of brightness and support for a billion colors), a USB-C 3 port, a USB-C 2 port, and a headphone jack, but no MagSafe connector. There is a 1080p front-facing FaceTime HD camera, dual mics, and side-mounted speakers with support for Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.
The system has a Magic Keyboard with a multi-touch trackpad. However, if you want a TouchID sensor, you’ll have to pay $100 more. The extra money will also double the storage from 256GB to 512GB.
Apple claimed that the MacBook Neo is up to 50% faster in everyday tasks than “the best-selling PC powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra 5” with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The company also claimed that its new laptop is up to three times faster than this Windows system “when running on-device AI workloads, such as applying advanced effects to photos.”
The MacBook Neo is available in four colors: silver, blush (light pink), lemon (light yellow), and indigo. He was previously reported that Apple would offer the budget laptop in vibrant iMac-like colors. Additionally, Apple says the laptop is “made with a durable recycled aluminum enclosure that allows it to achieve 60% recycled content by weight,” which is considered the best of all Apple devices.
As with the rest of the new devices, pre-orders are now open and the MacBook Neo will be available in stores in 30 countries and regions on March 11.
We have already had the opportunity to test the MacBook Neo. Devindra Hardawar, editor-in-chief of Engadget, had generally positive first impressions of the laptop, but felt that the keyboard and touchpad didn’t feel as robust as those on Apple’s high-end systems.
Studio Display and Studio XDR Display
I don’t think many people had Studio Displays on their Apple announcement bingo card this week, but here they are. The Studio Display XDR is completely new.
It is a 27-inch monitor with a 5K Retina XDR display. It features a mini LED display with over 2,000 dimming zones and a maximum HDR brightness of 2,000 nuts, as well as a wider range of colors. The Studio Display XDR features a 120Hz refresh rate (an improvement over the 60Hz that previous models were limited to) and a tilt and height adjustable stand as standard.
The monitor also has a 12 MP Center Stage camera that supports Desk View, a feature that, oddly enough, lets you view both your face and what’s on your desk. Thunderbolt 5 connectivity lets you connect more displays by daisy-chaining them. The Studio Display XDR is also a Thunderbolt hub supporting up to 140W of charging power. So you can quickly charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro using the included Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable.
The Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299. A version with nano-textured glass, said to further reduce reflectivity, costs $3,599.
Meanwhile, the updated Studio Display has an improved 12 MP Center Stage camera with Desk View. There’s also a set of three “studio-quality” microphones and a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio. The latest model supports Thunderbolt 5 with the ability to daisy chain displays. The Studio Display can also provide 96W charging.
The base monitor costs $1,599. It still features a 27-inch Retina 5K display with up to 600 nits brightness and P3 wide color. It comes with standard glass or, for $300 more, nano-textured glass. The Studio Display is equipped as standard with a tilting stand. If you prefer to have one that is height adjustable as well, you will have to pay an additional $400.
Once again, pre-orders for the displays are now open ahead of wider availability on March 11.
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/everything-apple-announced-this-week-macbook-neo-iphone-17e-and-more-155617129.html?src=rss
