The Apple WWDC 2023 Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 10am PT/17:00 UTC)
by Ryan Smith on June 5, 2023 12:30 PM EST12:55PM EDT - As we round the corner after Computex and transition into June, it's time once more for Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference. As always, Apple kicks off WWDC with their big keynote event, which though aimed first and foremost at developers, is also used as a venue to announce new products and ecosystem strategies. The keynote starts at 10am Pacific (17:00 UTC) today, and AnandTech will be offering live blog coverage of Apple's event.
12:55PM EDT - With WWDC going virtual once again this year, we're expecting another rapid-fire, two-hour run through of Apple's ecosystem. WWDC keynotes have historically covered everything from macOS and iOS to individual Apple applications and more. On the hardware side of matters, in previous years we've seen things like the official announcement Apple's M2 SoC; and as of 2023, we're still missing the legendary Mac Pro from the Apple Silicon lineup. All the while, the rumor mill intensely churns with the idea of an Apple augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) headset. And of course, there's always the chance of the periodic product refresh.
12:56PM EDT - The Apple Store, as is usually is the case, is down right now
12:57PM EDT - So if you're looking to order any Apple products in the middle of the WWDC keynote, you'll be out of luck
01:00PM EDT - Reading through the tea leaves this year, it's not sounding like this year will be as big of a year for Mac hardware as last year, which is an admittedly hard act to follow since we got the M2 SoC that year
01:00PM EDT - But for consumers, any new/updated Macs will be a big deal in and of itself
01:00PM EDT - And here we go
01:02PM EDT - And here's Tim Cook, from a recording in the yards of Apple Park
01:02PM EDT - This is the 15th anniversary of the iOS App Store
01:03PM EDT - "Today we're going to make some of our biggest announcements ever at WWDC"
01:03PM EDT - "Introducing some exciting new products"
01:04PM EDT - And we're going right to the Mac to start things off
01:04PM EDT - Recapping Apple Silicon and the performance/design benefits of it
01:05PM EDT - Especially the MacBook Air
01:05PM EDT - Rolling the announcement video for a new Mac
01:05PM EDT - Introducing the 15-inch MacBook Air
01:05PM EDT - "The world's best 15-inch laptop"
01:06PM EDT - 11.5mm thick, "world's thinnest 15-inch laptop"
01:06PM EDT - 2 TB4 ports + MagSafe, so the same as the 13-inch
01:06PM EDT - 15.3-inch liquid retina screen, 500 nits brightness and 10-bit color
01:07PM EDT - Powered by the M2 chip
01:07PM EDT - This sounds like it's almost entirely just an enlarged MBA 13
01:07PM EDT - Apple claims 2x the perf of a i7 Core-based laptop
01:07PM EDT - And 50% more battery life
01:08PM EDT - And this is fanless, just like the MBA13
01:08PM EDT - 3.3 pounds
01:09PM EDT - Pricing starts at $1299, ordering starts today for availability next week
01:09PM EDT - The MBA13 is getting a $100 cut to $1099
01:09PM EDT - And that's the 15-inch MacBook Air
01:09PM EDT - Now on to Pro products. Recapping the recent Pro laptops
01:09PM EDT - Mac Studio update time
01:10PM EDT - The Mac Studio is getting an update with the M2 Max SoC
01:11PM EDT - And because it's the Studio, introducing the M2 Ultra SoC
01:11PM EDT - Just like the M1, M2 connects two Max SoCs together using the UltraFusion interface
01:11PM EDT - 76 GPU cores in total
01:12PM EDT - M2 Ultra supports 192GB of unified RAM, 64GB more than the M1 Ultra
01:12PM EDT - AI! (Take a shot)
01:13PM EDT - Apple is touting neural network training as one of the use cases for the chip and its 192GB of memory
01:13PM EDT - Mac Studio has "higher bandwidth" HDMI
01:13PM EDT - Up to six Pro Displays off an M2 Ultra
01:14PM EDT - But what about people that need PCIe expansion?!
