Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on June 5, 2023.
Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images
Apple announced new versions of its iPad Air and iPad Pro tablet computers on Tuesday in a short video posted on its website.
Apple shares were up more than 1% during trading on Tuesday.
The iPad Pro, Apple’s most expensive and advanced tablet, will come in two sizes, a 11-inch model and a 13-inch model, Apple said. Apple’s calling it its thinnest product ever, coming in at 5.1mm thick.
It will use a new Apple chip called the M4. Apple’s laptops are currently built with M3 chips. Apple said that the M4 chip was a “outrageously powerful chip for AI.” As an example, Apple executives discussed the company’s neural engine, a piece of its chip designed for artificial intelligence software, which can be used to quickly isolate subjects from their background in a video.
“This stunning design and breakthrough display required we make the leap to the next generation of Apple silicon,” Apple hardware executive John Ternus said in the presentation.
Apple said that its iPad Pro tablets will a new kind of display called OLED, which is the same technology Apple uses on its iPhones. Apple says the tablet will be brighter and have better colors than older models. Apple said it developed a technology called “tandem OLED” to create the screens, which it has branded Ultra Retina XDR.
Apple said that the iPad Air would come in two sizes: An 11-inch size, that matches older models, and a larger 13-inch model. Both are equipped with Apple’s M2 chip. The smaller iPad costs $599 for 128GB of storage, and the larger iPad starts at $799.
Apple has also moved the front-facing camera to the longer side of the device — landscape mode — to be better for videoconferencing, matching Apple’s more-expensive iPad Pro models.
The iPad Air will be available in stores next week and comes in a variety of colors, including blue, purple, and a gold color.
“This is the biggest day for iPad since its introduction,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
These are the first new iPad models Apple has released since Oct. 2022, the longest time that Apple has gone without updating the product line since its launch in 2011. The iPad Air, Apple’s mid-tier model, was last updated in March 2022.
This story is developing.