Apple today unveiled a slimmed-down iPad Air 2.
“Look at how thin it is! Can you even see it?” CEO Tim Cook asked the audience at Thursday’s Apple event.
At 6.1 mm thick, Apple says you can stack two of them and still be thinner than the first-generation iPad.
The iPad Air 2 will also feature less reflectivity in the display, an A8X chip with second-generation 64 bit architecture for beefier CPU and GPU performance. The iPad also now boasts an 8-megapixel camera and “burst mode.”
The iPad Air 2 incorporates the Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the home button and also builds in faster Wi-Fi and LTE. The device starts at $500 for the 16GB model.
Apple also announced the iPad mini 3, which also gets a Touch ID and starts at $400 for a 16GB model. Both iPads will be available for pre-order Friday and will start shipping next week.
As Apple readies its new iPads, its new iPhones are already off and running. The company said it set a new record for new iPhone orders in the first 30 days, calling it the “biggest iPhone launch ever.”
But the new operating system version that came along with it is underperforming its predecessor. Apple’s iOS 8 penetration is at 48 percent after 30 days but that’s well below the near 75 percent adoption rate iOS 7 saw after its first month out in the open.
The company promised that iOS 8.1, coming this Monday for free, will bring back the “beloved camera roll,” introduce a public beta of iCloud photo library, and address other issues that have plagued iOS 8 thus far.
IOS 8.1 will also mark the debut of Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payment system that makes use of the NFC technology built into the new iPhones.