01:14PM EDT - And there it is, the Apple Silicon Mac Pro
01:14PM EDT - M2 Ultra-based
01:14PM EDT - 3x faster than the old Intel Mac Pro
01:15PM EDT - Same 192GB memory limit as the M2U Mac Studio
01:15PM EDT - And touting the advantage of the M2 Ultra over the Afterburner video processing card used in the Intel Mac Pro
01:15PM EDT - 8 Thunderbolt 4 ports
01:16PM EDT - 6 PCIe 4.0 expansion slots
01:16PM EDT - Physically x16, from the looks of it, but probably not all electrically x16
01:16PM EDT - Tower and Rackmount configurations
01:17PM EDT - Mac Pro starts at $6999. Orders start today, available next week
01:17PM EDT - And this completes the transition to Apple Silicon and the Arm ISA. Apple no longer has any leading systems using Intel x86 processors
01:18PM EDT - That took a bit longer than the two years Apple previously talked about, but they got here
01:18PM EDT - The lack of memory expanability with the Mac Pro may prove a wedge issue, but we'll see how things go
01:18PM EDT - Now on to software (this is a dev conference, after all), starting with iOS
01:19PM EDT - Previewing iOS 17
01:19PM EDT - The Phone app is getting updated
01:19PM EDT - Personalized contact posters
01:20PM EDT - Customize the image, font, and color
01:20PM EDT - This info is also available via CallKit
01:20PM EDT - New feature: Live Voicemail
01:20PM EDT - Live transcription of your voicemail as it's being left/recorded, so that you can better screen phone calls
01:21PM EDT - Transcriptions are handled on-device for privacy reasons
01:21PM EDT - And now you can leave recorded messages with Facetime
01:21PM EDT - Now on to the Messages app
01:22PM EDT - Search filters for more precise searching
01:22PM EDT - Easier inline replies by swipping on a chat bubble
01:22PM EDT - New feature: check-in
01:23PM EDT - Let a contact know you've arrived home safely
01:23PM EDT - Or if you've not reached your destination, if that happens to be the case
01:24PM EDT - And some Sticker updates. All emoji available as stickers
01:26PM EDT - New AirDrop functionality
01:26PM EDT - New feature: Name Drop
01:26PM EDT - Bring two phones close together to exchange contact information
01:26PM EDT - Can also swap with an Apple Watch
01:27PM EDT - You can also use this to quickly setup AirDrop between two devices to transfer content and other activities
01:28PM EDT - Autocorrect feature updates
01:28PM EDT - Apple has continued to advance the machine learning model for autocorrect
01:28PM EDT - And the latest generation is based on transformer models (the same underlying tech used in GPT and the like)
01:29PM EDT - "Just want to type a ducking word"
01:30PM EDT - (The stream dropped out on my end. That's the first for an Apple event stream)
01:30PM EDT - New app for iOS: Journal
01:30PM EDT - It's a journaling application
01:32PM EDT - New feature: Standby
01:33PM EDT - Turn your iPhone into a nightstand clock
01:33PM EDT - (It just doesn't have the charm of a seven segment display)
01:34PM EDT - Along with the time, it can show calendar reminders, timers, and other information
01:34PM EDT - And it can remember the user's view preferences for each location it's used with MagSafe
01:35PM EDT - Siri is apparently getting rid of the "Hey" keyword?
01:35PM EDT - So invoking Siri is now just "Siri"
01:35PM EDT - Now on to iPadOS
01:36PM EDT - New features, starting with widgets and the lock screen
01:37PM EDT - The customized lock screen is coming to iPadOS
01:38PM EDT - Optimized popular wallpapers (like astronomy) for the larger screen
01:39PM EDT - Live activities on the lock screen as well
01:39PM EDT - iPadOS is getting the Health app as well
01:40PM EDT - And it's been redesigned to make good use of the larger iPad screen
01:41PM EDT - The Notes app is getting updated as well, with improved PDF handling
01:42PM EDT - PDF annotation within Notes when using an Apple Pencil
01:43PM EDT - Also on Apple's list: updates to Stage Manager, and external camera support as part of an external display
01:43PM EDT - And that's iPadOS 17
01:44PM EDT - Now in to macOS
01:45PM EDT - macOS Sonoma
01:45PM EDT - A lot of those previously-announced iOS/iPadOS features are also coming to macOS
01:45PM EDT - (Barring any surprises, this should be macOS 14)
01:45PM EDT - More personalization through widgets
01:46PM EDT - Widgets can go on the desktop; they're no longer limited to the notification center
01:47PM EDT - (This seems like reinventing the wheel a bit. Didn't we have a lot of this with Dashboard?)
