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Apple March event recap — iPhone SE 3, Mac Studio, iPad Air 5 and more

All the big Apple event product announcements

Tim Cook at the Apple event
(Image: © Apple)

Update: March's Apple event has been and gone now all eyes are on the September 7 Apple event; make sure to check out our Apple event live blog for all the last-minute rumors ahead of the big showcase and all the news from the event itself. 

Apple product launches are rarely low-key, and the Apple March 8 Peek Performance event launched a lot of new products on Tuesday.

The iPhone SE 3 has been announced with A15 Bionic power, 5G and several camera upgrades, and there's a new iPad Air 5 with M1 might. For power users, Apple has announced the new Mac Studio computer with a blazing M1 Ultra chip that basically gives you two chips in one. And there's a new Apple Studio Display with 5K resolution and a lower price than the Pro XDR, although it's still pricey.

Though the event is now over, there's still plenty of news dripping out about the new products, so keep this page bookmarked for the latest info plus our expert analysis and opinion.

Apple Event announcements

iPhone SE 3: The iPhone SE 3 (2022) features the same A15 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 13 lineup, and it adds 5G connectivity. Ceramic Shield front and back. Cost is $429. But there's also a couple of surprise iPhone SE 3 drawbacks

iPad Air 5: The iPad Air is getting Apple's M1 chip for much better performance, along with 5G connectivity. And it supports the Magic keyboard. Starts at $599. 

Mac Studio: Think of the Mac Studio as a supercharged Mac mini with a M1 Max chip or even more powerful new M1 Ultra chip, offering 3.8x more power than the iMac 27-inch. Starts at $1,999.

Apple Studio Display: There's a new Apple Studio Display. It's a 27-inch panel with 5K resolution and 600 nits of brightness, plus a 12MP camera and powerful speaker system. Starts at $1,599. 

Apple M1 Ultra chip: This new super chip packs a 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU and 32-core Neural Engine. And there's up to 128GB of unified memory. The chip will be an option in the Mac Studio for the $3,999 configuration, and the first Apple M1 Ultra benchmarks show off awesome power for this beefy new slice of Apple silicon.

Also, quietly, Apple killed the 27-inch iMac, making the Studio Display the only 27-inch panel in Apple's lineup.

Refresh

Good morning and welcome to Tom's Guide's live blog for today's Peek Performance Apple event. Marc McLaren here in the U.K. kicking things off, with various staffers taking over as the day goes on. 

Follow it live with us here for all of the latest news and speculation in the run-up to the event, and of course for all of the announcements as they happen from 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. GMT.

@tomsguide

♬ FEEL THE GROOVE - Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

So what can we expect to see today? Lots! We've got a list of the likely candidates above, but for another perspective on today's Apple event, senior writer Kate Kozuch prepared a quick TikTok summary of all the potential products Apple could show off.

(Like what you see? Go to the Tom's Guide channel on TikTok and click that follow button.)

green iPhone 13

(Image credit: Luke Miani)

So let's delve into some of the specifics around what could be released at today's Apple event. We'll start with smartphones.

If you think back to the Apple event from the spring of 2021, you'll recall that Apple just didn't release new products then — it also updated some of its existing devices. Specifically, Apple introduced a purple iPhone 12 model a year ago, updating the iPhone lineup it had rolled out in the fall.

Could history repeat itself in 2022? Some Apple observers think so, with the possibility of a dark green iPhone 13 joining Apple's phone lineup being dangled as a potential announcement today. That claim and the above renders come from Luke Miani, who also thinks a purple iPad Air is on tap for today.

A render of the iPhone SE 3, featuring the rumored Face ID notch

(Image credit: TenTechReview/xleaks7)

One phone we very much expect to see revealed at today's Apple event is the iPhone SE 3 (2022). There have been so many rumors about it that we can be pretty sure about lots of details — but there are still a few questions to answer.

The most recent predictions come from the respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who tweeted about the phone's storage and colors a few days. Kuo says the iPhone SE 3 (2022) will come in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB version, and white, black and red.

He also says the design will be similar to that of the existing iPhone SE — which doesn't surprise us at all.