Apple has resurrected the iPad Air and updated the iPad mini in an attempt to streamline and simplify its family of tablets.
Apple is going retro with its new iPad lineup. Ahead of next week’s “Show time” event where we expect Apple to introduce a brand-new video streaming service, Apple has unveiled two new iPad models long thought to be ancient history. Making a return is the iPad Air, which was discontinued in 2017, while the aging iPad mini has received its first update in more than three and a half years.
In response to the new devices, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a pic of him using a new iPad mini with an Apple Pencil to write the word “hello” in cursive—a clear reference to the original Mac.
The new iPad Air essentially replaces the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and brings a couple of key changes that help lower the price from $649 to $499. It has the exact same 9.8 x 6.8-inch frame as the 2017 iPad Pro as well as a fully laminated display—although without the Pro’s speedier ProMotion tech—along with an 8MP rear camera (versus 12MP on the discontinued iPad Pro). The new iPad Air also keeps the headphone jack and first-generation Apple Pencil support and adds the newer A12 Bionic processor.
The iPad mini has dropped its numerical surname, but it hasn’t changed in appearance at all. As such, it has the same 8.
