MacRumors

Following the conclusion of today's keynote event where Apple introduced new versions of its iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS software, Apple has provided the first beta to developers, kicking off the iOS 11 beta testing period.

Registered developers can download the iOS 11 beta from Apple's Developer Center, or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed.

Apple is calling iOS 11 its biggest software release ever for the iPad, thanks to the myriad iPad features it includes, like a new dock that supports improved multitasking, a Files app for better managing files, improved Apple Pencil support, a new App Switcher, and system-wide drag and drop.

iOS 11 also includes many features for both the iPhone and the iPad. There's an incredible ARKit API that's going to let developers build all kinds of new augmented reality apps, and there's also a CoreML machine learning API that's going to allow apps to become a whole lot smarter.

Peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments are being introduced, Messages is gaining a new App Drawer that makes it easier to access apps and stickers, a Do Not Disturb feature that mutes notifications will make it easier for drivers to stay focused on the road, and Siri, Photos, and the Camera app are gaining huge improvements.

The iOS 11 beta is only available for registered developers at this time. As it has done in the past, Apple will provide a public beta for public beta testers later this summer, and the software will see an official release in the fall alongside new iPhones.

Following today's keynote event that saw Apple introduce a whole host of new hardware including new iMacs, new Mac notebooks, and new iPads, the Apple online store has come back online and all of the new products are now available for purchase.

New 10.5 and 12.9 inch iPad Pro models are available, with prices that start at $649. The 10.5-inch model is a new design with slimmer bezels that allow for a larger display. Storage starts at 64GB and goes up to 512GB, and orders placed today will arrive next week.

Updated MacBook and MacBook Pro models include 7th-generation Kaby Lake chips, improved graphics, and faster storage. MacBook Pro pricing starts at $1,299 for the 13-inch model and $2,399 for the 15-inch model, while MacBook pricing starts at $1,299.

Apple has also refreshed the MacBook Air with a new faster processor, and pricing remains the same at $999 for the entry-level 13-inch model. All new notebooks will ship out starting next week, but are available for order today.

Finally, there are new 21.5 and 27-inch iMac models available for purchase, with upgraded Kaby Lake processors, much-improved displays, faster storage options, and advanced GPUs. For the first time, there are dedicated graphics options for the 21.5-inch iMac, which has been limited to integrated graphics in the past.

Pricing on the iMac starts at $1,099 for a 21.5-inch version without a 4K display, while the 4K model starts at $1,299, and the 27-inch 5K model starts at $1,799. New iMacs deliver as soon as this week.

Later this year, in December, Apple plans to introduce a new iMac Pro that will start at $4,999.

Apple today announced a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a redesigned 12.9-inch iPad Pro at its WWDC keynote on Monday in San Jose, California.

The new 10.5-inch iPad Pro has a 20 percent larger display, made possible by reducing the tablet's borders by 40 percent, yet it still weighs just 1 pound. It allows the display of a full size onscreen keyboard and enables users to attach a full size Smart Keyboard. Apple will offer the new Smart Keyboards in 30 more languages.

Both new iPad models come with new displays, featuring True tone, wide color gamut, ultralow reflectivity, 600 nits brightness, and HDR video support.

“These are by far the most powerful iPads we’ve ever created with the world’s most advanced displays featuring ProMotion, the powerful new A10X Fusion chip and the advanced camera system of iPhone 7,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing. “Together with iOS 11 these new iPad Pro models will radically change what users can do with iPad.”

A new screen technology called ProMotion also brings dramatically improved display performance, doubling the display refresh rate to 120Hz, making for smother, more responsive content. It also works more accurately with the Apple Pencil, offering an industry-leading 20 milliseconds.

