2022 In Review: Huge innovations across iPhone, Mac, Watch and more

2022 has been another record year for Apple, with both hardware and software making solid gains.

It’s clear why: Apple has bolstered the iPhone with features like Dynamic Island and made headway with the M2, making its phones, tablets, and laptops even more compelling.

A BUMPER START TO THE YEAR

There’s no denying that 2022 has been a quieter year for Apple than 2021, which saw the launch of several new Macs under the company’s transition to the M1 chip. But Tim Cook and co still managed to start the year strong with the first event, where it introduced a 5G iPad Air and a 5G iPhone SE. Introducing 5G connectivity to the iPad Air made the device even more attractive, offering many of the same features as the iPad Pro without the higher price tag. It features a stunning 10.9-inch edge-to-edge display with True Tone support, a P3 wide color, 500 nits of brightness, and 1.8 percent reflectivity. The range also sports attractive color options similar to iPhone colors, with this year’s models available in space gray, pink, purple, blue, and starlight. In keeping with its predecessor, the Air features a Touch ID sensor rather than Face ID, which comes with the iPad Pro, but it’s a fair compromise to make for its price point and performance.

The 5G iPhone SE, on the other hand, starts at $429 and offers features such as a powerful A-series chip, as well as an impressive camera that’s capable of 4K video recording, Haptic Touch, wireless charging, water and dust resistance, and more. Perhaps most impressive is that the 5G iPhone SE features the same A15 Bionic chip as iPhone 13, making it an unbeatable budget phone.