As previously announced Apple held its traditional September event-- one featuring the announcement of the much awaited iPad Pro, as well as the next iPhone generation, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.
Proceedings opened with talk on the Apple Watch. The company continues to refuse to provide any sales details, instead preferring to announce the Watch OS 2 update should be available from 16 September. The wearable also gets new models, such as a Hermes -designed number, a Red edition, and new aluminium and rose gold finishes. A selection of new bands will also be available, of course.
However the event's biggest news involves the iPad. Following talk on enterprise partnerships with IBM and Cisco the company revealed the iPad Pro. As repeatedly suggested repeatedly by rumours, the iPad Pro is the biggest (12.9-inch) and most powerful Apple tablet yet. It is powered by a specially designed 64-bit A9X chip promising double the graphics, memory bandwidth and disk performance of the A8X, as well as 10 hours battery life, for "desktop-class performance." Audio comes through a 4-speaker array.
Essentially it sounds like a MacBook pro, if without the keyboard
The tablet handles 5.6 million pixels on screen, the highest pixel destiny on an Apple device. It can also handle professional applications such as Office, AutoCAD and Photoshop, as well as the simultaneous editing of up to three 4K video streams and a split-screen multitasking mode
Apple also has a couple of iPad Pro accessories-- the "Smart Keyboard" and the "Pencil." The self-explanatory Smart Keyboard is similar to Microsoft Surface keyboard cover. It is covered in woven fabric and connects to iPad Pro via "smart connector," a new port handling power and magnetic connection.
"Just slide it on it," the company says.
Meanwhile the Pencil is the Apple take on the stylus. A device the late Steve Jobs would have probably disapproved of, it provides pressure-sensitive input through a combination of built-in position, force and tilt sensors and the iPad Pro's pressure-sensitive display. A Lightning connector handles charging duties, and it can be plugged directly into the iPad Pro.
Another iPad addition comes in the shape of the Pad mini 4, essentially an iPad Air 2 within the "mini" form factor.
The iPad Pro available from November 2015 in gray, gold or silver.
Following the iPad Pro Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage to present the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The company claims "we have changed everything about these new iPhones," but one can easily argue these are just incremental updates on the previous iPhone generation. Powered by 3rd generation 64-bit A9 chip , the new iPhones feature an improved Touch ID fingerprint sensor, 12MP iSight camera (with 4K video capability), 5MP FaceTime camera and an M9 motion coprocessor.
Construction is in "7000 series" aluminium alloy and "incredibly durable" glass.
One actual innovation is "3D Touch"-- essentially the addition of depth to multi-touch. It allows users to press a little harder to access sub-menus and shortcuts, with the gesture ibeing "deeply integrated" into iOS 9 and recognised by many Apple apps, such as Mail, Calendar and Photos.
Powering the feedback behind such gestures is the vibrating Taptic Engine from the Apple Watch.
A final, somewhat snarky, announcement involves an app-- "Move to iOS," an Android app to help the users of Google-powered smartphones to, well, switch to iPhone. "It's the neighbourly thing to do," Apple marketing VP Phil Schiller says.
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will be available with 16, 64 and 128GB of storage from 25 September 2015.
Go Apple