Apple has launched new iPads and revamped its tablet product line, discontinuing the iPad 3 and the iPad 4 in order to focus on the new iPad Air and the new iPad Mini. The iPad Air, which goes on sale Nov. 1, is billed as the lightest tablet in the world and weighs in at exactly one pound. Philip Schiller, SVP of worldwide marketing at Apple, said his engineering team has been on a “relentless path” to make the iPad smaller and lighter. “The team has been remarkable in finding every tenth and every hundredth of a millimeter [to eliminate],” Schiller told his audience at Apple’s launch event.
“We started years ago, designing and engineering the new technologies that would be necessary,” said Jonathan Ive, Apple’s SVP of design. Compared to the iPad 4, the new iPad Air is 20% thinner and the bezel is 43% smaller. Apple claims that the smaller size does not mean a less powerful battery, and says the iPad Air will deliver 10 hours of battery life.
The iPad Air is meant to be faster as well as lighter. Apple says MIMO antennas will speed up Wi-Fi connectivity, and that more LTE bands will be supported. As expected, the new iPad is powered by Apple’s new 64-bit A7 processor, the same CPU that powers the iPhone 5S. The new iPhone’s M7 motion coprocessor is also inside the iPad Air. Apple says both CPU performance and graphics performance will be double that of the iPad 4.
The iPad Air starts at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model. Prices go up to $799 and storage goes up to 128GB for the Wi-Fi only tablets. For iPad Air models with cellular connectivity, prices start at $629 before subsidies and go up to $929 before subsidies.
For the first time, T-Mobile US will carry the iPad. The nation’s No. 4 carrier will offer both the iPad Air and the iPad Mini with 200 megabytes of free data. For $30 per month, customers can get 2.5 gigabytes of data. AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and Sprint will also have the new iPads, and Apple is selling them unlocked to facilitate customer moves between carriers.
iPad Mini
Apple also introduced its new iPad Mini, including both the A7 and the M7 in that device as well. The company is promising four-times faster CPU performance and eight-times faster graphics performance compared to the previous iPad Mini. Customers have been hoping for an iPad Mini with retina display, and Apple delivered, saying the new Mini has as many pixels in its 7.9-inch display as the iPad Air has in its 9.7-inch display. Apple said the new iPad Mini will go on sale later in November. In the past, Asian news sources have reported on problems with supplies of the retina displays for the smaller iPad.
The new iPad Mini will of course face competition this holiday season. The top competitor is likely to be Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 3 “phablet,” which carriers are now selling for $299. Today Apple said it will start selling the original iPad Mini for $299. The new Mini will be $399 for the Wi-Fi only model and $529 with cellular connectivity, before subsidies.
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