It’s not just the iPhone SE that was unveiled this evening, a little something called the 9.7-inch iPad Pro was also detailed at Apple’s Loop You In event. And, honestly, we’re not that sure what to make of it.

That’s because of the iPad Air range, which with the announcement of the smaller iPad Pro, now seems extinct. Instead we have the iPad Pro, which is different from last year’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro by being… smaller? This Pro is the same size as the iPad Air range, at 9.7 inches. Will Apple really be launching an iPad Air 3 after this? That’s what we thought.

So what are we getting? The brightest iPad to date, according to Apple and it’s talking about the display’s ability to render you blind in the darkness rather than pure smarts. It won’t sear your eyes, though, as its TrueTone tech will respond and adjust to ambient light. Sounds like an old Android feature to us… Anyway. It’s also sporting the same processing hardware as its larger sibling, so look for an A9X powerhouse at its heart.

The 9.7-inch display crams in a 2,732 x 2,048 resolution, so everything on the Retina screen will look as crisp as frozen lettuce, and Apple are giving their new iPad Pro plenty of camera smarts. 12MP camera, 4K video, a True Tone flash, and a new image processor are getting pride of place.

And there’s also the ‘Pro’ part of the iPad Pro moniker. This slate will arrive compatible with Apple’s Pencil, which isn’t a pencil at all. And it’ll come in a selection of sizes. The 32GB 9.7-inch iPad Pro will run American users $599 (R9,120), the 128GB edition will cost $749 (R11,400) and the all-new 256GB iPad Pro will set you back a whopping $899 (R13,700). What with the tax additions and the markup, grabbing a new iPad Pro could see you walking funny. Because your wallet is so much lighter than it was before, obviously.

Image: Engadget