Apple has unveiled a new iPad with 9.7-inch screen as it phased out the iPad Air series from its line-up of tablets; the Apple iPad portfolio now consists of iPad mini 4, two iPad Pro models, and the new iPad. Available to order from Friday, the new iPad with 9.7-inch screen starts at base price of $329 (roughly Rs. 21,500), the lowest yet for a full-sized iPad.
The new 9.7-iPad will be available in India in April, where it will retail at Rs. 28,900 for the 32GB Wi-Fi model, while the 32GB Wi-Fi+Cellular model is priced at at Rs. 39,900. It will be slightly less expensive than the smaller iPad Mini 4, which starts at $399 (Rs. 34,900 in India) for a 128GB model.
Compared to the iPad Air 2 that it replaces, Apple's new iPad has a faster A9 chip and brighter screen. The new iPad model is also slightly larger than the $399 iPad Air 2.
“iPad is the world’s most popular tablet. Customers love the large, 9.7-inch display for everything from watching TV and movies, to surfing the web, making FaceTime calls, and enjoying photos, and now it is even more affordable,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “New customers and anyone looking to upgrade will love this new iPad for use at home, in school, and for work, with its gorgeous Retina display, our powerful A9 chip, and access to the more than 1.3 million apps designed specifically for it.”
Apple also released a new red colour variant for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and said its smaller iPhone SE model will be available in 32 and 128 gigabyte (GB) versions, replacing the 16GB and 64GB models.
The hardware updates are incremental improvements that were announced without a major media event. Apple is widely expected to unveil an update to its flagship iPhone this fall that might have new features such as wireless charging, 3D facial recognition and a curved display.
Apple also announced a new app for creating videos and sharing them with friends on its iOS devices. The new feature, along with extra iMessage features released in recent years, pushes Apple closer to competing with the features in social networking apps like Snap Inc.
The new app, called Clips, lets users add captions and speech bubbles to videos and share them on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram or Apple's own messaging app, where videos can be sent to contacts with a single tap. But unlike Snap or other messaging apps, users can add captions to videos using their voice.
Written with inputs from Reuters
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