With the theme of High Energy Transmission, the highly anticipated Apple Event will officially open on March 8. Based on existing revelations, the protagonists of this conference include the iPhone SE 3 that supports 5G networks, the new Mac equipped with Apple Silicon, and the new iPad Air 5 equipped with the A15 chip.
iPhone SE 3
- Appearance
Based on the current information, the iPhone SE 3 may still continue the shape of the iPhone 8, with a 4.7-inch LCD screen on the front, a Home button embedded with Touch ID and a single camera on the back of the fuselage. This is somewhat regrettable because it was previously reported that the iPhone SE 3 will use a bangs design, and the screen ratio will be further increased.
- Support 5G
It should be noted that although the new iPhone SE is equipped with an A15 processor, it is likely to only support sub-6Hz 5G networks, but not mmWave 5G networks. The iPhone SE 3 will not feature MagSafe technology to take advantage of magnetic accessories already on the market. The key selling point of the third-generation SE model will be the new A15 Bionic chip with 5G connectivity and will continue to support Qi wireless charging.
- Selling Price
Apple will continue to sell the iPhone SE 3 at its current price. However, Apple may sell the iPhone SE 2 at the same time, and the price will be under $200. Since Africa, South America and parts of Asia are now important bases for Android, if Apple launches the $200 iPhone in these regions, it can use it to attract more users to its services. This will make low-end iPhones very profitable in the long run. But the company has so far avoided that model.
iPad Air with A15
- Appearance
Apple brought a new full-screen design to the iPad Air 4, eliminating the Home button and moving Touch ID from the home button to the power button on the top of the iPad. Instead of using facial recognition like the iPad Pro, the iPad Air 4 became the first Apple device to feature Touch ID fingerprint recognition in the sleep/wake button. This version of Touch ID later appeared on the iPad mini 6.
The form factor of the iPad Air 5 will use the same design language as the iPad mini 6 (just bigger). In addition, it will use the A15 Bionic chip and be equipped with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle front camera. The camera side will bring support for Center Stage. There will also be a four-color LED true color flash. The report also mentions that the new iPad Air 5 will feature the same design as the current model, with a single camera on the back, and the screen will remain at 10.9 inches.
- Adopt OLED screen (unlikely)
Apple currently uses TFT-LCD display technology in the iPad Air and all other iPads (except the 12.9-inch iPad, which uses mini LED). Reliable supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in March 2021 that the iPad Air 5 would switch to an OLED screen like all iPhones sold today. However, Mr. Guo said in his October 2021 report that Apple has abandoned the OLED plan and will still use TFT-LCD on the iPad Air 5.
New Macs with Apple Silicon
- M2 chip
Based on the past generational transition of Apple Silicon, the technology media MacWorld believes that Apple’s upcoming M2 chip will double the number of high-performance cores compared to the A15, and the number of GPU cores will also double. The article’s editor, Cross, wrote: “The M1 builds on the A14’s infrastructure, which scales the number of high-performance CPU cores (up from 2 to 4) and GPU cores (up from 4 to 8) ). In trying to predict the capabilities and performance of the M2, we will be based on the assumption that it will follow a similar pattern, only this time with the A15: the same architecture, with twice as many high-performance cores and GPU cores.”
Take the A14 and A15 as a base and then extrapolate how much of a performance boost the new “M2” can bring to the Mac. Based on benchmark estimates, that could be a significant jump. As this article points out, the “M2 Max” with a score of over 14,000 points could put it well ahead of Intel’s latest and greatest Alder Lake Core i9. Of course, the “M2 Max” may also be more power-efficient. In addition, the extrapolated data also shows a noticeable improvement in graphics performance, including a score of 10,409 in 3DMark, which is higher than the M1’s score of 7,781.
- New MacBook Pro
The new MacBook Pro will cut some important features from the existing 14/16-inch MacBook Pro while using the new M2 chip. Gurman said that the price of the M2 MacBook Pro is relatively close to the people, and it is estimated that the Touch Bar will be cut off like the high-end MacBook Pro, but the screen, processor and storage capacity have shrunk, there is no ProMotion high refresh rate, and it will not use a miniLED screen. material.