Smart things (public account: zhidxcom)
Author | Yunpeng
Edit | Heart edge
Wise things news in the early morning of April 21.
Apple’s “Once in a decade” April spring new product launch event officially opened at 1:00 am Beijing time. Apple officially released the iPad Pro equipped with M1 chip and Mini LED screen, the upgraded M1 chip and the “slimming success” iMac and “Pigeon” Wang’s new product” AirTag locator.
Apple’s spring conference is usually held in March. The last time Apple’s “April New Product Conference” was on April 8, 2010, Jobs gave an in-depth interpretation of iPhoneOS.
Apple CEO Cook took the lead as usual and announced the start of Apple’s first press conference in 2021 on the lawn of the Apple Park. Cook first shared some recent “good news” from Apple.
In terms of environmental protection, Apple has achieved “carbon neutrality” and all businesses use 100% renewable electricity. In the future, Apple will promote environmental protection among its supply chain partners. Apple hopes to reduce carbon emissions by one million tons per year in the future.
Apple did not forget the “humorous” this time. Before introducing the iPad Pro, Cook played an agent “stealing” the M1 chip and installed it on the iPad Pro, which can be said to be full of drama.
▲Cook “steals the core”
At today’s press conference, Apple’s Apple Card, Apple Podcasts and other services have also been upgraded. The iPhone has launched a new purple color scheme. Apple’s “set-top box” product line has been updated with Apple TV 4K, and even the remote control has been upgraded.
At the end of the conference, Cook also “implied” that Apple will soon have many new products to meet with you.
A summary of the product prices of the National Bank of this new Apple product launch:
To my surprise, the price of the 12.9-inch top-of-the-line cellular version of the iPad Pro actually came to 18,499 yuan. This price has exceeded the current starting price of Huawei and Samsung’s top folding screen flagship smartphones.
- AirTag finally has no “pigeons” this time!Apple emphasizes: only looking for things, not people
The year-by-year bounce notice, Apple AirTag’s new product “Little Fairy” finally has no “pigeons” this time, and it was introduced at the very beginning of the press conference.
The AirTag launched this time will be used in conjunction with the “Find” function in Apple’s iPhone to find iPad, Apple Watch and other products offline.
Apple calls it the “precise search” function, which uses distance data, cameras, gyroscope accelerators and other hardware to obtain information to find your device.
Apple specifically emphasized that AirTag is used to find items, not people. This is also for the protection of user privacy and security. AirTag National Bank sells for 229 yuan per piece, and some accessories are available.
In May 2019, the product type “Tag, 1” appeared for the first time in Apple iOS 13. Since then, Apple has also disclosed the name of “AirTag” in its release video. After two years of “long warm-up”, today the new product has finally officially unveiled.
In fact, starting from the functional positioning of “tracker” alone, there are already many products on the market. In 2020, the total shipment of products with tracking function in the Bluetooth market will reach 66 million. But how to use such technology to create new killer applications and explore more application scenarios is a top priority.
However, Apple’s most prominent feature is its ecological capabilities, and we are also very curious, what tricks can this small AirTag play in Apple’s hands?
iMac finally got M1 self-developed core, the thickness is only two mobile phones, and 8K video is not stuck.
Before introducing the new iMac computer, Cook praised his own M1 self-developed Mac chip as usual. He said that the product sales of M1 chip now accounted for the bulk.
Apple mentioned that developers are currently “working overtime” to make software adaptations. At present, many mainstream apps in overseas markets have been adapted to Mac computers equipped with M1.
The iMac finally uses the M1 chip developed by Apple this time.
The iMac series has changed the appearance of the previous rounded back design, the back is flatter, and the side frame has an “iPhone” feel. The frame on the front of the screen is narrower, but surprisingly, the “big chin” is still not removed. It is still possible to “stop the aircraft carrier.”
