This week we saw Apple’s Annual WWDC event. This is usually Apple’s biggest event, only behind the iPhone reveal which will also be coming later this year. The event took place on Monday, June 3rd at the McEnery Convention Centre in San Jose.

What did we see?

We saw many announcements in the 2-hour long keynote from Apple. Here’s a list of what caught our eyes:

• The Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR
• Dark Mode for iOS 13
• Apple Pencil Improvements – Paired along with iPad OS

Let’s start with the new Mac Pro, dubbed by many as the “cheese grater” or “iGrater” and we can see why. The tower itself resembles a cheese grater and pays homage to Mac Pro of old. Apple is known for sticking with their loyal designs and it’s no different when they rewarded fans all over the world with their new iteration of their Mac Pro.

This cheese grater is unlike any other you have seen. A modernised look with the specs to match it:

Base Model:

Processor	3.5GHz Intel Xeon W
Cores / threads	8 cores, 16 threads
Turbo Boost	Up to 4GHz
Cache	24.5MB
CPU memory	Up to 1TB 2,666MHz
System memory	32GB (4x8GB DIMMs)
Graphics	AMD Radeon Pro 580X
Compute units	36 with 2,304 stream processors
Graphics memory	8GB of DDR5
Display support	Up to 6 4K displays or 2 5K displays or 2 Pro Display XDRs
Graphics accelerator	None
Storage	256GB SSD

They also announced the highest configurable Mac Pro:

Processor	28 cores, 56 threads
Cores / threads	Up to 4.4GHz
Turbo Boost	66.5MB
Cache	Up to 2TB 2,933MHz
CPU memory	1.5TB (12x128GB DIMMs), requires 24-core or 28-coreprocessor
System memory	AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo
Graphics	2×64 with 4,096 stream processors
Compute units	64GB of HBM2
Graphics memory	Up to 8 4K displays or 4 5K displays or 4 Pro Display XDRs
Display support	ProRes RAW accelerator card
Graphics accelerator	4TB SSD (2x2TB modules)
Storage	28 cores, 56 threads

As you can see Apple might be slowly transitioning themselves from their ways of sacrificing power and specs for design. For example, the latest MacBook Pro is so thin that numerous reports of overheating and throttling have blamed the design aspects of the products. Also, the classic feel keyboard which many users see as one of the focal points in the MacBook Pro was changed to suit the new slimness of the latest model. This, on the other hand, might not be the most appealing design for most, however, it does for a sure pack a punch in all the right areas.

Apple also announced a brand-new Pro Display XDR, their largest retina display ever. A 32’ HDR monitor designed to pair the new Mac Pro which has a 6K resolution and boasts a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. We can only imagine how designing and viewing will be changed by this incredible monitor.

“How much does it cost?”

Price for the UK hasn’t been confirmed yet, however, the US prices are as follows:

Mac Pro starting from $6,000

Pro Display XDR starting from $5,000

Oh… and there’s an optional stand which costs $1,000 but that’s a whole other conversation.

Hello dark mode, my new friend…

iOS 13 introduces the long-anticipated dark mode for compatible devices. A system-wide dark mode which works on the majority of apps found in the app store, with more developers to soon update their apps to meet this. Dark mode can also help to save battery on new OLED devices.

Dark mode gives your devices a brand-new look, inverting the usual white seen on your screen to black and vice versa. We love this form of design and how Apple has been teasing it recently by moving their ads away from the typical Apple white background, that everyone knows to black instead. Added health benefits include reduced eye strain, but this doesn’t mean you should be glued to your screen all day.

iPadOS and Apple Pencil

iPadOS is the new operating system for the iPad range, including a new and improved home screen and improvements to Slide-Over and Split View. There are also new multitouch gestures including a three finger “close” to copy, once again to cut and “expand” to paste.

The Apple Pencil has had its latency reduced from 20ms to 9ms. We find this tool helpful for designing on the iPad. It makes drawing out ideas a breeze and helps bring your ideas from pen to the big screen.

Here at The iirth Company we love all things technology and keeping up with advancements and innovation. Connect with us on LinkedIn for the latest updates on news and blog posts.