Apple on Monday unveiled its new iPhone 17e and iPad Air models, with additional product announcements expected through Wednesday as part of a three-day release schedule culminating in an event on March 4. The company’s latest entry-level smartphone, the iPhone 17e, starts at $599 with 256GB of storage, marking a significant increase in base storage compared to last year’s model.
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New Chip Architecture for M5 Pro/Max
M5 Pro and M5 Max utilize a new “Fusion architecture” that combines two 3-nanometer dies into a System-on-Chip (SoC) with up to 18 CPU cores, Apple explained. The processor consists of six “Super cores” and twelve Performance cores. The latter are also “completely new,” according to the manufacturer, and optimized for energy-efficient execution of multi-core optimized processes, potentially boosting performance in professional workflows by up to 30 percent. The GPU can be ordered with up to 40 cores in the maximum configuration.
Apple states that graphics performance is increased by up to 35 percent compared to the previous M4 processors. Memory bandwidth reaches up to 614 GB/s, with a maximum of 128 GB of RAM still representing the highest available configuration. This move underscores Apple’s commitment to delivering high-performance computing capabilities to creative professionals.
Apple’s in-house N1 wireless chip for WLAN and Bluetooth makes its debut in the Mac, providing support for Wi-Fi 7. The company continues to state battery life of up to 22 or 24 hours, depending on the model. The MacBook Pro remains available with 14-inch or 16-inch displays – in black or silver. Apple has doubled the base storage from 512 GB to 1 TB for the MacBook Pro with M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max. The SSD now boasts read and write speeds of up to 14.5 GB/s, effectively doubling the speed.
This indicates a shift from PCI Express 4.0 to PCI Express 5.0. Prices are also increasing by at least 100 euros: The 14-inch base model with M5 (16 GB RAM, 1 TB storage) introduced in October is now available from 1900 euros. The M5 Pro version starts at 2500 euros (24 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD), and the variant with M5 Max begins at 4200 euros (36 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD). The 16-inch variant is offered by Apple starting at 3000 euros with M5 Pro.
MacBook Air Also Gets M5 – and a Price Increase
Apple is also upgrading the MacBook Air with the M5 chip, and doubling the base storage from 256 GB to 512 GB. A SSD with double the read and write speed compared to the M4 predecessor is also promised. The smaller SSDs in the base configurations of the MacBook Air have long been comparatively unhurried – an issue that is hopefully now resolved.
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According to specifications, the M5 also delivers a significantly higher memory bandwidth of over 150 GB/s. The in-house N1 development also handles WLAN and Bluetooth connections in this model series, and for the first time provides support for Wi-Fi 7. Prices are also increasing by 100 euros; the new MacBook Air costs at least 1200 euros in the 13-inch version. The 15-inch model is offered by the manufacturer starting at 1500 euros. All new MacBooks are expected to be available in stores from March 11.
With the increase in performance, but also in price, Apple is simultaneously creating space for a new budget MacBook, which is expected on Wednesday. A “MacBook Neo” briefly appeared on the company’s website. Details are expected soon.
(lbe)
