Apple, Inc.'s AAPL second hardware event of the year that was held a little over a month from the iPhone 13 launch event panned out in line with expectations.
The event titled "Unleashed" was livestreamed from the Apple Park at the company's Cupertino headquarters in California. As has been the norm with Apple's recent virtual launches, CEO Tim Cook delivered the introductory address and made his appearance between product announcements by Apple executives.
New MacBook Pro With 2 In-House Advanced Chips: Apple unveiled the "completely reimagined" MacBook Pro powered by the all-new M1 Pro and M1 Max — the first pro chips designed for the Mac.
"M1 Pro and M1 Max revolutionize the MacBook Pro experience and mark a huge step forward in the transition to Apple silicon on Mac," the company said.
MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max applies a system-on-a-chip architecture to pro systems for the first time, features fast unified memory and increased memory bandwidth for better performance per watt and power efficiency.
The M1 Pro features up to 10-core CPU, with eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, along with up to 16-core GPU. It can deliver up to 70% faster CPU performance than M1, and up to two times faster GPU performance.
The M1 Max builds on M1 Pro, taking its capabilities even further. It features the same powerful 10-core CPU and doubles the GPU with up to a massive 32 cores for up to four times faster GPU performance than M1. It also has up to 400GB/s of memory bandwidth and up to 64GB of fast unified memory.
Both MacBook Pro models feature three Thunderbolt 4 ports to connect high-speed peripherals, an SDXC card slot, an HDMI port for connecting to displays and TVs, and an improved headphone jack.
MagSafe returns to MacBook Pro with MagSafe 3, featuring an updated design and supporting more power into the system.
Customers can order the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models Monday, and they will be available beginning Oct. 26.
Related Link: Which Apple Chip Suppliers Will Face The Biggest Impact From iPhone Production Cuts?
Next-gen AirPods: The third generation of AirPods featuring spatial audio and a new contoured design was also introduced.
The AirPods 3 use computational audio to deliver breakthrough sound with Adaptive EQ. Users can enjoy spatial audio featuring Dolby Atmos in Apple Music, movies, and tv shows, along with dynamic head tracking, across Apple devices.
The new AirPods are resistant to sweat and water, and feature a force sensor for easy and intuitive control of music and phone calls. The extended battery life enables up to six hours of listening time and up to 30 hours of total listening time with the convenient charging case.
They're available for ordering starting Monday, and in stores beginning Oct. 26. The new AirPods are priced at $179.
The second-gen AirPods will now be available for a new price of $129, while the price of the AirPods Pro with MagSafe charging case is held unchanged at $249.
Apple Music Voice Plan: Apple announced a new subscription tier for Apple Music, named the Apple Music Voice Plan. The new plan offers subscribers access to the service's catalog of 90 million songs, tens of thousands of playlists as well as the Apple Music Radio through Siri, the company's virtual assistant.
This is seen as rivaling Spotify Technology's SPOT subscription offering.
Users can subscribe to the plan through Siri or by signing up through Apple Music app, for just $4.99 per month. Once subscribed, users can request music be played across all of their Siri-enabled devices, including HomePod mini, AirPods, iPhone, or any Apple device and when using CarPlay.
The Apple Music Voice Plan will be available later this fall in 17 countries and regions.
HomePod Mini In Vibrant Colors: Apple also introduced HomePod mini in three bold new colors — yellow, orange and blue — and it will be available, starting in November, for $99.
"These products add to the biggest hardware product cycle (with iPhone 13 leading the pack) at Apple in roughly a decade and remains a major growth catalyst for the story heading into 2022, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note following the Unleashed event.
Price Action: Apple shares closed up 1.1% at $146.55.
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