A dynamically adjusting refresh rate also features on the new displays, which adjust depending on the content being viewed, with intelligent energy saving. Apple says the new iPads have the same 10 hours of battery life. An A10X six-core Fusion CPU, with a twelve core GPU powers the new models, offering over 40 percent faster graphics performance.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro will start at $649 with 64GB storage and Wi-Fi only, and $779 for 64GB storage and cellular capabilities. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 for 64GB and Wi-Fi only, and $929 for 64GB with cellular. 256GB and 512GB storage capacities are available for both models, which all come in silver, space gray, gold and rose gold. Both tablets can be ordered today and are available next week.

Apple has announced a few new iMac models at WWDC today, which the company said include the best Mac displays ever with 500 nits of brightness and support for 1 billion colors, resulting in displays that are 43% brighter than previous models.

The new iMacs have up to three times more powerful graphics abilities in comparison to previous generations, faster processors, Thunderbolt 3, and faster storage options. Apple said that the updates, along with refreshes of the MacBook, represent a lineup of Mac devices that are "stronger than ever."

“With major updates to iMac, and a refresh of our MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, the Mac is stronger than ever,” said John Ternus, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering. “Today iMac gets a huge graphics performance increase, faster CPU performance, Thunderbolt 3 and a brighter Retina display with support for 1 billion colors. We’re also increasing CPU and SSD speed on MacBook, adding faster processors and making faster graphics standard on our 15-inch MacBook Pro and introducing a new $1,299 (US) 13-inch MacBook Pro.”

With the refresh, a Retina 4K display is also coming to the 21.5-inch iMac. Both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs feature faster Kaby Lake processors up to 4.2 GHz, with Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.5 GHz. The computers support twice the memory as the previous generation, and Fusion Drive will now be standard on all 27-inch iMac configurations, as well as on the top-end 21.5-inch iMac.

SSD storage will become 50 percent faster on the refreshed iMacs, and graphics on the computers are more powerful thanks to new Radeon Pro 500-series cards with up to 8GB of vRAM. In terms of faster performance, the 21.5-inch model delivers up to three times faster speeds in comparison to the previous iMacs, while the 27-inch model is up to 50 percent faster.

The models start at $1,099 for the 21.5-inch iMac, $1,299 for the 4K 21.5-inch iMac, and $1,799 for the 5K 27-inch iMac. Users can find more information on tech specs and pricing for each tier of the 21.5-inch model and 27-inch model on Apple's website, and both are available to purchase today.

Apple today announced its plans to "reinvent home music" with the unveiling of its newest product, HomePod, a wireless speaker powered by Apple's A8 chip with Siri integration that's just under 7 inches tall.

Apple reinvented portable music with iPod and now HomePod will reinvent how we enjoy music wirelessly throughout our homes,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “HomePod packs powerful speaker technology, Siri intelligence and wireless access to the entire Apple Music library into a beautiful speaker that is less than 7 inches tall, can rock most any room with distortion free music and be a helpful assistant around your home.

HomePod is a combination of high quality music playback speakers and smart speaker systems that are on the market today. The HomePod can intelligently detect the space it is in with "spatial awareness," which the company said provides better quality audio playback than its competitors.

HomePod has an upward-facing woofer and an array of seven beam-forming tweeters. It has a six-microphone array that can detect commands even when music is playing loudly. When there are two HomePods in a room, they will automatically detect each other and optimize music playback complementarily. Setting up a new HomePod works similarly to AirPods set up--simply holding an iPhone near a HomePod will pair it.

HomePod automatically works with an Apple Music subscription and can play back playlists, radio stations, and more content found within Apple Music. Siri commands will let users direct the HomePod to play music, add songs to playlists, and even answer music trivia questions.

Siri will also act as a home assistant and include support for News, Messages, Podcasts, Stocks, Weather, Reminders, alarms, timers, sports and traffic. HomePod will also be a HomeKit hub and let users control lights, blinds, locks, and other accessories by voice, even when users are away from home.

The HomePod will launch in December for $349 and will be available in white and space gray in the US, UK, and Australia to start.

Apple's senior VP of software, Craig Federighi, took to the stage at WWDC today to give a preview of iOS 11, showing off new features like a smarter Photo Library and a redesigned Control Center.