It can be said that iMac is “successful in losing weight” this time. Apple specifically mentioned that due to the use of the M1 chip, the internal design of Apple’s iMac can be more flexible, the cooling system has only two small fans, the noise is smaller, the volume is reduced by more than 50%, and the thickness is only 11.5mm.
The iMac screen resolution is 4.5K (4480×2520), the peak brightness reaches 500nit, it supports primary color display, and the screen color temperature can be adjusted according to the ambient color temperature.
The front camera of the iMac has been upgraded at the hardware level. At the same time, the ISP of the M1 chip can process multiple images at the same time, using noise reduction algorithms, color mapping and other technologies to improve the dynamic range and image quality purity. Apple said, this is a Mac computer The best camera on the web.
In terms of radio, Apple has also improved the iMac’s radio effect through microphone arrays and AI algorithms. Of course, in terms of speakers, Apple has also upgraded it, equipped with six speakers, and has carried out targeted enhancements for low and high frequencies. Support Dolby audio standard.
Apple once again emphasized that this is the best sound system on Apple Mac computers.
The iMac has added a lot of color schemes this time, including 7 kinds of “high saturation” such as white, green, blue, orange, purple, yellow, and red. The starting price of the Bank of China is 9,999 yuan.
The macOS Big Sur system upgrade has not been absent, and it has been optimized in scenes such as games and productivity.
The built-in M1 chip of the new iMac is powerful enough to allow you to conduct video conferences, fish and play games, and use iPad and iPhone apps on the iMac painlessly.
Apple said that users can edit 5 4K videos at the same time in the Final Cut video editing software, and there is “no stutter,” and of course 8K videos can be edited.
Compared with the previous generation 21.5-inch model, its CPU can be increased by up to 85%; GPU performance is up to 2 times higher than the previous generation model, and 50% faster than the 21.5-inch model equipped with the highest graphics card; machine learning speed The increase can be up to 3 times.
In terms of interfaces, the iMac has 2 Thunderbolt ports, supports an external 6K display, and uses a magnetic charging port. The power adapter comes with a network cable port. It shares a wire with the charging cable to connect to the computer, saving wires.
The Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Touchpad all have the same color scheme as the new iMac. The Magic Keyboard also adds emoji keys. The Touch ID function appears on the Mac desktop keyboard for the first time.
iPad Pro debuts Mini LED screen, M1 succeeds A14 and supports 5G!
The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro have no major changes in the design, and focus on upgrading the SoC and screen.
iPad Pro is equipped with an M1 chip and upgraded to support 5G cellular networks. In the US, it will support millimeter wave 5G, which improves productivity. The maximum download speed is said to be up to 4Gbps.
Apple mentioned that due to the similar underlying architecture of M1 and A-series chips, iPadOS can perform well. According to Apple, the CPU performance of the iPad Pro has increased by 50% compared to the previous generation, up to 75 times higher than the first-generation iPad, and the GPU performance has increased by 40%. It is also the “strongest” performance among similar products.
It is worth mentioning that, thanks to the M1 chip, the iPad Pro achieves a thickness of 6.4mm under such strong performance, which is almost on par with the iPhone.
The storage speed of iPad Pro has been increased by 2 times, and the storage capacity has been increased to 2TB. It can store 220 hours of 4K HDR video. Obviously, one of the main application scenarios of this product is productivity creation.
In addition, iPad Pro has also upgraded its camera and audio capabilities. Using lidar, iPad Pro can help creators perform AR previews of visual scenes. The cooperation of ISP and lidar can improve the shooting effect in low light.
In terms of front video shooting, through the cooperation of machine learning and 122° ultra-wide-angle lens, the iPad Pro can achieve automatic focus tracking during video shooting, while automatically expanding the angle of view, and has a built-in studio-level microphone.
One of the biggest upgrades of the iPad Pro is the improvement of the screen quality. The iPad Pro 12.9-inch version has 5.6 million screen pixels, and the Pro Display XDR screen technology on the iMac Pro is decentralized to achieve a peak brightness of 1600 nits, and the contrast and dynamic range have also been significantly improved.
