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Apple unveils macOS ‘High Sierra’ w/ Safari improvements, APFS, more

In addition to other announcements, Apple today has unveiled the latest version of macOS in form of macOS 10.13. The update will be available to the public later this year and includes new features, interface tweaks, performance improvements, and more.

macOS High Sierra cares a focus on deep technologies and refinements, according to Craig Federighi, with Apple working to refine macOS 10.12 Sierra with the update.

Safari

Apple introduced the latest version of macOS by outlining improvements to Siri that come as part of the update. The company touts that Safari is the fastest web browser there is, and High Sierra only improves that. Safari in macOS High Sierra includes auto-play blocking for video advertisements, as well as intelligent tracking protection to better protect user browsing and history data.

Mail

In addition to Safari improvements, macOS High Sierra also bring implements to the Apple Mail app. For instance, the app now supports Top Hits search, making it easier to find emails during search. There’s also finally support for Split View Mail Compose, meaning you can have a split window pane between the compose interface and other applications.

Photos

Federighi touts that the biggest updates with High Sierra come with Photos. This includes a persistent sidebar, as well as a new dropdown for filtering content. There are also new editing tools, including interface tweaks for more advanced editing capabilities.

Finally, Photos includes faces syncing across all Apple devices.

APFS

Apple is also bringing its Apple Filesystem to macOS. Federighi demonstrated the advanced capabilities for the new filesystem by instantly duplicating a file. Apple Filesystem first made an appearance earlier this year with iOS 10.3.

h.265

macOS High Sierra also migrates the operating system to h.265 from h.264. This upgrade brings 40 percent higher compression without compromising quality, which means video files will be smaller in size and easier to manage.

Metal 2+ VR

Finally, Apple says that macOS High Sierra brings a host of graphics improvements to the Mac as it doubles down on the Pro market. High Sierra includes the new Metal 2 graphics engine, bringing 10x improvement over Metal 1 in graphics.

High Sierra also includes spherical video support, VR engines from Unreal, and Metal integration with virtual reality. More on that later….

Availability

macOS High Sierra will be available to developers later today and to the public later this fall.

macOS High Sierra Delivers Advanced Technologies for Storage, Video & Graphics
Refinements Made to Popular Apps Like Photos, Safari, Mail & More
June 05, 2017 03:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today previewed macOS® High Sierra, the latest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, delivering new core storage, video and graphics technologies that pave the way for future innovation on the Mac®. macOS High Sierra offers an all-new file system, support for High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and an update to Metal®, Apple’s advanced graphics technology that powers everything from machine learning to virtual reality content creation. macOS High Sierra also includes a number of refinements to the apps Mac users enjoy every day, including Photos, Safari® and Mail.

“macOS High Sierra delivers important forward-looking technologies and new opportunities for developers wanting to tap into the power of machine learning and create immersive VR content on the Mac,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “The core technology innovations in macOS High Sierra, combined with our advances in hardware, will continue to push the Mac forward in exciting new ways.”

Powerful New System Technologies

Apple File System

Apple File System (APFS) features enhanced performance, security and reliability of data and provides a foundation for future storage innovations. An advanced architecture optimized for today’s massive storage technologies, APFS makes common operations such as copying files and directories instantaneous, helps protect data from power outages and system crashes and keeps files safe and secure with native encryption. macOS High Sierra also maintains complete read-and-write compatibility with previously formatted HFS drives and data and is designed to accommodate future advancements in storage technology.

High-Efficiency Video Coding

Support for industry-standard HEVC (H.265) enables video streaming and playback of 4K video files at incredible quality that are also up to 40 percent smaller than with the current H.264 standard.* With HEVC, Apple is enabling high-quality video streaming on networks where only HD streaming was previously possible, while hardware acceleration on the new iMac® and MacBook Pro® deliver incredibly fast and power-efficient HEVC encoding and editing.

Metal 2

Metal is the fastest, most efficient way to tap into GPU power on the Mac. Metal 2 features a refined API and improved performance that help developers accelerate their apps. It adds support for machine learning used in speech recognition, natural language processing and computer vision. The combination of Thunderbolt 3 and Metal 2 allows the most demanding users to access powerful external GPUs. An External Graphics Developer Kit gives developers all the hardware and software they need to optimize their apps.

Virtual Reality

Drawing on the performance of Metal 2 and the latest Mac hardware, macOS High Sierra adds support for VR content creation for the first time, enabling developers to create immersive gaming, 3D and VR content on the Mac. Leading VR companies are joining Apple to drive VR innovation on the Mac with features coming later this year — Valve is optimizing their SteamVR platform for macOS and enabling connection of the HTC Vive headset, while Unity and Epic are bringing their VR development tools to macOS. Also later this year, Final Cut Pro® X will add support for professional 360-degree workflows with the ability to import, edit and export 360-degree video.

Refinements to the Apps Mac Users Love

Photos

Photos in macOS High Sierra adds a new always-on sidebar that presents albums and organization tools. A redesigned Edit view includes powerful new tools like Curves, for fine-tuning of color and contrast, and Selective Color, for making adjustments within a defined color range. Live Photos™ can now be edited with fun effects and Memories curates user photos and videos around several new topics. Photos now supports external editors, so Photoshop, Pixelmator and other apps can launch directly within Photos, with edits saved back to the Photos library. And for the first time, support for third-party project extensions gives users access to printing and publishing services, such as Animoto, ifolor, Shutterfly, WhiteWall and Wix, from right within the Photos app.

Additional App Refinements:

• Safari can automatically use Reader to open articles in a clean, uncluttered format, while Autoplay Blocking stops media with audio from automatically playing in the browser.

• Intelligent Tracking Prevention in Safari uses machine learning to identify and remove the tracking data that advertisers employ to follow users’ web activity.

• Mail search gets faster and easier with Top Hits, which puts the most relevant results at the top of a user’s message list.

• Siri® on the Mac responds with a natural and more expressive voice, and when using Apple Music®, it learns music preferences, creates custom playlists and answers music trivia.

• Notes adds simple tables, where a user can type in cells, make edits and move rows and columns.

• Spotlight® provides flight status information, including departure and arrival times, delays, gates, terminals and even a map of the flight path.

• iCloud® File Sharing lets users share any file stored in iCloud Drive® and collaborate with other people.

Pricing & Availability

The developer preview of macOS High Sierra is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta program will be available to Mac users in late June at beta.apple.com. macOS High Sierra will be available this fall as a free software update from the Mac App Store®. For more information, visit apple.com/macos/high-sierra-preview.

Registered Apple Developer Program members can get everything they need to optimize their apps for external graphics with the External Graphics Developer Kit for $599 (US). It includes a Thunderbolt 3 external PCI expansion chassis, AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics card with 8GB VRAM and USB-C hub.

* Amount of disk space saved depends on specific video file and hardware used. Actual results may vary.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

© 2017 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, macOS, Mac, Metal, Safari, iMac, MacBook Pro, Final Cut Pro, Live Photos, Siri, Apple Music, Spotlight, iCloud, iCloud Drive and App Store are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com