Messages is set to receive a redesigned app drawer that makes it easier to use apps and stickers, while a more optimized device storage system will make Messages backups smaller and faster, with messages stored and synced across devices over iCloud. Beginning iOS 11, for the first time, Apple Pay is also integrated into the Messages app.

Siri is will become more naturally spoken, with a new voice powered by deep learning techniques. Also set to feature is a beta translation feature that will allow users to get live translations between English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. More languages are promised by Apple in the months to come.

Lastly for Siri, a new on-device learning system will enable the virtual assistant to understand what a user is likely to want depending on circumstances and time of day. User data will be synced across all devices on a user's account with end-to-end encryption.

Control Center will be substantially redesigned to appear on a single screen and fill the bottom half of an iPhone's display, implementing 3D Touch for sub-options within buttons, and sliders to adjust volume and brightness. The Lock Screen and Notification Center will be unified on a single screen, with a swipe up or down from the Lock Screen offering immediate access to notifications.

Apple Maps will include detailed shopping floor plans for shopping malls in Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, and London, with several other major cities also covered and additional ones to come. Major airports will also be included in the floor plans, while lane guidance and posted speed limits will be displayed during navigation.

Apple is introducing an optional Do Not Disturb While Driving feature in iOS 11 to prevent distracted driving. HomeKit will also support a new AirPlay 2 protocol for supporting speakers, with a Shared Up Next feature for the protocol where multiple connected users can edit a party playlist. A new MusicKit API will let third-party developers get full access to Apple Music in iOS 11.

iOS 11 will also bring several new features specifically to the iPad for its larger screen, including Drag-and-Drop, a new customizable Dock, a redesigned app switcher, and more.

Apple has announced new features for watchOS 4, including major updates coming to Workouts, Activity, Music, all-new watch faces, and "GymKit," which provides a seamless connection between Apple Watch and gym equipment.

New Activity upgrades will deliver intelligent coaching and tailored encouragement to each user, with Apple Watch notifying users every morning when they're close to earning an Achievement. Suggestions on how to improve to match the previous day's activity levels will also be surfaced.

As the day nears an end, Activity will also be able to tell users exactly how long they should walk to close their Activity Rings, and new unique Monthly Challenges will be designed directly for each user's goals.

“Apple Watch is the ultimate device for a healthy life and is now more intelligent than ever with watchOS 4,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “We’ve created a truly individualized experience with the smartest Activity and Workout apps, the Siri watch face that shows you the information you need when you need it and we’re seamlessly bringing users their favorite music right on the wrist.”

Apple has updated the Workout app to include auto-sets for pool swim workouts, as well as new motion and heart rate algorithms for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts. The company said that users doing back-to-back workouts, like anyone training for a triathlon, will be able to combine multiple workouts into one linked-together data set "to capture overall calorie and time measurements."

With GymKit, Apple said that customers will be able to use certain cardio equipment at Gyms to pair their Apple Watch directly to treadmills, ellipticals, indoor bikes, and stair steppers from brands like Life Fitness and Technogym. With a simple tap, the Apple Watch will speak with the equipment, and vice versa, including data on calories, distance, speed, floors climbed, incline, and pace.

A new Siri watch face will bring up information and will dynamically update based on time of day, daily routines, and showcase pertinent data from apps like Activity, Alarms, Breathe, Calendar, Maps, Reminders, Wallet, and Apple News, for which there is now an Apple Watch app. A redesigned Music app on Apple Watch will automatically sync to My New Music Mix, My Favorites Mix, and most listened to music, giving users a better music-listening experience with watchOS 4, particularly with AirPods.

Additionally, watchOS 4 will bring along new Toy Story watch faces and support for person-to-person payments in Apple Pay. For more information on watchOS 4 and its features, check out Apple's website.

