Apple is extending its push into the enterprise market with the new iPad Pro, a 12-inch tablet aimed at business users. The tablet comes with a 12.9-inch Retina display with 5.6 million pixels, the most ever in an iOS device, and the new 64-bit A9X chip and iOS 9. Apple claims its processor offers a performance better than many laptops on the market, while also ensuring up to ten hours battery life for the light device.
Targeting the many creative professionals already using Macs, the iPad Pro works with the optional Apple Pencil, a stylus sold separately to draw and write on the screen of the tablet. Apple said the Multi-Touch display on the iPad Pro has been redesigned compared to other iPads in order to reduce latency and increase accuracy with the Pencil for activities like fine art illustration and detailed 3D design. The sensors in the Apple Pencil measure both pressure and tilt for a fluid drawing experience, while a built-in Lightning connector pairs the pencil with the tablet and can be used for charging. For writing, Apple also introduced the Smart Keyboard, a full-sized keyboard that attaches to the iPad's Smart Connector port. The keyboard can be folded to also serve as a cover for the tablet.
The iPad Pro comes with four built-in speakers and an anodized aluminium unibody. For connectivity, the iPad Pro comes with 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO technology and support for a wide range of LTE bands, while several apps were also redesigned, including the Notes app, transit information in Maps and the new News app.
The iPad Pro will start at USD 799 for the 32GB model with Wi-Fi and USD 1,079 for the cellular 128GB model. It will be available in choice of silver, gold or space gray starting in November from Apple.com, Apple’s retail stores, through select carriers and Apple resellers. The Apple Pencil will sell for USD 99, and the keyboard coasts USD 169.
