MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e, and everything else Apple announced this week

From the budget-friendly MacBook to the new iPhone, Apple has announced several new products this week.

The tech giant kicked things off on Monday with a new update iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air. Then on Tuesday, Apple announced M5 MacBook Air, the new version of the MacBook Prothe new one M5 Pro and M5 Max chipsit is new Studio Show and Studio XDR Show. Apple then ended up announcing on Wednesday a cheaper MacBook called the MacBook Neo which runs on devices like the iPad and iPhone.

If you don’t have time to check out all the updates, we’ve got all the announcements right here.

iPhone 17e

Apple has unveiled the latest version of its budget-friendly iPhone line, iPhone 17ewhich is priced at $599 and will be available on March 11.

The smartphone comes with the A19 chip that is found at the bottom of the iPhone 17. The base model comes with 256 GB of storage, which is twice the entry-level storage from the iPhone 16e.

One of the most notable changes from the previous budget iPhone is the addition of MagSafe and Qi2, which supports wireless charging up to 15 W. As for the camera, the iPhone 17e has the same 48-megapixel camera as the iPhone 16e.

The iPhone 17e also features C1X, Apple’s latest modem, which is up to 2x faster than the C1 in the iPhone 16e, according to Apple. The tech giant says the C1X uses 30% less power than the iPhone 16 Pro modem, which allows for better battery life.

The smartphone is available in black, white, and a new soft pink color.

iPad Air M4

Apple has announced new products iPad Airpowered by the M4 device, making it 30% faster than the M3 iPad Air and 2.3x faster than the M1 version. The new device is still sold at the same price of $599 for the 11-inch model, and $799 for the 13-inch model. For training customers, there is a $50 discount.

The iPad Air is designed to be faster, thanks to an updated neural engine and more memory, making it better for AI.

The iPad Air also has an 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU, making it a great option for gaming or editing photos. It also comes with 12GB of integrated memory, an increase of 50% from the previous model, and the memory bandwidth has now reached 120GB/s. Apple says this upgrade will help users run AI models faster than previous generations.

The device comes in four colors: blue, purple, starlight, and sky gray. Storage options are 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max

Along with the release of the new chips for the M5 Pro and M5 Max, Apple unveiled the updated MacBook Pro models with the latest chipsets. Apple said the new chips were designed specifically to make its laptops better at handling heavy AI tasks. The new Pro laptops can handle AI tasks up to 4x faster than their M4 predecessors.

The M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are up to 4x faster in LLM processing than the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and up to 8x faster in AI image processing than the M1 Pro and M1 Max.

The MacBook Pro has read/write performance 2x faster than the last generation and will start at 1TB of storage for the MacBook Pro and M5 Pro, and 2TB for the MacBook Pro with the M5 Max. The laptops have a battery life of up to 24 hours, and with a 96 W or higher USB-C adapter, users can charge up to 50% battery within 30 minutes. The laptops support Thunderbolt 5 and have six speakers.

The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro chips start at $2,199 and $2,699, respectively, while the models with the M5 Max chips start at $3,599 and $3,899, and are available in black or silver.

M5 MacBook Air

As with the new MacBook Pro models, the new Apple MacBook Air they are designed to perform AI tasks efficiently.

The new MacBook Air comes with 18 hours of battery life, which is a six-hour improvement over Apple’s 2020 Intel laptops, and features a 12 MP Center Stage camera for video playback, three mic arrays, and a sound system with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support. It also has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099 and the 15-inch model starts at $1,299. Available in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver. The Air now also starts with 512GB of storage, doubling the original capacity of the previous model.

MacBook Neo

Apple unveiled an affordable and entry-level laptop called the MacBook Neoits answer to Google’s Chromebook. Starting at $599, the MacBook Neo is designed for students and users whose jobs don’t require intensive motion such as video editing or 3D rendering.

The 13-inch laptop comes in four colors: silver, blush, citrus, and indigo. The base model comes with 256GB of storage, while the $699 model comes with 512GB of storage, including Touch ID.

The laptop runs on the A18 Pro chip, which powers the iPhone 16 Pro models, instead of the more powerful, expensive M5 chip that the latest MacBook Air uses.

The MacBook Neo comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and dual microphones, along with speakers on both sides that support Spatial Audio. The battery lasts up to 16 hours on a single charge, delivered through one of its two USB-C ports.

The MacBook Neo has a five-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine, which supports similar levels of gaming and AI functions on devices like the latest iPhone.

Studio Show and Studio XDR Show

Apple has released a new product The $1,599 Studio Display and the $3,299 Studio Display XDR. The 27-inch display comes with upgraded cameras and enhanced connectivity. Both have a 12 MP Center Stage camera, which Apple says provides a better image, and supports Desk View, a feature that simultaneously shows your face and the top view of your desk.

The displays come with Thunderbolt 5 ports, so they can be connected to devices and used to daisy-chain up to four displays (a Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable is included).

Studio Display’s 5K Retina display has over 14 million pixels, 600 nits brightness, and supports P3 wide-gamut color that covers a wider range of visible colors than standards like sRGB.

The Studio Display XDR features a 5K Retina XDR display (5120 x 2880 resolution) with mini-LED lighting and less than 2,000 local areas. It can go up to 1,000 nits of SDR brightness and 2000 nits of HDR brightness, and has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. It also supports Adobe RGB color.

M5 Pro and M5 Max chips

The new chips is built around Apple’s new Fusion Architecture, a high-end design that includes a powerful CPU, a powerful GPU, a Media Engine, integrated memory controllers, a Neural Engine, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities.

Both chips have an 18-core CPU, which marks an upgrade from the 14-core version in the M4 Pro and the 16-core version in the M4 Max.

The CPU now has six “super cores”, which is Apple’s term for its highest performance cores, along with 12 new cores. Overall, the CPU boosts performance by up to 30% for most applications.

The M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of integrated memory, up from 48GB on the M4 Pro, with a bandwidth of 307GB/s. The M5 Max continues to support up to 128GB of integrated memory, with increased bandwidth up to 614GB/s.

New things new

Apple has introduced new spring models of iPhone cases, Apple Watch bands, and Crossbody Straps. Apple’s custom iPhone 17 silicone case now comes in three new colors: Bright Guava, Vanilla, and Electric Lavender. Bright Guava and Vanilla are also available on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.

The Apple Watch Sport Band is now available in Bright Guava, Clementine, and Soft Pink, while the Sport Loop adds Bright Guava, Blue Mist, and Cantaloupe to its color lineup.

The Crossbody Strap is now available in Bright Guava and Soft Pink.