01:47PM EDT - Moving widgets from the iPhone to the Mac
01:48PM EDT - Now on to Mac Gaming
01:48PM EDT - Apple Silicon brings a lot more GPU performance, which is what Apple has always wanted
01:49PM EDT - Introducing Game Mode
01:49PM EDT - Games get the highest priority on the CPU and GPU; pushes background tasks farther into the background
01:49PM EDT - Focus on reducing input latency and BT audio latency
01:49PM EDT - According to Apple, they're doubling the BT sampling rate in game mode
01:50PM EDT - (A bit power hungry, but when you're going to be making heavy use of the CPU/GPU anyhow...)
01:50PM EDT - Apple is also improving their tools for porting games from other platforms to the Mac
01:50PM EDT - And now Apple has Hideo Kojima sharing a few words
01:51PM EDT - Death Stranding Director's Cut is coming to the Mac later this year
01:51PM EDT - (This was originally released in 2019)
01:51PM EDT - Implements Metal Upscaling, among other features
01:52PM EDT - And his studio is actively working to bring future titles to the platform
01:52PM EDT - Now shifting gears to productivity
01:52PM EDT - Video conferencing updates
01:52PM EDT - Presenter Overlay
01:53PM EDT - Get your face on top of your slides
01:54PM EDT - Including a faux-presentation mode where your slide deck is behind you. The presenter's body is cut out and placed on top. It actually looks rather neat
01:54PM EDT - Now on to Safari
01:54PM EDT - Adding even more features to WebKit
01:54PM EDT - Private browsing mode is being updated to block trackers and remove URL trackers
01:55PM EDT - Passwords and passkeys can be shared among a group using iCloud Keychain (E2E encrypted)
01:55PM EDT - Multiple browser profiles (think Firefox account containers)
01:56PM EDT - So different tabs can belong to different profiles, rather than sharing a single profile and its cookies/logins
01:56PM EDT - Web apps. They can be created from any website
01:57PM EDT - And that's macOS Sonoma
01:57PM EDT - Now on to Audio & Home
01:57PM EDT - Starting with what's new for AirPods
01:58PM EDT - New feature: adaptive audio
01:58PM EDT - Dynamically blending transparency and active noise cancellation modes
01:59PM EDT - Distracting noises are reduced. Useful noises are not
01:59PM EDT - (So you can literally have selective hearing)
02:00PM EDT - Adaptive Audio will supress noise when you're on a call as well
02:00PM EDT - Also improving the automatic switching experience between Apple devices
02:01PM EDT - AirPlay updates as well
02:02PM EDT - AirPlay is coming to hotels
02:02PM EDT - And SharePlay is coming to cars
02:02PM EDT - Lets all the passengers control the sound system
02:03PM EDT - A few words on tvOS 17 as well
02:03PM EDT - The control center has been redesigned
02:03PM EDT - Memories is now available as a screensaver
02:03PM EDT - And Facetime is coming to Apple TV
02:04PM EDT - Uses Apple's Continuity Camera functionality. Using the camera on an iPhone or iPad
02:04PM EDT - With Continuity to provide framing
02:05PM EDT - And devs will get access to the Continuity Camera APIs, allowing other video conferencing apps to access the functionality
02:05PM EDT - Now on to watchOS
02:06PM EDT - watchOS 10
02:06PM EDT - Rolling a video
02:07PM EDT - Can reveal widgets from any home screen using the crown to bring up a stack of widgets
02:08PM EDT - Long press to add a widget to the stack
02:08PM EDT - Redesigned apps across watchOS 10
02:09PM EDT - World Clock, the Activity app, and more
02:11PM EDT - New Apple Watch features aimed at cyclists
02:11PM EDT - Apple Watch can now connect to BT-enabled bike sensors
02:12PM EDT - Apple Watch can use this to estimate power output
02:13PM EDT - Compass and Maps being updated for hiking usage as well
02:13PM EDT - Keeps track of the last place you has cellular connectivity, plots it as a waypoint
02:13PM EDT - New topographic map for Maps in the US
02:14PM EDT - And new workout APIs for developers
02:15PM EDT - And some new health-related features for Apple Watch, as well
02:16PM EDT - Mindfulness app
02:16PM EDT - Log your feelings
02:16PM EDT - And the iPhone/iPad Health apps get the same functionality
