Apple announces new iPad Air that looks more like an iPad Pro, starting at $599
Apple is unveiling a new iPad Air today that looks very similar to the company’s iPad Pro. It’s a significant design change from the current Air, which was brought back to life last year in between the iPad and iPad Pro. Last year’s Air has thick top and bottom bezels and a button for Touch ID, but this new iPad Air has much thinner bezels all around the display. It will be available next month, priced from $599.
Apple is using a bigger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display (2360 x 1640) on this new iPad Air, that’s fully laminated with True Tone support and anti-reflective coating. In order to squeeze this display in, Apple has moved the Touch ID fingerprint sensor to the power button at the top.
Inside the new iPad Air, Apple is making some big changes to the chips powering this tablet. It will be powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic, a 5nm chip with a six-core CPU (two high, four low), and 11.8 billion transistors. Apple is promising a 40 percent performance improvement over the last iPad Air and improved graphics support thanks to a new four-core GPU.
Apple says it’s the “most advanced chip” it has ever made, and it even includes specific machine learning accelerators that apps will be able to use. Apple demonstrated a variety of apps during its press event today, promising that app developers will be able to take advantage of the power of this new chip for their apps.
Apple is also switching to USB-C on the iPad Air, much like the iPad Pro, and it’ll support 20W charging. The company is even borrowing the 12-megapixel rear camera from the iPad Pro and upgrading it with improved video stabilization on the Air. A front-facing 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera is included on the Air, with smart HDR and support for 1080p 60fps video capture.
This latest iPad Air will also support the (new) Apple Pencil, which magnetically attaches to the tablet. Apple’s Magic Keyboard accessory will also attach to this iPad Air, making this even more similar to Apple’s iPad Pro.
Apple says the new iPad Air will be available next month, priced from $599.
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Apple is unveiling a new iPad Air today that looks very similar to the company’s iPad Pro. It’s a significant design change from the current Air, which was brought back to life last year in between the iPad and iPad Pro. Last year’s Air has thick top and bottom bezels…
