A week ahead of Apple’s services-focused announcement event, Apple has launched two new iPads. The satisfyingly small 7.9in iPad mini, and a 10.5in iPad Air — both with Apple Pencil support (huzzah! Though, only the first-gen Pencil) and Apple’s A12 Bionic chip.
The new iPad Air bares a great resemblance to older iPad designs (the ones that feature bezels and the Touch ID button at the bottom), but smaller. Well, smaller in relation to the gigantic 12in iPad Pro. The size is 10.5in, which manageable if you’re not a 4K video-editor in need of the big Pro’s superior capabilities. The A12 Bionic chip makes it pretty fast, though not as fast as the Pro, that’s fitted with the A12x chip. Then you’ve also got Apple Pencil (first-generation) support, for the artsy peeps.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 18, 2019
The new iPad mini is the same size as the previous mini (otherwise it wouldn’t be as mini, we imagine), and measures 7.9in, but this time with Touch ID support in the home button. It’s also fitted with Apple’s A12 chip and has native Pencil support (also for the first-gen Pencil). The mini and the Air come with 8MP cameras on the back and 7MP ones on the back, and are available as Wi-Fi-only or Wi-Fi + Cellular, with either 64GB or 256GB of storage. Both still use Apple’s Lightning Connector in lieu for the more-desirable USB-C.
In proper Apple fashion, you’ll be able to get both the new additions in three colour-variants, including Silver, Space Grey, and Gold. We don’t have local pricing yet, but have some Dollar pricing on hand. The new iPad mini starts at $400 (R5,800) for the Wi-Fi model and $530 (R7,700) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, while the 10.5-inch iPad Air starts at $500 (R5,200) for the Wi-Fi model and $630 (R9,100) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
Source: Apple Newsroom