Apple has just launched their new flagship phones iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last September, but they are not yet done surprising their avid fans and users. At the October 16 Event, America's tech giant let out a number of products off their bag, and one of them is the newly improved iPad Air 2.
As CEO Tim Cook revealed the iPad Air 2, he emphasized just how thin it is at 6.1 mm, which is 18% thinner than the original iPad Air. " It is the thinnest iPad we have ever made. It is so thin you can stack two of them and still be thinner than the original iPad," Apple's Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller, proudly announced.
Aside from an impressively thinner body, the iPad Air 2 kept the same general design elements of the original iPad Air, but it added some improvements that are worth looking at. The tablet now comes with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor first introduced in the iPhone 5s. "Perhaps the most requested feature from consumers is TouchID. Now with iPad Air 2 there is TouchID, " Phil Schiller said. It also includes an upgraded A8X processor that's even faster than the A8 in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. There's an M8 motion coprocessor as well, which pulls in data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and a new barometer. This is a new chip created just for iPad Air 2," Schiller said. "It has 3 billion transistors and offers 40 per cent better CPU performance. It is 12 times faster than the original iPad. On graphical performance we are now 180 times faster," he added.
Apple also added an anti-reflective screen coating that cuts down on up to 56 percent of glare.
The iPad Air 2 now has an 8-megapixel rear camera that includes an Apple-designed image signal processor, an f/2.4 aperture, and support for 1080p HD video. Now, the iPad can capture large panoramas up to 43 megapixels, it can take 720p 120FPS Slo-mo video, it has time-lapse video capabilities, and it can take burst mode photos. There's also a new front-facing FaceTime HD camera with an f/2.2 aperture designed to let in 81 percent more light. The camera supports single-shot HDR photos, HDR videos, and burst mode selfies. With 801.11ac Wi-Fi, the iPad Air 2 offers speeds 2.8 times faster than the original iPad Air and like the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the iPad Air supports LTE Advanced for faster LTE speeds. It also integrates more LTE bands than ever before, for improved connectivity anywhere in the world.
The iPad Air 2 is now available for pre-order from the Online Apple Store in selected countries, and will begin shipping to customers within the week. The device is available in silver, space gray and gold all in 16, 64, and 128GB configurations. The Wi-Fi only models are priced at $499, $599, and $699, respectively, while Wi-Fi + Cellular models are priced at $629/$729/$829 for 16/64/128GB configurations.