02:17PM EDT - Standardized health assessments within the Health app
02:17PM EDT - (Mental health assessments)
02:17PM EDT - Vision health tools as well
02:18PM EDT - Now Apple Watch can measure how much time is spent in the daylight
02:19PM EDT - This is being pitched as a tool for using with kids and making sure they get enough outside time
02:19PM EDT - And screen distance reminders
02:19PM EDT - Underscoring the on-device storage and encryption of Health data
02:20PM EDT - And that's watchOS
02:20PM EDT - And that's Apple's slate of hardware and software updates
02:21PM EDT - All in 80 minutes. That's fast for a WWDC keynote, albeit dense
02:21PM EDT - Developer beta OSes releases available today, and public betas next month
02:21PM EDT - With the final versions shipping to the public in the fall
02:21PM EDT - And back to Tim Cook
02:21PM EDT - For the obligatory one more thing
02:21PM EDT - Augmented reality
02:22PM EDT - Announcing an entirely new AR platform and a new product
02:22PM EDT - Rolling a video
02:22PM EDT - An Apple AR headset
02:23PM EDT - Apple Vision Pro
02:23PM EDT - "Seemlessly blending the real world with the digital word"
02:23PM EDT - Emphasizing looking through Vision Pro, and not at it
02:23PM EDT - Eye and hand tracking. As well as voice controls
02:24PM EDT - Cabled headset?
02:24PM EDT - Tim is running through the use cases for AR and content consumption
02:24PM EDT - "Apple Vision Pro will introduce us to spatial computing"
02:25PM EDT - Designed a fully three-dimensional interface
02:25PM EDT - Home view is the base interface
02:26PM EDT - Apps wrap around to the sides when switching between them
02:27PM EDT - And environments, for swtiching from AR to a more VR-like experience
02:27PM EDT - Environments are volumetic
02:27PM EDT - Controls are eyes, hands, and voice
02:28PM EDT - Tapping fingers together to select something, and flick to scroll
02:28PM EDT - Siri support to drive those voice commands
02:29PM EDT - A user's eyes are visible from outside of the headset
02:29PM EDT - Apple calls it EyeSight
02:29PM EDT - (Sounds like this is an OLED screen, rather than actually seeing through the headset)
02:30PM EDT - Lets users see if someone is approaching them - and the approacher know once they've been seen
02:30PM EDT - (The home view reminds me of the Sony PS Vita Live Area home screen)
02:32PM EDT - Virtual keyboard for typing
02:32PM EDT - Works with popular Bluetooth accessories like the Magic Keyboard
02:33PM EDT - 4K display?
02:33PM EDT - Can project the screen from a Mac into Apple Vision Pro
02:34PM EDT - Facetime support
02:34PM EDT - Though it sounds like they can't see you, since there's not a camera in a suitable location
02:35PM EDT - At this point Apple is talking less about technical features, and more about use cases
02:36PM EDT - Which makes sense. It's a new product category for them, so they need to sell potential customers on the usefulness of the product
02:36PM EDT - Which is often "things you like to do, but better"
02:36PM EDT - The headset features a 3D camera setup and can record/playback 3D videos
02:37PM EDT - Apple calls them spatial videos
02:37PM EDT - Spatial cinema mode for watching video content
02:38PM EDT - Content from Apple TV+ and other content services will be available on Apple Vision Pro
02:39PM EDT - And there will be formal support for 3D movies
02:39PM EDT - Apple Arcade games can only be used on the headset. Though they're a 2D application from the looks of it
02:40PM EDT - Tim is bringing out Disney's CEO, Bob Iger
02:41PM EDT - "We believe Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary platform"
02:42PM EDT - Now rolling a sneek peak video of content and expereinces Disney has been development for the headset
02:44PM EDT - Disney+ will be available on Day One
02:44PM EDT - And now on to the design of the headset itself
02:45PM EDT - Apple Vision Pro is the culmination of decades of experience
02:45PM EDT - Entire front of the headset is a single piece of deformed and laminated glass
02:45PM EDT - Extremely lightweight frame
02:45PM EDT - There'a button on one side, and a digital crown on the other side
