Apple has announced the arrival of its latest tablet, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro at its much-anticipated ‘Let Us Loop You In‘ event in Cupertino, California.
The tablet sports mostly the same specs on the Apple iPad Pro launched last year, the difference being that it comes in a smaller 9.7-inch screen.
Much like its bigger sibling, the iPad Pro 9.7 also supports the Apple Pencil and has the Smart Connector for detachable Smart Keyboard.
The small iPad Pro is Apple’s attempt to lure a wider audience as last year’s iPad Pro was considered too large by many who were looking to purchase a tablet for content consumption.
The new iPad Pro is considered the exact successor to the iPad Air 2, which was launched in 2014. It sports an improved 9.7 inch Fully laminated True Tone Retina Display with 2048 x 1536 resolution at 264 PPI.
The display adapts its tone and brightness to users’ environment. In addition it houses a four-speaker setup, offering an improved sound experience.
The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is powered by the A9X processor with 3rd gen 64-bit architecture and M9 motion. Apple has also doubled the memory, moving up from 2GB to 4GB RAM.
The iPad Pro sports a 12-megapixel iSight camera with Focus Pixels, True Tone Flash, Live Photos and a new image signal processor. There’s also a 5-megapixel FaceTime camera.
The phone comes in variants, depending on its internal memory. The 32GB Wifi only variant of the 9-7-inch iPad Pro is priced at $599 (that’s about 120,000 Naira).
The 128GB Wifi only model has a price tag of $749 (that’s roughly 150,000 Naira) while the 256GB Wifi only variant goes for $899 (approximately 180,000 Naira).
It starts at $729 (about 146,000 Naira), $879 (that’s about N166,000 Naira) and $1029 (roughly 206,000 Naira) for the 32GB, 128GB and 256GB Wi-Fi + Cellular variants, respectively.
The Apple iPad Pro 9.7 runs iOS 9.3 out of the box and is powered by a 27.5‐watt‐hour lithium‐polymer battery.
According to Apple, the battery can withstand up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video or listening to music. The new iPad Pro will come in silver, space gray, gold and rose gold color options.
The device will be available for preorders from Thursday, March 24, 2016 from Apple.com, and in Apple’s retail stores.
Shipping will start on March 31 in Australia, Canada, China (Wi-Fi models only), France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK, US Virgin Islands and the US.
Apple added that the device will hit India and several other countries in early April, 2016.