Apple has launched multiple new products, the main highlight being the iPhone 17e, iPad Air M4 and the MacBook Air M5. The price for the iPhone 17e starts at ₹64,900 for the base variant, which now starts with 256GB, which is double the storage offered for the base variant last year.
The iPhone 17e is powered by Apple’s A19 chip, which is built on the 3nm architecture. Apple claims that with the A19, it offers double the CPU performance when compared to the iPhone 11, along with improved power efficiency. It also features the new C1X modem, which is said to be twice as fast as the C1. The iPhone 17e is also claimed to offer an all-day battery life rated up to 26 hours of video playback.
However, one of the biggest changes is the addition of the MagSafe with Qi2 wireless charging support, with speeds up to 15W and wired fast-charging support via USB-C. Apple claims up to a 50 per cent charge in around 30 minutes using a 20W adapter or higher. Apart from the base 256GB variant, Apple is also offering a 512GB storage variant of the 17e, which is priced at ₹84,990. It is available in three colours – black, white and soft pink.
The design of the Apple iPhone 17e remains unchanged from its predecessor. It features an aerospace-grade aluminium frame and is IP68 rated for dust and water resistance. It retains the same 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with up to 1200 nits of peak brightness, and the display is protected by Ceramic Shield 2. However, it only gets a 60Hz refresh rate and misses out on the ProMotion.
Coming to the camera, it features the 48MP Fusion camera (only a single camera unit on the 17e) and optical-quality 2X Telephoto. Users can shoot 48MP hi-res photos using 24MP default resolution to strike a balance between image quality and file size. The Portrait mode also gets an update with the next-generation depth capture, which automatically works on people, dogs and cats, allowing you to blur the background post capture. You also get 4K Dolby Vision video capture at 60fps with spatial sound and wind-noise reduction.
Adding to the launches is the new Apple iPad Air, which is now powered by Apple’s M4 silicon. The mid-range tablet from the Cupertino-based manufacturer is priced at ₹64,900 for the 11-inch variant and ₹84,900 for the 13-inch variant. Apple says that the upgrade to the M4 chip gives the new iPad Air a 30 per cent bump in performance over its predecessor. It packs an 8-core CPU, a 9-core GPU, along with hardware-accelerated ray-tracing and a 16-core Neural Engine. The unified memory has also been bumped to 12GB from 8GB. Additionally, Apple has also given its in-house N1 wireless chip and C1X cellular modem to the iPad Air lineup, adding WI-Fi 7 support and Bluetooth 6. It is available in four colours – blue, purple, starlight and space grey.
Coming to the MacBook Air series, Apple has refreshed the MacBook Air with the M5 chip, doubling the base storage capacity to 512GB (configurable to up to 4TB storage) while adding Wi-Fi 7 support. The M5 chip packs a 10-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. It still retains the similar thin and lightweight fanless design as well as both the 13-inch and 15-inch display sizes. It also has the same 12MP Centre Stage camera, MagSafe charging, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and dual external display support. It runs the latest macOS Tahoe, which brings in the Liquid Glass design and Apple Intelligence integration. The new MacBook Air with M5 has a starting price of ₹1,19,900 for the 13-inch model and ₹1,44,900 for the 15-inch variant.
