Everything Apple Announced: iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air

Apple held a product release event on Tuesday. Here's what the company announced.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled an array of new devices, including a new iPhone SE with 5G, a new version of the iPad Air, and Mac Studio, a whole new desktop PC with a powerful new processor. Apple made all these announcements in a prerecorded presentation that oddly did not reference the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, even though the company changed its policies last week in response to the conflict. Apple's product shows are like Waffle House—no matter how many crises befall the world around them, they'll keep on going.

Here’s everything that was announced.

Anyone who loves iPhones with physical home buttons will be happy to see yet another refresh of the iPhone SE. Not much has changed since the 2020 update to the small, least expensive iPhone. This time, Apple has stuffed the A15 Bionic processor inside, the same one found inside the iPhone 13 models. That means this budget-model iPhone is nearly as capable as the super-expensive iPhones, and Apple says this chip enables better battery life. You also get 5G connectivity, so you can access faster internet speeds on your carrier’s network, and the glass around the phone is the same Ceramic Shield that protects Apple’s iPhone 13 models. The SE also has a 12-megapixel main camera, which allows for similar features introduced in the mainline iPhones, like Photographic Styles and Deep Fusion. That’s all it gets for new optical guts—there are no additional sensors here. Even the 7-megapixel selfie camera is the same.

Weirdly, the new iPhone SE doesn’t include support for the MagSafe accessory system. Apple introduced MagSafe with the iPhone 12, allowing you to magnetically attach accessories like wireless chargers, wallets, and battery packs to the back of the phone. (Don’t worry, you can still wirelessly charge this iPhone.) Everything else about it is more or less the same, from the 4.7-inch LCD screen and IP67 water resistance to the home button with Touch ID. It comes in three colors: midnight, starlight, and Product(Red). Preorders open up this Friday, and it goes on sale March 18 for $429.

If you prefer a Face ID-enabled iPhone, you might be enticed with the new colors available for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro—green and alpine green, respectively. They’ll also be available for preorder this Friday, with official sales starting March 18. —Julian Chokkattu

To make its chipset naming convention even more confusing, Apple is adding another processor to its M1 line and calling it the M1 Ultra. It joins the M1, the M1 Pro, and the M1 Max. The design is interesting, as it’s essentially two M1 Max chips smushed together using a die technology Apple calls UltraFusion. According to Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, the M1 Ultra offers a ridiculous 128 GB of graphics memory and has seven times more transistors than the base M1 chip. —Boone Ashworth

The biggest curveball at Apple’s spring event was the announcement of a new desktop PC called the Mac Studio. It looks like a chonky, double-height Mac Mini, a big silver block that stands 4 inches tall. It has ports for days, including four Thunderbolt ports, two USB-A slots, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack on the back. On the front are two USB-C ports and an SD card slot. Wi-Fi and bluetooth are built in. Apple says you can output the display to four of its XDR monitors and a 4K TV simultaneously. The Mac Studio can be configured with either an M1 Max or the new M1 Ultra chip.

You can also pair it with a new 27-inch monitor, called Studio Display, that Apple designed specifically for this machine. It has one of Apple’s A13 Bionic chips built in, which powers iOS right there in the monitor, essentially making the display a giant mobile device. The screen features 5K resolution, with options for special textured glass that eliminates glare. On the front is a 12-megapixel webcam, and the display packs a set of mics and a six-speaker array that offers spatial sound.

The Mac Studio starts at $1,999 with the M1 Max chip, and $3,999 with M1 Ultra. The Studio Display starts at $1,599. Bendy stand options and a light dispersing textured glass display are extra. —Boone Ashworth

The last update to iPad Air, in September 2020, was a bit of a design overhaul for the popular tablet. It had minimized bezels, the same rounded corners and chamfered edges as the iPad Pro, an updated charging port (USB-C), Touch ID on the power button, and a powerful A14 Bionic chip. And given that it worked with accessory keyboards, there was almost no need to even consider the much more expensive iPad Pro, I wrote at the time.

The newest iPad Air looks even more covetable. The biggest update is the inclusion of Apple’s custom-designed M1 chip in the tablet—the same chip that’s in iPad Pros (and some MacBooks). Apple claims this offers up to 60 percent improved performance from the previous iPad Air. This also makes the fifth-generation iPad Air two times faster than the “best-selling Windows laptop in its price range,” said Angelina Kyazike, engineering product manager for iPad, during the event. The tablet’s display is a bit brighter, and its front camera now includes a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera. This means it supports a software feature called Center Stage, which keeps humans zoomed and centered in the frame during video calls and will supposedly make FaceTiming on the iPad Air less awkward.

This new tablet will start at $599 when it goes on sale this Friday, and will ship in 64-GB and 256-GB configurations. Per usual, cellular connectivity is an option in addition to Wi-Fi. But again, its biggest selling point is undoubtedly the new chip—as the very slow but eventual merging of Mac and iPad system features continue. And while iPad sales dipped in 2021, Apple still leads the overall tablet market, with nearly 40 percent market share. —Lauren Goode

In a piece of unexpected news—that, again, had nothing to do with an energy crisis in a world on the brink of war—Apple announced that it will begin showing two live Major League Baseball games on Friday nights. This new event is called Friday Night Baseball, and the games will be shown exclusively on Apple TV+. This seems a relatively low-stakes way for Apple to begin dipping its toes into offering live sports events on its streaming service. Unfortunately, dollar hot dogs don’t seem to be included. —Adrienne So

Apple made no mention of a release date for iOS 15.4, which brings new features to iPhones like better AirTag support and an improved Face ID system that works with face masks. Look for that release to be announced soon, possibly next week to coincide with the arrival of the newest iPhone model.

Everything Apple Announced: iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air

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