As expected, Apple announced its new iPads tonight: the Air 2 and mini 3, a day after Google and HTC announced the Nexus 9 tablet. There weren't many surprises in the new iPads, as they are an upgrade over the previous versions.
The Air 2's battery lasts about 10 hours, the camera comes with an 8-megapixel sensor and video recording is at 1080p resolution, and there are also new software options for fast or slow motion photography. Apple didn't forget to include the fingerprint mechanism and payment via Apple Pay. Another tablet announced by Apple is the iPad mini 2, which comes with a smaller 7.9-inch screen, a camera with a 5-megapixel sensor, and a fingerprint recognition mechanism.
The price of the iPad Air 2 will be $500 for the WiFi version and the iPad mini 3 model will sell for $400. Pre-sales will begin tomorrow in the US, with them launching at the end of next week.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, also provided various figures about the company's products. To date, he said, 225 million iPads have been sold, with 70 million units sold in the past 12 months. At the beginning of the event, Cook said that "the new iPhones are the best we've ever made. In the first thirty days, we sold the most iPhones. This is the biggest iPhone launch we've ever had." Cook also referred to the company's new payment mechanism - Pay, which allows you to pay in stores in the US by touching your iPhone at the checkout.
Cook revealed that the service will begin operating next Monday through all major credit card companies: MasterCard, Visa, and American Express, in addition to 500 banks that support it and of course stores like American Eagle, Office Depot, Nike, Apple, and McDonald's.
Cook also referred to the company's smartwatch, the Apple Watch, but did not provide new data on price or an estimated release date, other than early 2015. The operating system for iPhones and iPads - iOS 8 - was released last month, and 48% Apple users have already updated to it.
Apple also announced a version - iOS 8.1 - that includes the Pay mechanism and a beta version of its photo service, which now allows you to conveniently view all the photos stored in its iCloud cloud service directly from your iPhone or iPad. The update will be available for download starting this Monday.
