Apple Holds the Largest Press Conference in History
On June 22, Apple held a presentation opening the WWDC developer conference. As usual, the central part of the event was devoted to new versions of iOS, iPad, macOS, and others. However, this presentation was also remembered by the rejection of Intel in favour of chips of its development.
Due to the pandemic, Apple abandoned the usual format of a press conference with spectators in the hall and held an online conference WWDC 2020.
As a result, it will be the largest in history – it can become a participant 23 million people. It will host workshops and meetings for developers over several days. It is possible that in the same format will be held and autumn press conference dedicated to the new iPhone.
iOS home screen completely changed
Apple did not delay the main innovation of iOS – widgets. The company has completely changed the design of the home screen, and now you can put widgets on the pages, which are an extended icon of the application with additional information. For example, the “Weather” icon will show the weather on the street, and the calendar – planned events. Added to this are smart widgets that attach information from multiple programs and vary according to context.
The company has also completely changed the way it organizes desktops.
You can now hide app icons or entire pages of software. All installed programs can be found on a particular screen, where they are grouped into categories.
And Apple has finally done what it’s been asking for more than a year – the incoming call now pops up on top of the display as a notification, rather than taking up the entire screen.
iPhone can replace car keys
Talking about other iOS innovations, the company showed how CarPlay and the new CarKey feature would change. If there is nothing to tell about the first one (you can put wallpapers, and there will be new categories of applications), then CarKey looks much more enjoyable. Thanks to NFC and the U1 chip, which does not work in Russia, the smartphone can be used as a car key – to open the doors and start it. Also, this key can be passed on to other users.
However, app developers will be able to create unique versions of their App Clipsprograms.
This is to instantly access the app without having to download the full version. As an example, Apple has shown how to rent an electric scooter simply by leaning your phone and paying through Apple Pay.
There will be no complete separation of the screen, as on Android, in iOS 14.
Although there will be a “picture-in-picture” that allows you to run a video or continue the video call, in parallel using other programs.
Apple will allow you to change the standard Browser.
iPadOS do not look so large-scale, and the most important thing was that they didn’t even voice from the stage. In the new version of the system, the user will be able to change the browser and the email client by default. It’s unclear if this will be available on iOS. Photos and Music apps have been redesigned.
Other changes include the scribbled handwriting
recognition. And it works with all the text fields of applications and does not require unique adaptation from developers. However, it is also not clear with which languages it will work, because the presentation showed only English and Chinese.
Apple Watch will start to monitor Sleep.
WatchOS 7 will feature new types of workouts (functional training, warm-up, etc.), new Watch Face, and the ability to share them with other users. More importantly, the watch has its sleep tracker, which not only detects how long the Owner of the Apple Watch slept but also helps to relax and give clues to improve the quality of sleep. Also, the ambient noise assessment feature is no longer so useless and will offer the user to lower the volume in the headphones if he listens to the music too loudly. The bonus watch will be able to detect how long the user washed his hands so that he would devote at least 20 seconds to it.
AirPods will automatically switch between Devices.
The new version of iOS will also update the AirPods. They will now be able to switch between devices connected to the same iCloud account automatically. So, if a user listens to music on an iPhone and then turns on a movie on an iPad, they switch to a tablet. If you then run the video on iMac, they’ll also pause the movie on the iPad and switch to the computer, and in the case of a call, again to the phone.
AirPods Pro will be able to create a virtual surround sound that will adapt both to the position of the user’s head and to the location of the device on which the content is
launched. That is, when the head is tilted, the scene will remain in the same place, simulating being in the cinema.
macOS has received a complete Redesign.
The new version of macOS will be called Big Sur and will get a completely new design. The system is now more like iOS and iPadOS, but little has changed. Soon there will be a full-fledged “Control Center” where you can quickly set up your computer, turn on the night mode, or change the hotspot. The Notification Center has also been redesigned in the style of iOS 14 with widgets.
Apple abandons Intel
The most important announcement of the presentation was Apple’s rejection of Intel processors. In the past, the company has already changed partners and transitions from PowerPC to Intel, but now Apple has announced the start of using its chips on the ARM architecture. That is, it will be the same family of processors that stand on the iPhone and iPad. However, the company did not show the devices on the new processor, so that the developers had time to adapt their programs. A partnership has now been announced with Microsoft and Adobe, which have ported Office and Creative Cloud packages to a new platform.
Apple has shown how all the new macOS Big Sur features are already working on the iPad Pro A12
chip. Bionic. For example, it quickly runs Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and works with massive files in Photoshop. For a more natural transition, the system will be able to run older programs that have not been adapted to the ARM processor. The same works in the opposite direction – computers with Intel processors will be able to run applications created under ARM.
Updates to be released in autumn 2020
As usual, Apple has not announced a release date for new versions of the systems because they are usually tied to the release of the iPhone. It is known only that versions for developers will be available on the day of the presentation – June 22. Anyone will be able to download the public beta in July. iOS 14 will get all devices upgraded to iOS 13 (from iPhone 6s and newer). With iPadOS, it’s the same – it will get all the tablets updated to iPadOS 13.
iOS 14 leaked long before the presentation
Most of the announcements Apple made at WWDC 2020 were known long before the presentation. In early 2020, one of the most significant leaks in Apple’s history occurred. 9to5mac journalists received an initial build of iOS 14, which allowed them to unveil new devices long before their release: the iPhone SE (then called the iPhone 9), the new iPad Pro with the LiDAR sensor. However, some of them – AirTag tags and Overhead AirPods – have not yet been introduced.
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