From the budget MacBook to the new iPhone, Apple announced a series of new products this month.
The tech giant kicked off March 2 with the new iPhone 17e and the iPad Air M4. A day later, Apple announced the MacBook Air M5, new MacBook Pro modelsnew M5 Pro and M5 Max chipsand a new Studio Display and Studio XDR Display. On March 4, Apple announced a cheaper MacBook called the MacBook Neo which runs on a similar chip as the iPad and iPhone.
A week and a half later, Apple released a surprise announcement: the AirPods Max 2the long-awaited successor to its high-end headphones launched in 2020.
If you haven’t had time to discover all the new features, we have compiled all the announcements for you here.
iPhone 17e
Apple has unveiled the latest version of its budget iPhone range, the iPhone 17ewhich costs $599 and will be available March 11.
The smartphone comes with the A19 chip found in the base iPhone 17. The base model comes with 256GB of storage, which is double the entry-level storage of the iPhone 16e.
One of the most notable changes from the previous budget iPhone is the addition of MagSafe and Qi2, which support wireless charging at up to 15W. As for the camera, the iPhone 17e has the same 48-megapixel camera as the iPhone 16e.
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The iPhone 17e also features C1X, Apple’s latest generation cellular modem, which is up to 2x faster than the C1 in the iPhone 16e, according to Apple. The tech giant claims the C1X uses 30% less power than an iPhone 16 Pro’s modem, leading to better battery life.
The smartphone is available in black, white and a new soft pink color.
iPad Air M4
Apple announced the new iPad Airpowered by the M4 chip, making it 30% faster than the iPad Air M3 and 2.3 times faster than the M1 version. The new device still retails at the same price of $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model. For educational customers, there is a $50 discount.
The iPad Air is designed to be faster, thanks to an updated Neural Engine and more memory, making it better for AI uses.
The iPad Air also has an 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU, making it a decent option for gaming or photo editing. It also comes with 12 GB of unified memory, a 50% increase over the previous model, and the memory bandwidth now reaches 120 GB/s. Apple says these upgrades allow users to run AI models faster than previous generations.
The device is available in four colors: blue, purple, starlight and space gray. The storage options are 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.
MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max
Alongside the release of the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, Apple revealed an update MacBook Pro models equipped with the latest chipsets. Apple said these new chips were specifically designed to enable its laptops to better handle AI-intensive tasks. The new Pro laptops can handle AI tasks up to 4x faster than their respective M4 predecessors.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are up to 4x faster at processing LLM prompts than the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and up to 8x faster at generating AI images than the M1 Pro and M1 Max.
MacBook Pro delivers up to 2x faster read/write performance than the last generation and will start at 1TB of storage for MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and 2TB for MacBook Pro with M5 Max. The laptops have up to 24 hours of battery life and with a 96W or higher USB-C adapter, users can charge up to 50% of the battery in 30 minutes. The laptops support Thunderbolt 5 and feature a six-speaker audio system.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro chips start at $2,199 and $2,699, respectively, while models with M5 Max chips start at $3,599 and $3,899 and are available in black or silver.
MacBook Air M5
As with the new MacBook Pro models, the new MacBook Air was designed to better handle AI tasks.
The new MacBook Air boasts 18 hours of battery life, a six-hour improvement over Apple’s 2020 Intel-based laptops, and includes a 12MP Center Stage camera for video calling, a three-mic array, and a sound system with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support. It also has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099 and the 15-inch model starts at $1,299. They are available in sky blue, midnight, starlight and silver. The Air now also starts with 512GB of storage, doubling the base capacity of the previous model.
MacBook Neo
Apple unveiled a low-cost entry-level laptop called the MacBook Neoits answer to Google’s Chromebook. Starting at $599, the MacBook Neo is designed for students and users whose tasks don’t require intensive workflows like video editing or 3D rendering.
The 13-inch laptop comes in four colors: silver, blush, citrus, and indigo. The base model comes with 256GB of storage, while the $699 model comes with 512GB of storage, plus Touch ID.
The laptop runs on the A18 Pro chip, which powers the iPhone 16 Pro models, rather than the more powerful and more expensive M5 chip used by the latest MacBook Air.
The MacBook Neo comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and two microphones, as well as speakers on either side supporting Spatial Audio. The battery can last up to 16 hours on a single charge, delivered via one of its two USB-C ports.
The MacBook Neo features a five-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine, which supports levels of gaming and on-device AI tasks similar to those of a recent iPhone.
The laptop is also the Most repairable MacBook in “about fourteen years,” according to a disassembly by the handy iFixit website.
AirPods Max 2
Apple’s new over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max 2costs $549 and features active noise cancellation, Apple’s audio-specific H2 chip, live translation support, better sound quality and much more. The headphones are available in midnight, starlight, orange, purple and blue.
Apple claims that the new earbuds’ active noise cancellation (ANC) is up to 1.5 times more effective than their predecessor. And the Adaptive Audio feature allows the headphones to automatically adjust ANC and transparency levels based on the user’s environment to optimize the listening experience.
The company says Transparency mode now feels more natural, thanks to a new digital signal processing algorithm optimized for the H2 chip and AirPods Max microphone array, so users can stay aware of their surroundings and the people around them.
The headphones also support Camera Remote, a feature that lets you trigger the iPhone or iPad’s camera shutter remotely, as well as a loud sound reduction feature that helps protect users from loud environmental noises while preserving the sound signature of what they’re listening to.
Studio Display and Studio XDR Display
Apple unveiled a new Studio Display at $1,599 and Studio Display XDR at $3,299. The 27-inch screens feature improved cameras and improved connectivity. Both feature a 12MP Center Stage camera, which Apple says offers improved image quality, and support Desk View, a feature that simultaneously displays your face and an overhead view of your desk.
The displays are equipped with Thunderbolt 5 ports, so they can be connected to accessories and used to daisy chain up to four displays (a Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable is included).
Studio Display’s 5K Retina display has more than 14 million pixels, 600 nits of brightness and supports the P3 wide-gamut color standard which covers a wider range of the visible color spectrum than standards such as sRGB.
The Studio Display It can achieve 1,000 nits of SDR brightness and 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, and features a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. It also supports the Adobe RGB color standard.
M5 Pro and M5 Max chips
THE new chips are built around Apple’s new Fusion architecture, an advanced design that includes a powerful processor, scalable GPU, media engine, unified memory controller, neural engine, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities.
Both chips feature an 18-core processor, marking an upgrade from the M4 Pro’s 14-core setup and the M4 Max’s 16 cores.
The processor now has six “super cores,” the term Apple uses for its highest-performance cores, as well as 12 all-new performance cores. Collectively, the processor increases performance by up to 30% for professional workloads.
The M5 Pro supports up to 64 GB of unified memory, compared to 48 GB on the M4 Pro, with a bandwidth of 307 GB/s. The M5 Max continues to support up to 128 GB of unified memory, with bandwidth increased to 614 GB/s.
New accessories
Apple introduced new spring colors for iPhone cases, Apple Watch bands and the crossbody strap. Apple’s silicone case for the standard iPhone 17 now comes in three new colors: Bright Guava, Vanilla, and Electric Lavender. Bright Guava and Vanilla are also available for iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
The Apple Watch Sport Band now comes in Bright Guava, Clementine, and Soft Pink, while the Sport Loop adds Bright Guava, Blue Mist, and Cantaloupe to its color lineup.
The strap is now available in Bright Guava and Soft Pink.
