At its event tonight, live from Brooklyn, Apple launched a slew of devices for us to play around with, ending months of hints and speculation.
Aside from the expected new iPad, the Cupertino giant also refreshed the MacBook Air lineup, and also showed off a new Apple Pencil. So here are the highlights you need.
The first mention needed for the new iPad Pros is that they've finally made the switch over from Apple's Lightning port to USB Type-C. That means they get all sorts of new goodies like 4K video out. However, there's also a new USB charge-OUT mode, meaning you can use your iPad Pro to charge your iPhone!
There are two new size variants of the iPad Pro. A 11-inch display that fits in the same size body as the old 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and a new 12.9-inch display in a smaller package as it's predecessor. Both of these versions are Liquid Retina at 264ppi, and are edge-to-edge. Apple has also ditched the traditional Home button in favour of Apple's FaceID, which is why the bodies are so much smaller. And as a side effect of the Home button going away, it now uses the same gesture controls as on the iPhone X.
The iPad Pro uses a new A12X Bionic chip a beefier version of the A12 in the new iPhones. This is an 8-core CPU (4x performance and 4x efficiency), which is 35 percent faster than the old iPad Pro. In fact, Apple claims the new iPad Pro is "faster than 92 percent of all portable PCs sold in the last 12 months". It also has four-speaker audio with two woofers and tweeters, at the corners. There's a 12MP camera on the rear, and even eSIM support for LTE.
Both sizes of iPad Pro will be available in 64GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options.? The 11-inch version will start at $799 (Rs?58,800), and the 12.9-inch at $999 (Rs 73,500). You can preorder today, and they'll be available on Nov 7. In addition, the current 10.5-inch version of the old iPad Pro will continue to be available.
The iPad Pros also get a new accessory, the refreshed Apple pencil. Where the original Apple Pencil only had a multitude of sensors in the tip (to detect the angle of writing or drawing) the new version also features a prominent button, for extra shortcut actions. In addition, the Pencil also now has gesture support. The Pencil has a flat side now, so it's not rolling off your table, and attaches to the side of the iPad Pro magnetically. When it does that, it's also charge wirelessly.
Apple launched two new additions to the Mac lineup, with a new MacBook Air, and Mac mini.?The Macbook Air sits about halfway between the old MacBook Air and the 12-inch MacBook. It features a 13.3-inch retina display with a stellar 4 million pixels, and packs in Intel's 8th Gen dual-core chipset. It supports up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1.5TB in SSD storage, all similar to the MacBook Pro. The aluminium unibody design is also, part of Apple's new green Mac project, all 100 percent recycled aluminium.
Most importantly, the MacBook Air also brings in TouchID, but without the awful Touch Bar. it's on the top right corner of the keyboard, where the power button used to be. The device also features a headphone jack thankfully, as well as two Thunderbolt 3 (with USB Type-C). And all of that in a body just 15.6mm thick, and weighing in at 1.25 kg.
You can preorder today for $1199 (approximately Rs 88,200) and will be available Nov 7.
The Mac mini seems to have much the same form as the old version, except it's now in a Space Grey colour. However, don't underestimate it, this thing is powerful. While the base version has a dual-core 8th gen CPU, it can go up to 6, and is 5X faster than before. They can go up to 64GB of RAM (SO-DIMMS), up to 2TB SSD, and has a Gigabit ethernetport, 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, HDMI, and two USB-A. Oh yeah, and a headphone jack here too.
The entry configuration of 8GB RAM, 3.2GHz quad core processor, and 128GB SSD will start at $799 (approximately Rs 58,800). You can preorder today, it'll be available Nov 7.
Unfortunately for us, that November 7 release date doesn't include India, so we'll likely have to wait till closer to December for the devices. The prices are also likely to change, though it's unsure how much.