Apple unveils M1 Ultra, Mac Studio, 5G iPhone SE and a new iPad Air

Apple unveiled a host of new hardware during its “Peek Performance” event on Tuesday, including the M1 Ultra system on chip (SoC), the Mac Studio desktop, and brand new versions of the iPhone SE and iPad Air.

Additionally, the Cupertino-based tech giant also uncovered a new, forest green shade for its flagship iPhone 13, with a more muted, alpine green version for the iPhone 13 Pro.

However, it was the M1 Ultra chip that took centre stage during Tuesday’s event, with analysts hailing it as giving the company an “inherent advantage” over its competitors.

M1 Ultra

The fourth iteration of Apple’s flagship M1 chip promises to be “the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer” and forms the basis of the company's new Mac Studio desktop PC.

However, the M1 Ultra was actually expected to arrive as the M2, with Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman incorrectly predicting that the new chip would retain the same eight-core architecture as the M1.

Instead, the M1 Ultra comes with a 64-core GPU that is eight times the size of the original M1, as well as 128GB of high-bandwidth and low-latency unified memory and a 20-core CPU with 16 high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. According to Apple, the Arm-based chip also consumes 200 fewer watts of power than the highest-end PC GPU available.