Apple pulled a major surprise during its March 21 ‘Let Us Loop You In’ event at its headquarters in California when instead of launching the rumored iPad Air 3, the American tech giant unveiled the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
Apparently, Apple was not planning to launch an iPad Air 3 because it has already renamed it as the iPad Pro 9.7in. But it was a happy surprise as the tablet, just like the iPad Pro is a very excellent one and really takes the tablet line of the American tech giant to new heights.
It came with improved specifications, design tweaks, and capabilities that are far better than the iPad Air 2 but just slightly lesser than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
The launching of the iPad Pro 9.7in along with the much-talked-about iPhone SE were the main product highlights during Apple’s event. The Apple Watch 2 and the 2016 Apple MacBook Air, which have also made the rumor mills prior to the event, were no-shows during the event. But Apple did announce the price cut on the Apple Watch and the availability of new bands.
None of those no-show products generated the biggest surprise than the iPad Pro 9.7in. Apple announced that the latest addition to its tablet line will be hitting store shelves on March 31 but pre-order of the device has started as early as March 24, reports Macworld of UK.
Impressive specifications
The iPad Pro 9.7in came out with impressive specifications including an A9X processor, a Retina display with 2048 x 1536 screen resolution, a 12-megapixel iSight camera, storage options of 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB.
The device comes in four color options including silver, gold, space grey, and rose gold.
The 256GB variant of the iPad is the first time that Apple has released a high storage capacity tablet. The company is using a SanDisk 256GB NAND flash memory for the storage option, which makes it a great addition to its tablet line.
Critics are one in saying that Apple has actually squeezed the original iPad Pro into a smaller design, with an even more brilliant display to come up with the iPad Pro 9.7in to make it more handy and cheaper than its bigger sibling.
The device is just as powerful as the 12.9-inch iPad Pro but it is more svelte. It has a thickness of only 6.1mm which gives the iPad Pro 9.7in the exact dimensions as the iPad Air 2. It also has the same weight as its predecessor which is under one pound or exactly 0.96 of a pound or 437 grams, details Tech Radar.
The new tablet also comes with Touch ID, the sleep/wake button at the top, the still-alive headphone jack, and built-in stereo speakers, which deliver stereo audio from both the right and left sides of the tablet.
Powerful camera
The 12-megapixel iSight camera of the iPad Pro 9.7in is actually better than the camera of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It is capable of recording in 4K at 30 frames per second (fps) and full HD at 60 fps.
The camera of the iPad Pro 9.7in is also capable of taking beautiful 63-megapixel panoramic images and even slow-motion videos at full HD at 120 fps and HD at 240 fps.
The tablet’s graphics capabilities boast of 12 cores of graphical power, which makes it more powerful than the Xbox 360 gaming console, claims Apple. It is actually the same unique feature that can be found on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Also during the event, Apple announced that it will be shipping the iPad Pro 9.7in with iOS 9.3 that shall already include the Night Shift mode, which will be useful for those who want to view their iPad Pro in dark rooms.