At Apple fall event on Wednesday, CEO Tim Cook introduced the iPad Pro, the biggest tablet in the iPad family yet. In addition to its size, the iPad Pro has a litany of features it makes it stand out from its predecessors, and Cook calls it “the biggest news in iPad since the iPad.”
The iPad Pro is 12.9 inches diagonally. The length was chosen so that the device’s width would be equal to the length of the iPad Air and keep the same 4:3 ratio. The Pro will go on sale in November for $799.
By keeping the width consistent with the length of the iPad Air, users will be able to use old iPad Air apps in the old size while simultaneously multitask with another app side by side.
The Pro, at 5.6 million pixels, has more screen resolution than the 15-inch Macbook Pro, and more than 90 percent of portable PCs. It also has more processing power than 80 percent of portable PCs on the market and boasts a 10-hour battery life.
But the iPad Pro isn’t just an upgrade in graphics and CPU power. Apple introduced a new smart keyboard that’s custom made for the iPad Pro, and links to the iPad with a brand new type of connector.
Perhaps in the biggest break with tradition, though, the release of the iPad Pro coincides with Apple’s first stylus, the“Apple Pencil.” Apple has already partnered with developers to create apps for the stylus. In one demo, the pencil was used in Adobe that allowed regular sketching as well as water-color painting when the stylus was laid out horizontally.
The Apple Pencil will be sold additionally for $99.
