A glimpse from the WWDC21 keynote speech "Apple's unrivaled precise strategy" (Masaichi Honda)

Apple's developer conference "WWDC21", which was held online again this year, has started. At this event, it will be announced what functions will be installed in Apple's basic software (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS) released after autumn. The purpose is to fully bring out the capabilities of the new basic software by providing the information, beta version basic software for development, tools, etc. to the developer.

At WWDC, devices that are provided for developers or devices that require some kind of support on the application side may be announced. Mac Pro and PRO Display XDR were the same, but there was no hardware introduced at WWDC21 this time.

But there was definitely something to see.

"Apple-ness" seen in the new OS group

At the WWDC keynote, Apple will announce plans to update the platform for nearly all of its products. Individual updates have become more complete in all product genres, so rather than improving fundamental functions, we have improved usability according to the actual usage and specifically reduced the burden on users. Function proposals such as

iOS 15 expands the FaceTime talk session, SharePlay allows you to talk while sharing videos, music, or the screen of the app itself, mute messages and notifications depending on the situation, and home Typical examples include the concentration mode that switches screen icons and widget layouts, and the new Safari that has been reconsidered for browser usage scenarios to increase usability, but WWDC is a "developer conference". When you think about it, you can see another perspective, a cut.

For one thing, all categories of operating systems are extremely tightly integrated, and not just the look of the user interface, but the functionality itself is designed to work together wirelessly over a network. Therefore, the main features implemented in iOS (including the above improvements) are available not only in the derivative version of iPad OS 15, but also in the new version of macOS Monterey.

Furthermore, with SharePlay, you can also join the nearby Apple TV HD/4K, so you can enjoy the video on the big screen while continuing to talk on your iPhone.

This area can be said to be the advantage of Apple, which develops all the basic software of each category in-house. Last year, macOS Big Sur brought the design and detailed application specifications of macOS closer to iOS / iPad OS, which also brought about the integration of experiences beyond product categories. Mac, iPad, and iPhone are lined up, and just by operating the iPad, the cursor on the trackpad transitions to the Mac or iPhone, and data can be exchanged by dragging and dropping between different hardware. rice field.

However, the part where I felt the strongest strategy was another part. It is also related to enhanced privacy features, which are reflected in intelligent functions that can be completed within the device. As will be described later, they also match the strategy of Apple's own SoC.

Providing enhanced privacy and enhanced AI functions as a "set"

I may feel that the story is a little off, but I felt that it was not a coincidence that the A10 Fusion-equipped machine disappeared from the iPhone / iPad product lineup before this WWDC. The new iOS/iPad OS assumes A12 Bionic as the base SoC (although it also works on iPhone 6s/7/SE/iPod touch), and the features of iOS 15 can be utilized in models with A12 Bionic or higher. becomes.

Last year, the iPad became the 8th generation and was updated to the A12 Bionic, but this year the Apple TV 4K has the same SoC. The A12 Bionic is a generation in which the built-in Neural Engine has been greatly enhanced and renewed. All other products are equipped with A13 Bionic or higher. The reason why SoC that can be felt as a so-called low-priced version is not listed in any current product is that the main functions are completed only in the terminal.

For example, in iOS 15, it is no longer necessary to use the cloud for Siri's voice recognition (by the way, it does not support all languages, but Japanese is supported), but voice recognition can be performed only within the terminal. To do so, A12 Bionic or later SoC is required.

In addition, Apple is trying to complete on-device, that is, within the terminal, functions that could only be realized through the cloud, such as the function to perform character recognition of images captured by the camera. However, not everything is on-device at this time.

We have not exhaustively investigated which functions are online and which functions are on-device, but for example, the translation function. In combination with Siri, speech recognition is on-device, but translation is done using an online service.

However, Apple has been developing functions in the direction of realizing on-device as much as possible. There seems to be no doubt that

The tracking and monitoring function of Safari, the ATT function that performs tracking and monitoring at the OS level, and the on-device AI function are aligned from the SoC level used in the product and connected to a strategic message.

Unrivaled strategy

Privacy issues aside, though, some readers may wonder if there is an Android-based product with similar functionality. However, with Android, it is difficult to bring about a sense of unity by linking products across multiple categories.

The seamless collaboration across smartphones, tablets, personal computers, and TVs, as demonstrated in the keynote speech, cannot be realized unless all basic software is linked and developed.

Also, given the widespread application of machine learning processing in recent years, it is easier for Apple to adopt a federated learning approach that integrates and utilizes the results learned by devices of each genre. This is because the results of on-device learning can be encrypted and integrated within the device via the cloud.

Huawei was trying to take a similar approach, but due to the development of its own SoC and the inability to obtain a license from Google, it lost its competitiveness outside of China and became a rival to Apple. The only thing you get is Samsung.

As the degree of integration and sense of unity among Apple products as a whole increases, including the functions related to health management featured this time, it will be difficult to create a framework that can compete with this.

Although the point of view is slightly different, I can also feel the good preparations related to the distribution of 3D music using Dolby ATMOS, which is scheduled to be launched within this month. Since they are preparing thousands of sound sources that have been edited in 3D, it was probably a plan that had been prepared for quite some time.

Although the details are not clear, it is believed that signal processing (spatial audio) for virtually realizing stereophonic sound depends to some extent on the signal processing functions of Apple-designed SoCs.

By developing a high-performance SoC in-house and putting dedicated signal processing on top of it, we can increase the added value of connected products (in this case, earphones and headphones), and even provide music distribution in-house. Connect to the attractiveness of the service.

It's just amazing that such a big company has such a detailed strategy across multiple categories.

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