Apple’s April 2021 Special Event

Apple held their spring event today, Tuesday, April 20th - the first of 2021. While we expect more significant developer-centric announcements to be unveiled in a couple months at the Worldwide Developers Conference, today’s reveals included some exciting updates to Apple’s ecosystem and product lineup.

AirTags

Rumored for the past few years, Apple finally officially announced the long-awaited AirTags at today’s event.

AirTags can be attached to items such as keys, backpacks, and wallets. Then, by using the iOS and macOS “Find My” app, users can locate their lost items around their home, neighborhood, city, and around the globe. And devices with Apple’s U1 chip (such as the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12) can find nearby AirTags with an even higher level of accuracy, allowing them to precisely locate items within a room.

As with all of Apple’s products, privacy, security, and customization are all top priorities for AirTags. All AirTag communications are end-to-end encrypted, and measures are in place to prevent unwanted tracking. And AirTags can be customized with personal text and emoji engravings, and paired with a variety of container accessories.

This announcement also included a small reminder that product developers can integrate “Find My” functionality into third-party devices through Apple’s MFi hardware program. This is already being used to allow users to find items like bicycles and wireless earbuds that have Apple’s tracking hardware built in.

AirTags will be available for preorder starting Friday, April 23rd and available in stores Friday, April 30th. A single AirTag will retail for $29, and a pack of four will retail for $99.

Apple TV 4K

Apple TV is also receiving an exciting set of updates with the newly-refreshed Apple TV 4K. The new Apple TV 4K is now powered by the A12 Bionic processor, which will allow it to play high frame rate HDR content on TVs that support it.

Perhaps even more excitingly, the new Apple TV 4K includes an overhauled Siri Remote. The new Siri Remote combines a handful of interaction paradigms, allowing users to navigate with directional button clicks, touchpad swipes, and jog wheel rotations (similar to the original iPod jog wheel). And the inclusion of built-in TV power and mute buttons bring the new Siri Remote even further towards becoming an all-in-one device for users to completely control their home entertainment centers.

Apple also unveiled an exciting new feature for adjusting the color balance of the Apple TV 4K to achieve perfect picture quality. By pointing their iPhone camera at their TV, users walk through a guided experience to monitor the color output at various positions on the screen, and this color data is analyzed to automatically calibrate the picture output and optimize its visual quality. This feature is great on its own, and also serves as a perfect reminder of how powerful the integration between devices in the Apple ecosystem can be when executed well.

The new Apple TV 4K will be available starting in the second half of May, and will cost $179. The updated Siri Remote will also be available as a standalone purchase at $59.

iMac

Apple continues to deploy their M1 chip to more products in their lineup with the debut of the new 24” iMac. Featuring a brand-new, ultra-slim design, a massive 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, and seven color options to choose from, everything about the new iMac looks incredible.

Apple also made a point to mention how many apps now deploy universally between iOS and macOS, serving as a great reminder of the fantastic platform flexibility offered by the M1 chip. We expect more apps to continue heading in this cross-platform direction, with macOS becoming a more popular target for universal app development.

The new iMac is being offered in a variety of configurations starting at $1,299 and going up based on additional customization options. It will be available starting mid-May.

iPad Pro

And speaking of the M1, Apple’s flagship processor is also making its way to the iPad Pro. The M1 brings the amazing processing and graphics power from Apple’s computer lineup to the iPad Pro, further boosting it as an amazing and incredibly capable tablet device. The new Liquid Retina XDR display also provides unparalleled visual fidelity with amazing brightness, colors and contrast.

Alongside other features like 5G connectivity, LiDAR sensors, and larger storage capacity, Apple has ensured that this model of the iPad Pro will continue to be their best yet. The new iPad Pro will be available in mid-May at $799 for the 11-inch display and $1,099 for the 12.9-inch display.

And more

New device colors, Apple Card updates, and a refresh of the Podcasts app are just a few of the other general announcements Apple made during today’s event. A video and summary of the other event announcements can be found here: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/april-2021/