iPad Mini, fourth generation iPad announced by Apple
iPad Mini and a fourth generation iPad was announced by Apple SVP of global marketing Phil Schiller today during the firm's event. The mini tablet is finally a "real thing" after all the rumor mongering these last few months.
iPad Mini and iPad 4
You can hold it easily in one hand, it's 7.2mm thick, which is 1/4 thicker than the fourth-gen iPad and "thin as a pencil," according to Engadget. It weighs .68 pounds and sports a 1024 x 768 resolution which is the same as iPad 2. It also has a .9 inch increase diagonally, which provides 35% more display area on the tablet.
The iPad mini comes with a dual-core A5 processor, FaceTime HD camera 5-megapixel iSight camera on the back, 1080p recording, LTE wireless, new dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, a new SmartCover, and a Lightning connector.
iPad mini will run you $329 for the 16GB WiFi version, and the 32GB Mini is $429 and the 64GB is $519. It will run you an extra $130 each for LTE connectivity. UK pricing can be found through Eurogamer.
A fourth generation iPad was also announced with 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band WiFi, Lightning connector, LTE for "greatly expanded coverage," 720p Facetime Camera, the image signal processor in the iPhone 5, 10 hours of battery life, doubles the CPU and graphics performance, an A6X processor.
It contains the new Retnia display, ans comes in Black and white versions. The 16GB WiFi model will run you $499 and cellular model starts at $629.
The 100 millionth iPad was sold two weeks ago. That's 100 million products in just two and a half years.
"We sold more iPads in the June quarter than any PC maker sold of their entire lineup," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "With 100 million sold in just two and a half years, we couldn't be more thrilled with how quickly iPad has been embraced by so many users for so many different things."
iPad mini and and iPad 4 can be pre ordered on the October 26 with WiFi versions shipping on November 2. Cellular versions will start shipping two weeks later.
iPad 2 now starts at $399.
To see how the new mini stacks up against its competition, have a look at this chart over on Engadget (thanks, GIGA).
"Return of the Mac, you knew I'd be back"
The firm also announced there are 160 million Game Center accounts and over 35 million apps have been downloaded from the App Store with over $6.5 billion paid out to developers.
Cook also said during his keynote that the Mac market has out-grown the PC market by 7 times, and has surpassed the PC market for six years in a row.
He said the firm is pleased with Mac's "momentum" and the firm plans to continue innovating with some "really great stuff to show" during the event.
A new 20% thinner, 3.5 pound 13-inch MacBook Pro with 2560 x 1600 resolution and Retina display was introduced. It contains up to 768GB of flash, 8GB of RAM, Core i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge chips, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4. HD 4000 graphics with up to 7 hours of battery life. It will start shipping today.
The firm also announced a new iMac which is 5mm thin at the edges with no optical drive and "re-engineered" internal components. The display is i two flavors: 21.5-inch and 27-inch. 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440 for the two sizes. It contains a 720p FaceTime HD camera, dual mics and speakers and weighs eight pounds less than the previous model.
Customers can choose the Core i5 or i7 processor, it contains NVIDIA Kepler graphics, up to 768GB of flash or 3TB HDD, and 32GB of RAM with four USB 3.0 ports, three Thunderbolt ports and choose either a Fusion Drive which contains 128GB of flash storage mixed with 1GB or a 3GB HDD.
For those "still stuck in the past we do offer an external optical drive," said SVP of global marketing Phil Schiller . The base price is $1,299 with a 2.7GHz i5 with 1TB HDD and 8GB of RAM and will ship in November.
A 27-inch model starts with a 2.9GHz i5, 8GB of RAM and 1TB HDD for $1,799, and will start shipping in December.