At today’s media event in San Francisco, Apple debuted its much-anticipated fifth-generation iPad, re-named the iPad Air, which has been redesigned to resemble Apple’s thinner-bezeled iPad mini. With its narrower side bezels and a slimmer form factor, the iPad Air is significantly lighter and smaller than the fourth-generation iPad, weighing in at only one pound.
Along with a redesigned chassis, the new iPad includes a 2048×1536 Retina display with a film-based sensor and an upgraded 64-bit A7 processor alongside the M7 motion coprocessor, plus a 5-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture for better low light performance.
Available in white/silver and black/space gray, the iPad Air comes in both 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and LTE cellular models and continues to offer up to 10 hours of battery life. It is available in capacities ranging from 16 GB to 128 GB.
U.S. Pricing remains the same, at $499/$599/$699/$799 for Wi-Fi versions, plus an additional $129 for comparable cellular versions. The iPad Air will be available on November 1 in the United States, China and other countries.
The iPad Air will replace the current full-sized iPad, while the iPad 2 will remain at $399 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model.
Tim Cook also announced at the event that Apple has sold 170 million iPads, and that there are now 475,000 iPad-specific apps in the App Store.
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