Apple has unveiled its latest generation of silicon chip alongside two new Mac laptops and major updates to its software line at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
Despite pre-event hype, however, there were no mentions of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), the company's forthcoming headset or RealityOS, the software it is expected to be running.
Instead the focus fell on changes to existing products, including the introduction of the new M2 chip into its two most popular laptops, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch models.
The M2 chips have a substantial speed boost over the current M1 chips, with 50 percent greater unified memory bandwidth, an 18 percent CPU performance increase and up to 35 percent better GPU performance, the company said.
The new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are available from "next month" in Aotearoa and will start from $2149 and $2299 respectively.
The Air has been redesigned around the M2 processor, with a 20 percent reduction in volume and is just 11.3mm thick while weighing just over 1.2kg.
It boasts a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display for the first time, along with the controversial camera notch that appeared in the MacBook Pro range last year, hosting a 1080p Facetime camera.
According to the company, video editing could be up to 40 percent faster than the M1 Air, while the battery will offer up to 18 hours of video playback.
Charging comes via the returning Magsafe system, replacing USB-C charging on the M1 version, with a 67W fast charging option delivering up to 50 percent battery in 30 minutes.
That leaves two Thunderbolt ports free for USB-C peripherals on one side of the Air with an audio jack for headphones on the other side.
The speakers and microphones are hosted between the keyboard and display, and Spatial Audio support will be offered via the four speakers inside the aluminium case.
Early rumours that some of the brighter colours that feature on the company's iMac range would come to laptops proved untrue however.
The Air will be available in four colours, Silver, Space Grey, Starlight and Midnight.
The MacBook Pro 13-inch also gets speed boosts based on the faster M2 processor, with up to 20 hours of video playback, the company said.
M1 versions of both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro will continue to be available to buy alongside the newer models.
As well as the updated hardware, the company announced its new iOS 16, iPadOS 16, WatchOS 9 and MacOS Ventura are available to developers as beta versions from today, with public betas available to download next month.
Final versions of the software will be released later this year, in the US "fall", according to CEO Tim Cook. That's around the time the new iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and other hardware is expected to be released.
New hardware available in Aotearoa next month:
MacBook Air
- 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 256GB SSD storage - $2149
- 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 512GB SSD storage - $2699
MacBook Pro 13-inch
- 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 256GB SSD storage - $2299
- 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB unified memory, 512GB SSD storage - $2649
