Everything Apple announced: M5 chips, iPhone 17e, new displays

Apple has had an unusually busy week – no keynote necessary.

In a press release, the Cupertino company unveiled a new iPhone, a refreshed MacBook Air, a new MacBook Pro, new desktop displays, and the chips that power it all. Mashable got a short hands-on with the devices, and we’ll have more in-depth updates coming soon.

If you’re up to speed, here’s a closer look at all the major products Apple has announced — and more importantly, what you need to know about each one.

iPhone 17e

The iPhone 17e, announced on March 2, is built around Apple’s latest-generation A19 chip — the same processor that powers the iPhone 17 system. It also adds C1X, a next-generation cellular modem that the company says is twice as fast as the modem in the iPhone 16e.

The 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display on the 17e now features Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple says offers three times the scratch resistance of the previous generation.

The 17e’s camera system has been revamped with a 48MP Fusion lens that Apple says can act as two cameras in one – offering a 2x optical quality telephoto crop in addition to the standard wide angle. Portrait mode is enhanced with a smart image pipeline that can automatically detect people, dogs, and cats and save depth data in the background, so you can apply bokeh afterwards.

A more consumer-friendly change: iPhone 17e now ships with MagSafe, Apple’s magnetic wireless charger ecosystem, which supports up to 15W. The iPhone 16e maxed out at 7.5W over standard Qi. Base storage has doubled, to 256GB, for the same starting price of $599.

The iPhone 17e comes in black, white, and a new soft pink color. Pre-orders open on March 4; the phone is officially available on March 11.

MacBook Air with M5

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

Apple has updated the MacBook Air laptop with its M5 chip. The result is four times faster in AI tasks than the MacBook Air with M4, the company says, and it is 9.5 times faster than the M1 model. The new chip includes a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, with a Neural Accelerator built into each.

Storage gets a meaningful upgrade as well. The new MacBook Air now starts at 512GB – double the previous standard – and can be configured up to 4TB for the first time. Apple says the new SSD also delivers read/write speeds that are twice as fast as those in the M4 MacBook Air.

The new Apple N1 wireless chip brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the air, delivering improved performance and reliability. Battery life is unchanged, promising up to 18 hours per charge. The design – a frameless aluminum chassis with 13- and 15-inch options – is also unchanged. Colors include sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver.

The 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 starts at $1,099 (or $999 for education). The 15-inch starts at $1,299 ($1,199 for tuition). Pre-orders open on March 4, and the laptop ships on March 11.

MacBook Neo

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

Apple also unveiled the MacBook Neo, a brand new entry-level laptop starting at $599 — or $499 for students and teachers — marking the company’s most affordable Mac ever.

The 13-inch device runs on Apple’s A18 Pro chip, the same processor found in the iPhone 16 Pro range, paired with 8GB of integrated non-upgradable memory. It features a Liquid Retina display, up to 16 hours of battery life, and comes in four colors: green, indigo, silver, and orange.

But as Mashable’s Stan Schroeder noted in an early breakdown, the lower price comes with a trade-off — Touch ID costs $100 more, the battery is much smaller than the one in the MacBook Air, and prospective buyers who need more than 8GB of RAM are out of luck. The MacBook Neo is available for pre-order now, and will ship on March 11.

MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

The new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are powered by the M5 Pro and M5 Max, which Apple says delivers four times the AI ​​performance of the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and eight times the AI ​​performance of the M1-era models. Both chips are built on a new “Fusion Architecture” that combines two dies into one system-on-a-chip, enabling performance benefits that Apple says would not be possible with a traditional single-die design.

The MacBook Pro with M5 Pro is aimed at data modelers, sound designers, and complex coders. It pairs up to 18-core CPU with up to 20-core GPU and supports up to 64GB of integrated memory. The M5 Max doubles down with up to a 40-core GPU and up to 128GB of integrated memory – a figure that Apple says significantly improves the token generation speed of large language models (LLMs) running locally.

Storage starts at 1TB for the M5 Pro models, and 2TB for the M5 Max. Apple claims the SSD’s speed is nearly double that of the previous generation, reaching 14.5GB/s read/write. The MacBook Pro also adds the N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and ships with three Thunderbolt 5 ports. Battery life is limited to up to 24 hours.

14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at $2,199; the 16-inch version starts at $2,699. M5 Max configurations start at $3,599 for the 14-inch model and $3,899 for the 16-inch model.

All models come in black and silver. Pre-orders open on March 4; available on March 11.

iPad Air M4

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

Apple also updated the iPad Air system, putting it on the M4 chip with 12GB of integrated memory – a 50 percent increase over the previous generation. The tablet is available in 11- and 13-inch sizes and, according to Apple, delivers performance 30 percent faster than the M3 model and twice as fast as the M1 version.

Both the N1 wireless Wi-Fi 7 chip and the C1X cellular modem make their iPad debut here, with Apple saying the latter reduces modem power consumption by about 30 percent compared to the M3 model.

Pricing remains firm at $599 for the 11-inch Wi-Fi model and $799 for the 13-inch. Pre-orders open on March 4; Availability begins on March 11.

Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

Apple has announced a refresh of its outdoor lineup, introducing both the new Studio Display and the all-new Studio Display XDR. Studio Display gets a significant upgrade in the form of Thunderbolt 5 connectivity – two ports that support daisy-chain integration of up to four displays – and a new 12MP Center Stage camera that now includes support for Desk View, simultaneously showing the caller and a top-down view of their workspace.

The main display panel remains a 27-inch 5K Retina panel at 600 nits, with a wide color P3.

Studio Display XDR is a big deal. Apple replaces the Pro Display XDR at a much lower price. It features the same 27-inch 5K Retina screen, but with a mini-LED backlight system that uses more than 2,000 local dimming points, up to 2,000 nits of high HDR brightness, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 120Hz refresh rate with Adaptive Sync.

The XDR display adds Adobe RGB color gamut support next to the P3 and introduces a new medical DICOM image reset – pending FDA approval – aimed at radiologists who want to use the display in diagnostic work.

The new Studio monitor with interchangeable stand starts at $1,599. The Studio Display XDR with movable and interchangeable stand starts at $3,299 — that’s $2,700 less than the original Pro Display XDR at launch.

As with everything else on Apple’s list, pre-orders for the displays opened on March 4, and became available on March 11.