At a time when sales of its iPads have been dropping, Apple Inc., today launched two new tablet devices.
In a special event Thursday afternoon at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., company CEO Tim Cook, took the wraps off the 6.1 millimetres thin iPad Air 2.
(The iPad Air 2)
The device comes with features that previously were available only on iPhones. These include Touch ID, which is a finger sensor for authentication, as well as the new iSight camera capable of taking photos in sequential bursts and slow motion video.
It has an eight megapixel rear facing camera just like the iPhones. Previous iPads only had a five megapixel camera.
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The starting price in Canada for the iPad Air 2 will be $549.Apple got rid of its 32GB iPad model.
The iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi model will have 16GB and a 64GB version. It has a 9.1-inch display with 2048 x 1536 resolution, 64-bit architecture, a new ABX chip that delivers 40 per cent better CRU performance and 2.f times faster graphics performance than previous models. The device has a 10-hour battery,
(The iPad Mini 3)
Apple also showed off the latest version of its iPad Mini. The device will have a starting price of $439 in Canada for the 16GB/Wi-Fi version.
Both devices will begin shipping next week, but customers can make advance orders starting Friday.
Apple also made its new Mac operating system OS X Yosemite, available for free download starting Thursday.
Apple is releasing its mobile payment system Apple Pay today. Last month the company rollout its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus smart phones.
“It’s been an incredible year and tremendously busy,” said Cook during the presentation.
For the first half of this year, Apple shipped 29.6 million iPads, down 13 per cent from the same time last year.
The company has been facing stiff competition from cheaper tablets running Google’s Android OS. Earlier, Google announced that its latest Nexus 9 tablet will be shipping next month with a starting price of US$399 – $100 less than the 9.7-inch iPad Air.