'Laptop Gamechanger' Apple... Introducing the Faster M2 New MacBook

WWDC 2022 Unveils
MacBook Air with 20% Speed Improvement Over Previous Model
Also Showcases iOS 16 for Next iPhone

2022 MacBook Air

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Apple opened the doors of its Cupertino headquarters for the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) for the first time in three years. Although the much-anticipated augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices were not announced, leading to ongoing criticism of a lack of innovation, the unveiling of the dedicated M2 chipset has sustained expectations as a 'laptop game changer.'

On the 6th (local time), Apple held 'WWDC 2022' and unveiled the Mac-exclusive M2 chip along with the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13 equipped with the M2 chip. The event was held in a hybrid format, with a pre-recorded video streamed online and some industry insiders and foreign media attending in person at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. Some Apple employees in Korea also attended the offline event.

Apple Silicon, collectively referred to as the 'M series,' is a chip developed by Apple in 2020 to replace Intel CPUs. It is mainly used in Mac laptops and is also being expanded to the iPad series, with the M1 chip iPad being a representative example. The new M2 chip utilizes second-generation 5nm technology and is manufactured using 20 billion transistors, which is 25% more than the previous M1 chip. With the addition of transistors, the M2 includes a memory controller that offers 100GB/s unified memory bandwidth, 50% higher than the M1. It supports up to 24GB of high-speed unified memory and can handle more complex tasks with larger capacity.

The performance has also noticeably improved. The M2 MacBook Air is up to 20% faster than its predecessor when applying filters in Photoshop and about 40% faster when performing heavy tasks like editing timelines in Final Cut. The battery can last up to 18 hours during video playback.

2022 MacBook Pro 13

The M2 MacBook Pro features enhanced performance centered around the M2 chip while maintaining the same form factor as before. The speed of processing RAW images in the 'Affinity Photo' application and running high-spec games like 'Baldur's Gate 3' has increased by about 40%. Using the M2 media engine, it can play up to 11 4K videos and up to 2 8K videos simultaneously. Video conversion speed is also three times faster. Battery life reaches up to 20 hours.

Contrary to industry expectations, Apple’s future devices such as AR and VR were not revealed at WWDC. Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, told CNN Business in an interview, "Some may be disappointed by the absence of radical hardware, but Apple’s investment in Apple Silicon could be the key to defining the essence of future product lines."

Apple also unveiled iOS 16, the operating system (OS) for the next iPhone to be released this fall. Developers were given access to previews of the latest technologies, tools, and frameworks that will be included in iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, tvOS, and watchOS 9.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.