Apple refreshes iPad lineup, with larger entry-level model

Published March 19, 2019
In this May 31, 2018 file photo a customer enters the Apple store in New York. — AP
In this May 31, 2018 file photo a customer enters the Apple store in New York. — AP

Apple has unveiled a new iPad that's thinner and slightly larger than its current entry-level tablet.

The new iPad Air will cost $499 and sport a screen that measures 10.5 inches diagonally. That compares with the standard, 9.7-inch iPad, which Apple will still sell for $329.

Apple has higher-end Pro models starting at $999. The new iPad Air has several features found in older Pro models, but not the latest. For instance, the iPad Air has a home button with a fingerprint sensor, while the latest Pro ditches that to make more room for the screen.

Apple is also refreshing its 7.9-inch iPad Mini for the first time in more than three years.

In the past, Apple has sometimes used older chips in the Mini, saving the latest technology for the larger models instead.

This time, the Mini will have the same chip as the Air, along with support for the Apple Pencil stylus. But the Mini won't have an optional keyboard attachment, unlike the new Air and Pro models.

The Mini will cost $399, more expensive than the larger, but older 9.7-inch iPad.

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...