Apple has released the update of its popular smallest tablet, the iPad Mini, and the larger iPad Air. The release of the new iPads is coming exactly a week before Apple is set to announce a new video-streaming service and a reshuffled News subscription plan.
The new iPad Mini and iPad Air both support Apple’s Pencil stylus.
Both new tablets have 8-megapixel rear cameras and 7-megapixel front-facing cameras and support Apple’s augmented reality platform. The iPad Air is also compatible with Apple’s Smart Keyboard accessory for turning it into a mobile laptop, similar to the more expensive iPad Pro models.
The new iPad Mini has the same 8.0-inch by 5.3-inch body as the one before it. Its display resolution is also the same, but now gets a boost from Apple’s “True Tone” color shifting technology and can display a wider range of colors. It has support for faster Wi-Fi speeds and gigabit LTE. It also runs on Apple’s A12 Bionic chip, which has its own neural engine for machine learning-powered tasks, though this isn’t quite as amped up as the A12X chip found in Apple's more expensive hardware.
The release of the new iPads is coming exactly a week before Apple is set to host a media-focused event at which the company is expected to reveal a new subscription service for news and potentially flex its streaming video muscle in an attempt to compete more seriously with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
