Apple announces new 10.5 ″ iPad Air and updated iPad mini with Apple Pencil support

Confirming rumors of the past few weeks, Apple has just announced a new iPad Air with a 10.5 inch screen and an updated version of iPad mini with support for Apple Pencil – both with traditional design, with Touch ID.

The new iPad Air – which basically takes the place of the old 10.5 ″ iPad Pro – is quite thin, incorporating the A12 Bionic chip with the Neural Engine and the M12 coprocessor, Retina display with technology True Tone and has support for both Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard.

After years “abandoned”, the iPad mini – which keeps its 7.9 inches – also incorporates the A12 Bionic chip, Retina display with technology True Tone and support for Apple Pencil. Obviously, as it has not been updated since 2015, the jump in gains in this case is much greater.

“The iPad continues to provide new magical experiences for increasingly diverse uses in which it is absolutely the best device, from playing augmented reality games to taking notes and drawing with Apple Pencil, watching HD movies and editing 4K movies, or learn how to develop apps with Swift Playgrounds, ”said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

New iPad mini in hand with Apple Pencil

“Today, the iPad family takes great steps forward with a brand new 10.5-inch iPad Air that brings modern size, features and performance at a great price, and a major upgrade to the 7.9-inch iPad mini, which also takes the Apple Pencil, Retina display and A12 Bionic chip to many consumers who love its compact size, ”added Schiller.

The Apple Pencil supported by these new iPads is obviously the first generation model, without magnetic charging (exclusive to iPad Pro). Apple also announced today that it will release, next week, an update to the iWork suite for iOS with improved integration with Apple Pencil and new animation options in Keynote which allow users to draw paths to any object using the pencil, in addition to a completely new interface that facilitates the implementation of built-in effects.

iPad Air on its side with Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil on the table

Both new iPads feature cameras improved over their previous generations, with an 8 megapixel rear (Ć’ / 2.4 aperture) and a 7 megapixel Front FaceTime HD camera.

The new iPad Air and mini will be sold in silver, space gray and gold, in versions of 64GB and 256GB. The iPad mini will start from R $ 3,500 for the Wi-Fi version (R $ 4,600 for Wi-Fi + Cellular), while the 10.5 ″ iPad Air will start at R $ 4,500 in the Wi-Fi version (R $ 5,600 for Wi-Fi + Cellular) ); in the United States, the mini starts at $ 400 ($ 530 for Wi-Fi + Cellular) and Air for $ 500 ($ 630 for Wi-Fi + Cellular). They will need to be approved by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) before being released in Brazil.

Contrary to what we expected when rumors of a new iPad mini emerged in recent weeks, Apple will not place it at a price level below the $ 330 iPad launched in 2018. This one, even with a bigger screen, is the model cheaper even – with lower technical specifications than the new mini. Except for the fact that it has a smaller screen, the line as a whole has become less confused now.

New line of iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad and iPad mini

The first generation Apple Pencil is sold separately, for R $ 750 (US $ 100 in the USA). Apple will also offer the Smart Keyboard for the 10.5 ″ iPad Air for R $ 1,050 (US $ 160 in the US), Polyurethane Smart Covers for the iPad mini at R $ 350 (US $ 40 in the US) and for the iPad Air for R $ 400 ( US $ 50 in the US), plus leather Smart Covers for the Air for R $ 570 (US $ 70 in the US). The cases will be sold in several different colors.