Apple has announced the newest software update for its Mac computers, which it's calling "macOS High Sierra." At the WWDC keynote this afternoon, Craig Federighi said that High Sierra brings along improvements and refinements across the system and builds off what the company created in macOS Sierra last year.

macOS High Sierra will deliver new video and graphics technologies that will lay the groundwork for even more improvements to macOS down the line, according to Apple. The big additions in High Sierra include Apple File System (APFS), support for High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), and an all-new version of Metal -- simply called Metal 2 -- which will allow Apple's advanced graphics tech to power even more Mac apps, including machine learning and VR-based content.

“macOS High Sierra delivers important forward-looking technologies and new opportunities for developers wanting to tap into the power of machine learning and create immersive VR content on the Mac,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “The core technology innovations in macOS High Sierra, combined with our advances in hardware, will continue to push the Mac forward in exciting new ways.”

As it has on iOS, APFS will grant macOS devices enhanced performance, security, and reliability thanks to its advanced architecture that's been optimized for modern users' high storage needs. Apple said that APFS makes day-to-day operations such as copying files "instantaneous," as well as helping to protect user data from power outages and crashes, and keeps files secure with native encryption. High Sierra will maintain read-and-write compatibility with previously formatted HFS drives, and Apple said that the integration of APFS into macOS has been designed to accomodate for any potential future advancements in storage technology.

With support for HEVC (H.265), High Sierra devices will be able to enable video streaming and playback of 4K video files at high quality, while dwindling the size by 40 percent in comparison to the current H.264 standard. Apple said that the new HEVC update will allow for "high-quality video streaming" on networks where only basic HD streaming was previously possible. High Sierra will work in tandem with today's refreshes of the iMac and MacBook lines to deliver fast and power-efficient HEVC encoding and editing.

Metal 2 will bring a refined API and improved performance to Apple's graphics technology, allowing developers to accelerate development of their apps in a number of ways. The technology introduces support for machine learning used in speech recognition, natural language processing powers, and computer vision capabilities. With Metal 2 and the new Mac hardware line-up, High Sierra will be able to support VR content creation for the first time on Mac.

During the keynote, Apple announced a couple of big name game studios are putting their support behind VR on Mac, including Valve and Epic.

Drawing on the performance of Metal 2 and the latest Mac hardware, macOS High Sierra adds support for VR content creation for the first time, enabling developers to create immersive gaming, 3D and VR content on the Mac. Leading VR companies are joining Apple to drive VR innovation on the Mac with features coming later this year — Valve is optimizing their SteamVR platform for macOS and enabling connection of the HTC Vive headset, while Unity and Epic are bringing their VR development tools to macOS. Also later this year, Final Cut Pro X will add support for professional 360-degree workflows with the ability to import, edit and export 360-degree video.

Apple also promised that many of its most popular apps will be updated with refinements in High Sierra, including major new additions within Photos. A new always-on sidebar will give users a glimpse at their albums and a few organization tools, while a redesigned Edit view includes new toolsets. Live Photos can also be turned into GIFs that repeat now, and Memories will be curated around new topics, including some for pets.

In High Sierra, Photos will support external editors, so other apps like Photoshop and Pixelmator can be launched directly within Apple's Photos app, and any edits made will be saved back to the user's Photos library. Additionally, support for third-party project extensions like Animoto, Shutterfly, ifolor, WhiteWall, and Wix, will give users the ability to print and publish their favorite pictures directly within Photos.

Other macOS High Sierra app updates include:

- Safari can automatically use Reader to open articles in a clean, uncluttered format, while Autoplay Blocking stops media with audio from automatically playing in the browser.
- Intelligent Tracking Prevention in Safari uses machine learning to identify and remove the tracking data that advertisers employ to follow users’ web activity.
- Mail search gets faster and easier with Top Hits, which puts the most relevant results at the top of a user’s message list.
- Siri on the Mac responds with a natural and more expressive voice, and when using Apple Music, it learns music preferences, creates custom playlists and answers music trivia.
- Notes adds simple tables, where a user can type in cells, make edits and move rows and columns.
- Spotlight provides flight status information, including departure and arrival times, delays, gates, terminals and even a map of the flight path.
- iCloud File Sharing lets users share any file stored in iCloud Drive and collaborate with other people.