Apple calls this screen the “Liquid Retina XDR” display.
Apple mentioned that the iPad Pro screen is covered with tens of thousands of micro LEDs, which can provide more than 2500 partition backlights, and can achieve a contrast ratio of 1 million:1, but it is still light and energy-saving on this basis.
In fact, the screen of Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro this time is technically the hot Mini LED display technology in the industry. Mini LED technology essentially provides more fine screen brightness adjustment by increasing the number of LED backlight beads. Compared with traditional LCD screens, the color performance and contrast of the screen have been improved to a certain extent, but it has certain advantages compared with OLED in terms of power consumption and cost.
Mini LED technology is relatively mature. Large-size Mini LED panels have been used in high-end TVs from Samsung, LG, and TCL. A small number of high-end notebook products have also used medium-size Mini LED panels.
But Apple is the first manufacturer to apply Mini LED panels to small-sized products such as the iPad.
The starting price of the 11-inch version of the iPad Pro is 6199 yuan, and the starting price of the 12.9-inch version is 8499 yuan.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Apple’s iPad business revenue exceeded 8.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 41% year-on-year. In 2020, iPad sales reached 45.5 million units, which is the first positive increase in Apple’s iPad product line in seven years.
With the help of the epidemic, the global tablet market will rebound significantly in 2020. This year, Apple’s iPad Pro product line has significantly improved performance and battery life through the M1 chip upgrade, which is likely to continue to promote the growth of its iPad overall sales.
With the addition of new color schemes in iPhone 12, can the mobile phone help the TV “color correction”?
Apple has also upgraded several services this time. The first is that Apple Card has improved the credit mechanism, allowing couples or couples to share credit, and family members can also share credit, and children over 13 can also use it under the authorization of their parents. Apple Card, Apple calls this feature Apple Card Familiy.
Apple has upgraded the Apple Podcast APP this time, redesigned the program list and interface, improved the homepage recommendation, and reduced the advertising content. It will be launched in more than 170 countries and regions around the world.
Unexpectedly, along with Disney-style animation and music, Apple introduced the purple color scheme of the iPhone 12 series, which Cook called the “spring color scheme”, which was officially released on April 30.
Apple’s Apple TV+ TV service has also been upgraded. Apple’s newly launched Apple TV 4K hardware is equipped with Apple’s self-developed A12 chip, which supports Dolby Vision, plays 4K videos more smoothly, and supports more HDR videos.
On Apple TV 4K, you can better restore 4K videos shot by iPhone. Apple uses the new color balance function to calibrate the screen content. The light sensor on the iPhone can be used for color detection. After the comparison, the Apple TV will calibrate the colors to make the color performance more accurate.
Apple TV’s “remote control” has also been upgraded, changing back to the iPod Classic’s “circular scroll wheel + touch pad + button” style, supporting ring-shaped button touch and sliding control, and the button design is more user-friendly, and the side also has a mute button. , Very similar to the iPhone. Apple TV 4K starts at $179.
Conclusion: Apple’s self-developed M1 chip empowers hardware, and the synergy of software and hardware is becoming more prominent
The Apple conference in the early hours of this morning can be said to be unexpected and frequent. The update of the iPad Pro and iMac product lines mainly revolves around the application of the M1 self-developed chip. Important upgrades have been made in terms of performance, power consumption, and design, and the software system level has also been optimized with the M1 chip.
The launch of AirTag products can be regarded as complementing the key “location connection” link in Apple’s AIoT hardware ecosystem. It is worth mentioning that today’s new products are almost exactly the same as the previous “predictions” of foreign media.
It can be seen that whether it is the significant improvement of Apple’s self-developed M1 chip for product power, or the smooth and consistent user experience brought about by the integration of software and hardware ecology, it has become the core ecological moat built by Apple.
Self-developed software and hardware, and mastering the underlying core technology are still the core competitiveness of the top players. Apple is playing more and more on this road.
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