At Apple’s Peek Performance event, we saw a lot of new products. There was the new iPad Air, a new green color for the iPhone 13, and an updated iPhone SE. In terms of Macs, Apple announced the Mac Studio and Studio Display, and took the world by surprise with the new M1 Ultra chip.
But there were still some products that we were looking out for that didn’t actually make the big virtual stage. Here’s a look at what Apple didn’t announce.
In the days prior to this event, there were plenty of rumors suggesting that Apple could ambitiously offer a more refined MacBook Air design, eliminating the tapered look in favor of a uniform MacBook Pro- and iMac-like form factor for 2022. There also was the chance that the MacBook Air could have a new M2 Processor inside.
None of this ended up happening. Instead, Apple focused the Mac side of the March 8 event on studio creators, launching the Mac Studio with the new M1 Ultra processor. Still, the year is young and a redesigned Air could still debut later in 2022.
Before the event, there were different rumors about additions to the Mac lineup. This included a new Mac Pro in a radically smaller form factor than the current Intel-based cheese grater-style tower, and an updated iMac Pro.
Apple did launch an all-new product, the Mac Studio. It also promised that the Mac Pro “is for another day” and hinted “there’s only one more product to go” when it comes to “making the transition to M1 silicon nearly complete.”
And what about Apple’s Pro-grade iMac? We thought it could get a larger display than what’s currently available on the M1-powered 24-inch iMac model, stronger CPU and GPU performance, and more muted colors to appeal to creatives and working professionals.
Non of that happened either. Apple did launch the all-new Mac Studio Display. This is an external display for Mac devices, including the new M1 Studio.
It is no secret that Apple is supposedly working on two distinct devices in the world of mixed reality. The first is a virtual reality headset, and this is the device that is rumored to launch first. The second is a pair of AR glasses, lovingly dubbed Apple Glasses by fans. Neither were talked about at the March 8 event. That is despite early speculation that “peek” performance could be a reference to virtual reality.
Having debuted in October 2019, the AirPods Pro is ripe for an update, but we didn’t see the successor to the Pro-grade earbuds on March 8. The hype over Apple’s Gen 2 version of the Pro earbuds will have to live on. The last update that happened to the AirPods Pro occurred in late 2021 when Apple announced a slightly tweaked charging case that works with MagSafe wireless charging.
Apple’s mobile refresh typically happens in the fall, and given that it’s been only about six months since the Apple Watch Series 7 and the iPhone 13 debuted, it wasn’t surprising to see no mainline new iPhone model at this event. It will be another six months, approximately, until the next versions of these products launch. When the iPhone 14 and the Apple Watch Series 8 debut, we’ll have you covered here at Digital Trends with all the news.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.