Developers will be able to gain access to a beta of macOS High Sierra beginning today, and public beta testers will be able to download the new system software later in June. Later in the fall, High Sierra will officially launch to the public, along with iOS 11 and watchOS 4.

Apple today announced an all-new iMac model, called the "iMac Pro," with an expected launch date this December and starting at $4,999. The company called the computer "the most powerful Mac ever" and it's been designed specifically for pro-level users with demanding workflows.

The 27-inch iMac Pro includes a Retina 5K display, up to 18-core Xeon processors, and up to 22 Teraflops of graphics computation achievable on the high-end configurations. The iMac Pro also marks the first time than a desktop Mac will come in Space Gray, including the iMac Pro's Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2, and Magic Mouse.

Apple said that with the powerful desktop, users will be able to take advantage of advanced graphics editing, virtual reality content creation, and real-time 3D model rendering.

“We’re thrilled to give developers and customers a sneak peek at iMac Pro. This will be our fastest and most powerful Mac ever, which brings workstation-class computing to iMac for the first time,” said John Ternus, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering. “We reengineered the whole system and designed an entirely new thermal architecture to pack extraordinary performance into the elegant, quiet iMac enclosure our customers love — iMac Pro is a huge step forward and there’s never been anything like it.”

The iMac Pro includes an all-flash architecture and new thermal design, allowing the desktop Mac to deliver up to 80 percent more cooling capacity than current iMacs, but in the same iMac design. The iMac Pro comes with the new Radeon Pro Vega GPU, the most advanced graphics ever in a Mac, and features up to 16GB of on-package high-bandwidth memory. With the new power, iMac Pro can deliver up to 11 Teraflops of single-precision compute power, powering the computer's real-time 3D rendering and VR abilities.

In terms of storage, iMac Pro supports up to 4TB of SSD and up to 128GB of ECC memory. Thanks to four Thunderbolt 3 ports, users can also connect up to two high-performance RAID arrays and two 5K displays at the same time, further beefing up their pro-level workstations. For the first time on a Mac, the new iMac Pro features 10Gb Ethernet for up to 10 times faster networking speeds.

In addition to the iMac Pro announcement, Apple kept the pro-level reveals coming today by stating that the company is working on "a completely redesigned, next-generation" Mac Pro that is being built for users who required the highest-end, high-throughput system performance. A new high-end pro-level display will also be coming sometime soon.

The iMac Pro will be available in December, with a price starting at $4,999. Those interested can discover more details about the new computer on Apple's website.

Apple announced internal updates to its entire range of MacBooks today at its WWDC keynote, with all models shipping today.

The main upgrade announcement is that seventh generation Intel Kaby Lake processors are now included in all upgraded 12-inch MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The 12-inch MacBook now supports up to 1.4 GHz Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz, and can be purchased with up to 16GB of RAM.

Meanwhile, the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro features Kaby Lake processors up to 3.5 GHz Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.0 GHz, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro goes up to 3.1 GHz Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.1 GHz.

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 are included in the base configuration of 13-inch MacBook Pro, with Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 included in the higher spec option. Elsewhere, the 15-inch MacBook Pro now comes standard with more powerful Radeon Pro 555 discrete graphics with 2GB video memory, while a Radeon Pro 560 with 4GB memory is also available as an option.

In addition, the updated 12-inch MacBooks feature new SSDs that are up to 50 percent faster than those found in the previous generation, according to Apple.

Finally, the MacBook Air, one of Apple's most popular notebooks, received a new 1.8GHz processor to bring it up to speed with equivalent ultra-slim laptops.

The 12-inch MacBook starts now starts at the lower price of $1,299. Meanwhile, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with function keys starts at $1,299 or $1,799 with Touch Bar. The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar starts at $2,399.

The updated iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are available to order today on apple.com, and available to buy in Apple Stores starting on Wednesday, June 7.