Apple Announces New Lower-Price SE Phone, Friday Night Baseball and More

Apple lovers it's your time once again, as the tech giant has announced another series of new products, including a substantially more powerful iPhone SE.

The announcement came during Apple's "Peek Performance" event Tuesday. Tim Cook took to the stage in a polished recorded presentation - a style Apple has mastered during the pandemic era.

Among the highlights from the event, the iPhone SE was joined by announcements of a partnership with Major League Baseball, a new iPad Air, green iPhone 13s, and an incredible new professional level system called Mac Studio.

Lets take a dive into all of the announcements:

Tim Cook got things started with a look at some new films and shows coming on its flagship Apple TV+.

That included a preview of movies like "Luck" and "Spirited".

Cook announced Apple TV+ will host two Major League Baseball games every week, exclusive to the network.

That's assuming a season actually happens, anyway. Cook didn't spend much time talking about this. For obvious reasons. The press release gave a deeper look though:

"Fans will be able to watch marquee games on Friday nights, free from local broadcast restrictions, across devices where Apple TV+ can be found, including on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and HD, and on tv.apple.com, along with select smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes. “Friday Night Baseball” will be available on Apple TV+ — and, for a limited time, without the need for a subscription."

Apple kept a positive spin on the announcement:

"Just like all baseball fans, we can’t wait for the season to open," said Peter Stern, Apple’s vice president of Services. "Baseball has a special place in the heart of so many Apple customers — not just in the United States, but in many countries around the world. We’re proud to make Apple TV+ the home for great baseball moments throughout the season."

The newest version of iPhone 13 will now have two new finishes, with a "bold new green" or "alpine green" version. They'll be available March 18.

“People love the design of iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13, and we’re excited to unveil the stunning new alpine green and green finishes, which join the wide range of beautiful colors on the iPhone 13 lineup,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “These new colors give customers even more options when choosing their iPhone, and we can’t wait for them to take advantage of all the iPhone 13 lineup offers, including unmatched performance with A15 Bionic, our best camera systems, massive improvements to battery life for everyday needs, fast 5G, incredible durability, and so much more.”

Cook is extremely proud of Apple's processing chips. He announced the A15 bionic chip will be coming to another new product...

For users looking for a "smaller iPhone with incredible value," the iPhone SE is the newest addition to the family.

It'll use the same processing chip as the more powerful iPhone 13, but will come at a much more comfortable price point, just $429. It'll be available on March 18, with preorders starting this Friday.

Apple also claims this phone will be faster than EVERY other phone from other companies at ANY price point. If you're still using an iPhone 8, this phone should be 26 times faster!

While it's not as powerful as an iPhone 13, it'll get the job done well with a 12 megapixel camera and other cool features.

iPhone SE will be available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB models in midnight, starlight, and (PRODUCT)RED starting at $429 (US).

Apple is giving a boost to the iPad Air, with Apple silicon helping increase performance dramatically. Coming in starting at $599, it'll be available March 18 too.

There are dramatic increases in visual processing, and is expected to be twice as fast as the best-selling Windows laptop in the price range. It will also now have 5G connectivity.

It will also have the power to run the newest version of iMovie, which looks amazing, and will be available next month.

“Whether it’s a college student taking elaborate notes, a content creator working on their latest project, or a gamer playing graphics-intensive titles, users love iPad Air for its amazing performance and versatility in such a portable design,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With the breakthrough M1 chip, Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage, and ultra-fast 5G, iPad Air is now more powerful, more capable, and simply more fun than ever.”

This is a bit of an under the hood thing, but this will be a staggeringly powerful version of Apple silicon. That will help performance and battery life in the machines that have it.

Basically, Apple built M1 Max with some hidden architecture that lets them make a sort-of double chip. It's super technical, but for those of you with heavy computing needs, this chip will change your life. We're talking 10 times faster than the best PC option currently available.

Apps are going to benefit from M1 Ultra even without a change in software. They designed it specifically to accomplish that goal for developers.

For the average user, the Mac Studio and Studio Display announcements were a bit dull. But for those in the high-performance studio computing space, this was a dream come true.

“We couldn’t be more excited to introduce an entirely new Mac desktop and display with Mac Studio and Studio Display,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Mac Studio ushers in a new era for the desktop with unbelievable performance powered by M1 Max and M1 Ultra, an array of connectivity, and a compact design that puts everything users need within easy reach. And Studio Display — with its stunning 5K Retina screen, along with the best combination of camera and audio ever in a desktop display — is in a class of its own.”