Apple had a conference today (10/16) where they announced a new iMac with a 5K Retina screen, a Mac Mini, released OS X Yosemite (although hours after the announcement I’m still waiting for it to show up on my macbook), and released some new iPads among other smaller announcements from the technology giant. This announcement is the second large unveiling of new products since the recent iPhone 6/6+ announcement. These new iPads are part of the largest push of new products since Tim Cook has taken over as CEO for the company. These new iPads were created to hopefully bring back some users to iPad as their market share has declined for the past two quarters.
Going from small to large, the new iPad Mini 3 is the most recent update to the Mini line. The iPad Mini 3 is obviously a smaller version of the iPad that is aimed for users wanting a smaller screen or those that don’t want to shell out a lot of money for the larger iPad. The iPad Mini 3 has a 7.9 inch LED multi-touch screen with a screen resolution of 2048 x 1536. The Mini 3 has a A7 64-bit chip, a 5mp iSight rear facing camera, a 1.2mp front facing camera, Apple Pay capabilities, and the Touch ID sensor built into the home button. The iPad will come in space grey, silver, and gold and will be available in a variety of price points. Wi-fi models start at $399 for 16gb, $499 for 64gb, and $599 for 128gb. The cellular versions start at $529 for 16gb, $629 for 64gb, and $729 for 128gb.
Apple also updated its main line of the iPad, the iPad Air. The brand new iPad Air 2 has a 9.7 inch screen with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. The iPad Air 2 has a more powerful A8X CPU and a larger 8mp iSight camera making the iPad Air 2 much more powerful than the iPad Mini 3. Additionally the iPad air also has the Touch ID sensor and Apple Pay capabilities, but the main attraction is how thin the device is. The iPad Air 2 is only .24 inches thick, making it strikingly thin. The iPad Air 2 is price $100 dollars more than the various price points of the iPad Mini 3
My personal opinion on the new iPads is that the look good, however it is a typical Apple release. Apple loves the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ideology that is seen with most of their product line updates. It is good to see new thiner iPads with Touch ID and Apple Pay capabilities and more powerful CPUs. However I am a bit disappointed that the base iPads (and new iPhones) start at only 16gb. 16gb is really not a lot of memory to work with and its so small that it almost forces you to purchase the 64gb version. It will also be interesting to see how durable the Air is given the reports of some iPhone bending. The new iPads will go on sale on October 17th.
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
