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Apple’s “Spring Loaded” showcase was filled with slick transitions and suave drone footage taking us all over its Apple Park HQ in Cupertino, Calif.
It was a very “something for everyone” kind of event, with announcements for creators and consumers alike, and a few under-the-radar moments that point toward big developments on the horizon.
The new iMac
We knew something colorful was coming from Apple the moment it published the event’s vibrant, spring-shaped invite. The last lineup of all-in-one computers Apple released was the G3 range in 1998. Over two decades later, this new 24-inch selection comes in blue, green, red, yellow, orange, purple and classic silver.
The back and sides of the new iMacs have a saturated finish, while the stand and “chin” are finished in a paler wash. If the chin weren’t there, the only front-facing hint of the new colors would be the stand. The border around the screen needs to be neutral white or black—framing images inside other hues would make onscreen colors appear differently to our brains.
Plus, the chin is a Post-It Note space for many! Not matching Post-It colors to the chin feels like a missed trick in Apple’s ad for the new iMacs.
New trackpad, keyboard and mouse
The six new iMac colors are matched to six new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad washes.
The keyboard and trackpad have noticeably curvier corners, perhaps to mirror the more aggressively rounded windows that Apple introduced with macOS Big Sur. Softer curves are becoming more common across Apple’s design language—they could hint at tighter cross-platform integrations, like macOS on iPad Pro.
There are a few new Function (“fn”) keys for Spotlight, Dictation, Do Not Disturb and emoji. This brings a handful of core tools out of the shadow of lesser-known keyboard shortcuts—a dedicated emoji button is far more accessible than the awkward Control + Command + Space.
The new iPad Pros
Apple’s new iPad Pro tablets are driven by the same M1 chips as most of the new Macs, and can be fitted with 16GB of RAM. This feels light-years ahead for hardware running iPad OS.
It’s more reason to believe Apple has something big planned for the future of the device’s software, like macOS on iPad. It would put to bed the “it’s just a big iPhone” criticism, and make Intel’s ads mocking the lack of touchscreen macOS computer obsolete.
Until then, there’s something else to get hyped about: Apple’s ad for the upgraded iPads. It mimics a space mission, with standout shots including close-ups of an iPad captured from angles that bring shuttle launches to mind, a zoom-out of the screen styled like layers of the atmosphere and an Apple Pencil burning up as if it’s “reentering” our climate.
A new purple color
One minor announcement Apple tucked into the top half of its event was a new purple version of the iPhone 12. It’s got a springtime lavender sheen to it.
Beyond black and white, the iPhone’s current colors are either pale (green) or bold (red, blue). The new purple is somewhere in the middle—vibrant, but in a soft, understated way.
The new Apple TV 4K
Apple’s updated 4K TV box supports HDR video and higher frame rates. That means 60fps Dolby Vision playback over AirPlay, if you’ve got a recent enough iPhone model.
Many modern TVs have sensors that read ambient light and change the warmth and tones of colors accordingly. If your TV doesn’t have these sensors, the refreshed Apple TV 4K has a neat new feature: It uses your iPhone’s sensors to read the room’s lighting conditions and fine-tune your TV’s output.
There’s also a new design for Apple’s much-maligned TV remote, which has primarily drawn criticism for being too symmetrical. You’d pick it up the wrong way around half the time. The new version is much bolder and clearer in its layout, and shifts the Siri button to the side (echoing its position on the iPhone). Great design changes that are directly influenced by user behavior.
Anyone who owned one of the original iPods back in the day will feel a pang of nostalgia toward another of the remote’s new features: the ring around the circular directional pad doubles as a clickwheel for scrubbing through films and shows. What’s old is new again.
Podcast subscriptions
The Podcasts app on iOS has a stylish new layout with eye-catching full-bleed imagery, more comprehensible navigation and a brilliant new Smart Play button, which plays the first or latest installment of a podcast depending on whether its episodic or serialized. These changes will help users navigate the increasingly busy podcast landscape.
