At Developer Conference, Apple Shows Off Hardware—Including the iMac Pro

Although Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference traditionally focuses on the software side of things, the company this year has decided to make hardware updates.

The new lineup of Macs feature brighter screens, more memory capacity (up to 64GB), Fusion Drive standard (on 27 inch models), faster solid-state drives, and faster graphics, according to Craig Federighi, senor vice president of software engineering for Apple.

Apple also unveiled the all-new iMac Pro, a top-end desktop model with a 5K display that can ship with up to 18 cores. It will start at $4,999 and be available toward the end of the year.
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“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.”

In addition to iMacs, Apple also updated its MacBook lineup. Starting at $1,299, new MacBooks will now feature Intel Kaby Lake processors, as well as many of the improvements present in the new iMacs, including faster SSDs and graphics.

Of course, it wasn’t all hardware; Apple also showed off a new MacOS. Called High Sierra, the new operating system features new Safari features—such as video autoplay blocking and intelligent tracking prevention—as well as an upgraded Photos app, Metal 2, and more.

“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.”

Apple also unveiled WatchOS 4.