02:46PM EDT - Actively cooled thermal design. There's a processor in the headset, and no doubt the screen itself would like some cooling
02:47PM EDT - Audio pods built into the headset band
02:47PM EDT - Fabric band with an adjustment dial
02:47PM EDT - For users who need glasses, created custom optical inserts that magnetically attach to the display
02:47PM EDT - The battery is external
02:48PM EDT - Which is the cable we've seen earlier
02:48PM EDT - The battery is designed to be pocketed, tethered via the cable rather than weighing down on the head
02:48PM EDT - Now for more on the tech
02:49PM EDT - micro-OLED silicon backplane
02:49PM EDT - 23M pixels across 2 panels
02:49PM EDT - 64x the density of an iPhone display
02:49PM EDT - 3 element lens
02:49PM EDT - Looks like a pancake lens setup
02:50PM EDT - "Fine text looks super-sharp from any angle"
02:50PM EDT - The display is RGB, but not RGB stripe
02:51PM EDT - Using audio raytracing for sound
02:51PM EDT - Lidar, TrueDepth, hand tracking cameras, and more
02:51PM EDT - Internal IR cameras for eye tracking as well (doing foveated rendering, I'm sure)
02:51PM EDT - Dual chip processor setup
02:52PM EDT - The first chip is an Apple M2 SoC
02:52PM EDT - The second chip is a new chip: R1
02:52PM EDT - A dedicated sensor input and fusion processor
02:52PM EDT - "R1 virtually eliminates lag"
02:52PM EDT - Gets new images to the display within 12ms
02:53PM EDT - Confirmed that EyeSight is using an external, curved OLED panel to fake transparency
02:54PM EDT - For FaceTime, Apple recreates and renders the user's face, since an actual camera isn't possible
02:54PM EDT - (It looks fairly fake, but not uncanny)
02:54PM EDT - The OS: visionOS
02:54PM EDT - Foveated rendering confirmed
02:54PM EDT - Multi-app 3D engine
02:55PM EDT - "First OS designed from the ground up for spatial computing"
02:55PM EDT - And since this is WWDC, what does this mean for developers?
02:56PM EDT - Showing off some apps that developers given early access have put together
02:57PM EDT - Microsoft app support. Excel, Word, Teams
02:57PM EDT - Reality Composer Pro, for assembling scenes with realistic objects
02:57PM EDT - iPhone and iPad apps will run on the headset
02:58PM EDT - Apple has been working with Unity to get the engine and apps based on it on the headset
02:58PM EDT - Vision Pro will have a new App Store
02:58PM EDT - More info for developers this afternoon with the Platform State of the Union
02:59PM EDT - Now recapping privacy and security
02:59PM EDT - User authentication through a new system, Optic ID
03:00PM EDT - Based on retinal iris scans
03:00PM EDT - Password auto fill and other major features available
03:00PM EDT - Eye input is isolated to a separate background process. Apps and websites cannot tell where is a user is looking. Only where they tap
03:01PM EDT - And that's Apple Vision Pro
03:01PM EDT - "The most advanced personal electronics device ever"
03:01PM EDT - Over 5,000 patents filed
03:02PM EDT - Starts at $3499
03:02PM EDT - Available "early next year"
03:03PM EDT - (So, not for at least more than another half a year)
03:03PM EDT - And now back to Tim
03:04PM EDT - (As a writer, I appreciate the vision puns)
03:04PM EDT - Tim believes this is something only Apple can deliver
03:04PM EDT - And now rolling an ad for Apple Vision Pro
03:07PM EDT - And that's a wrap for the WWDC keynote. Apple will have plenty more for developers throughout the week
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max - Thursday, June 8, 2023 - link
Kinda agree: it is annoying that Apple is always setting minimum specs of their hardware in such position, to push lots of people to pay more $$$ for upgrades you've mentioned. Right now 16GB of RAM & 512 GB SSD in computers, or 128GB in iPhones should be minimum specs for premium quality products Apple sells. It is not some cheap chinese company, which is saving on everything to keep low cost of their products. And these upgrades don't cost much in production - I've read on Anandtech that for example SSD upgrade 256GB to 512GB cost is just couple of $$$.