Apple's New iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 Pack iPhone 5s' A7 Chip

Aside from OS X Mavericks, new MacBooks Pros, a fresh look at the upcoming cylindrical Mac Pro, Apple also updated its line of iPads. This update has been rumored since before the launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C, so it was the number one rumor for today's event. As predicted, the new iPad packs Apple's A7 processor, as well as a new thinner design.

In fact, it's down to this design that Apple is renaming this iPad the iPad Air. The iPad Air is 20 percent thinner than the iPad 2 (7.5 mm vs. 8.6 mm) and has a bezel that is 43 percent thinner. It's also significantly lighter than the iPad 2, weighing in at just one pound (the iPad 2 weighs 1.4 pounds). Under the hood, you've got the same 64-bit A7 chip that powers the iPhone 5S, as well as a 9.7-inch Retina display (2048 x 1536 resolution), a 5-megapixel iSight camera, and a 10 hour battery life. Pricing for the iPad Air starts at $499 for the WiFi-only version while the LTE+WiFi version will start at $629. Apple is still selling the iPad 2 at $399.

Now, on to the iPad Mini, which finally has the Retina display we all longed for last year. It also runs on Apple's 64-bit A7 processor, quite a bump from the A5 chipset powering the original iPad Mini. It also boasts a 5-megapixel iSight camera, and 10 hours of battery. Pricing starts at $399 (16 GB model) while the last generation iPad Mini will be dropped down to $299.

As far as availability is concerned, the new iPad Air will hit November 1, while the iPad Mini 2 is scheduled later in November (Apple didn't give a release date on that one).

Check out the lands on with the iPad Air and iPad Mini from our sister site LAPTOP:

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