Last week, Apple device users that were curious as to when the venerable tech juggernaut was going to introduce some new gadgets, were surprised when they posted such a question to Siri. The digital assistant marked April 20 as the date of an event called “Spring Loaded,” which initially was not listed on Apple’s website. It turned out to be an advance date leak, with Apple confirming that there will be an event set. There has been discussion as to what the company will showcase, and as this past Tuesday, April 20, came and went, the reveals are now known.

The Verge has a nice good rundown of what the April 20 Apple Spring Loaded event unveiled. As expected, despite the original Siri announcement having a venue named the actual event was pre-recorded, with the Cupertino Apple campus merely being the backdrop and CEO Tim Cook naturally as host of the proceedings. And they had quite the spread of new stuff to share, all across the broad Apple spectrum. There are new gadgets, new hardware, redesigns, new color variants, new online service features and even a heads-up for a new season of an Apple TV+ streaming series. Here they are.

Apple brought back to the spotlight their company-designed M1 ARM64 System-on-a-chip, introduced back in 2020 with that year’s release of MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. It was boasted by the tech giant to contain the world’s fastest CPU core and the best CPU performance per watt in any chip yet. As such, they are including it in two gadgets debuting for Spring Loaded: the latest iPad Pro tablets and new ultra-thin iMac. The iPad Pro’s 12.9-inch version screen also packs a new Liquid Retina XDR display with 10,000 mini-LEDs, and it and the 11-inch variant have 12-megapixel ultra-wide cameras with auto tracking capabilities.

The new iMac is really looking to see just how thin it can get and still retain impressive computing prowess. Its screen of 24 inches and 11.3 million pixels boggles the mind with its slimness, and the 1080p FaceTime camera plus wireless keyboard with Touch ID authentication makes this iteration a worthy successor to the iMac line, which last saw a new version of the name back in 2017, and a workstation-class edition at that. Then there are the new Apple AirTags, tracker units one can stick to any object, making them findable via Apple’s “Find My” app. Each AirTag is also customizable by changing the emoji on its face.

Other updates on Spring Loaded include a new Apple TV remote design, with an aluminum casing and including both a Click pad and Siri button; then there is a new Purple color for the iPhone 12; and lastly there is the announcement of season 2 for Apple TV+ comedy streaming series “Ted Lasso” starring Jason Sudeikis, if that is your things. All in all, it was a nice and meaty product introduction, and a showcase on how Apples M1 chip is gradually becoming the CPU for all future Apple gadgets.

Image courtesy of CNet