APPLE UNVEILS ALL-NEW IPAD AIR WITH ADVANCED CHIP, BUT HOLDS OFF ON IPHONE

Apple on Tuesday held its traditional annual event to present its new hardware, taking advantage of the occasion to unveil its new smartwatch, the Apple Watch, and updated versions of its iPad tablets, but this year the newly designed iPhone will arrive later due to logistical problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The new iPad Air will come in five finishes; silver, space grey, rose gold, green and the much-awaited sky blue. It sports a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and a new integrated Touch ID sensor in the top button.

iPad Air is compatible with the Magic Keyboard, and boasts of a floating design, a built-in trackpad, Smart Keyboard Folio, brand new Smart Folio covers and an Apple Pencil that attaches magnetically to the side.

Apple highlighted that the new iPad Air is designed to be environmentally friendly and supports Apple’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030.

iPad Air uses a 100 percent recycled aluminium enclosure and 100 percent recycled tin for the solder on its main logic board.

Under the hood, it houses the A14 Bionic chip. Apple claims that the A14 Bionic makes it easier for users to edit 4K videos and play heavy-duty games.

The iPad includes a 7MP front-facing FaceTime HD camera and features the same 12MP rear camera used in the iPad Pro. The new design of iPad Air features stereo speakers in landscape mode.

iPad Air includes a USB-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfer and supports Wi-Fi 6 performance.

iPadOS 14 will be available starting September 16 and the new iPad Air will be available starting next month.

The new iPad Air will be in 64GB and 256GB configurations.