There wasn’t ‘one more thing’ so much as there were multiple ‘more things’.
Apple held its 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose on Monday and took the opportunity to show off its latest MacOS build, a bunch of new features for the iPad, a bonkers 6K display for its equally overpowered Mac Pro, and even a new way to get into Minecraft. Let’s take a look.
Microsoft saved Minecraft Earth’s AR gameplay reveal for Apple
Despite operating from underneath Microsoft’s business umbrella, the team behind global phenomenon Minecraft opted to announce the forthcoming release of the new AR iteration of the game. Looks like Pokemon Go is going to have a fight on its hands when Minecraft Earth launches later this summer.
MacOS Catalina is Apple’s next desktop operating system
Catalina, it’s not just for wine mixers anymore. The Southern California island has been selected to serve as namesake for Apple’s next generation of macOS (10.15). With it we’ll see the dissolution of iTunes into its component music, podcast and TV elements, huzzah.
Apple built a 32-inch 6K Retina display for the Mac Pro
So, let me get this straight, for roughly the price of a used, midsize sedan ($12,000), Apple will sell you a 6K Retina display, the Mac Pro to run it on and — this can’t be right but somehow is — a thousand dollar monitor stand. Truly Apple is the personal computer maker for the everyman.
iOS 13 focuses on speed and embraces the darkness
Apple’s new mobile operating system is getting a power boost. According to senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi, the next iOS will offer 30 percent faster facial recognition when unlocking, that take half as long to download as before and updates that take up just 40 percent the space of their predecessors.
Apple finally reveals the new Mac Pro
Is there anything the new Mac Pro can’t do? It supports up to 28 cores, 1.5 terabytes of RAM, can handle two Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs, and even has a headphone jack. Plus it’s got a design you can grate a block of parmesan on.
The iPad is getting its own OS
Apple’s Mobile devices, desktop devices, and even fitness wearables enjoy dedicated OS builds and now the iPad is getting one of its own. iPadOS will enable users to run multiple instances of the same program, improved Swipe Over and Split Screen functionality, and even a slick looking dark mode. The dev build for iPadOS is available today, though the public release won’t happen until later this fall.
