The estimated reading time for this post is 8 minutes
Yesterday Apple made its second big announcement for the fall. Following the launch of iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s and 5c last month, Apple has been busy updating its iPad and MacBook Pro lines as well as working on Mavericks, its update to the OS X operating system for Mac computers. Updates apps round out the announcements from yesterday’s Apple event, bringing added features to old and new devices.
New iPads
Apple shared news of its success with over 170 million iPads sold to date. The iPad has 81% total usage share vs. 19% for other tablets and is first in customer satisfaction. Apple also revealed that it has sold over 170 million iPads so far and now offers over 475,000 iPad apps in iTunes App Store.
Apple announced updates to both the 9.7″ full-sized iPad and the 7.9″ iPad Mini.
iPad Air
The new iPad has been so radically designed that it now sports a new name: iPad Air. As the name implies, the new iPad is thinner and lighter than the previous models. Apple accomplished this task in part by shaving the bezel down to make it 43% thinner than before.
The iPad Air is 7.5 mm thin, 20% thinner than the previous iPads, and weighs less, 1.0 lb vs. 1.4 lb of the previous generation. During yesterday’s meeting Tim Cook said that the iPad Air is the lightest full-sized tablet in the world.
Apple made the new iPad more power-efficient so its battery size could be smaller, saving space and weight. Although the battery is smaller, the battery life of the tablet remains at 10 hours.
The iPad Air is more powerful than its ancestors, using an A7 chip, the same chip that’s in the iPhone 5s. The Air also mirrors the iPhone 5s by using a M7 motion co-processor. Apple pointed out that the iPad Air is 8x faster than original iPad and 72x faster for graphics.
The iPad Air comes with MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out), a faster Wi-Fi connection using multiple antennae for twice the connection speed. The Air also brings expanded LTE coverage throughout the world.
The front and rear cameras of the iPad Air have been improved. The Air comes with dual microphones for better sound recording (and a better chance for Siri to understand you).
The iPad Air is available from the Apple Store in Silver or Space Gray:
Wi-Fi Only
- 16 GB $499
- 32 GB $599
- 64 GB $699
- 128 GB $799
Wi-Fi + LTE
- 16 GB $629
- 32 GB $729
- 64 GB $829
- 128 GB $929
Apple expects to begin shipping the iPad Air November 1 in dozens of countries including China. The iPad 2 will still be sold at $399 for 16 GB Wi-Fi only.
iPad Mini
The 7.9″ iPad Mini launched last year is now being updated to include a Retina display and the A7 chip. The new Mini has 8x faster graphics and retains a 10 hour battery life. Like its bigger sibling, the new Mini has MIMO for faster Wi-Fi connections and expanded LTE coverage. The front and rear cameras have been improved over the previous generation Mini.
The iPad Mini is available from the Apple Store in Silver or Space Gray:
Wi-Fi Only
- 16 GB $399
- 32 GB $499
- 64 GB $599
- 128 GB $699
Wi-Fi + LTE
- 16 GB $529
- 32 GB $629
- 64 GB $729
- 128 GB $829
Apple will continue to sell original iPad Mini at $299 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi only model.
iPad Covers
Apple introduced new smart cases and covers for the iPad Air and iPad Mini beginning at $39.
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro line has been updated with lighter and thinner models. The 13″ MacBook Pro weighs 3.46 lbs. and is 0.71 in. thin. The Pro has updated chips for faster speeds and better performance and gets up to 9 hours of battery life for the 13″ and 8 hours for the 15″ model.
The 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina display begins at $1299, $200 less than the previous model. the 15″ model with Retina display starts at $1999, also $200 less than its predecessor. Both models are for sale now.
Mavericks
Mavericks OS X, introduced at WWDC, Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference, is the update to the Mac operating system and brings added features and new apps to your Mac computer. Even if you’re not getting a new computer, you can improve the performance of your existing computer by downloading Mavericks.
The good news is that Mavericks is free, unlike previous OS updates when Apple charged for the update.
Mavericks improves the power efficiency of your laptop to give it a longer battery life. For example, a 13″ 2013 MacBook Air has one hour longer battery life using Mavericks. By using data and graphics more efficiently, Mavericks can help your computer run much faster than before. You’ll be able to run more apps simultaneously without putting a strain on your system.
But Mavericks has more to offer beyond what’s under the hood of your computer. With the new operating system you’ll be able to use Shared Links on Safari to see links that your friends have shared on social media. You can search your Shared Links and read articles in a Reader view where you can scroll through multiple articles without having to close and open each one.
You can use iMessage as a pop-up app without blocking other windows you have open.
Finder now has tags to help you organize and find documents, photos, music and other information more easily on your computer and in iCloud. You can add multiple tags to documents.
Apple Maps and iBooks come to Macs so you can view your maps, iBooks and digital textbooks on your larger computer screen in addition to your iDevices. You can use gestures on your track pad to maneuver around Maps and iBooks and use features similar to how you use them on mobile devices. You can play videos embedded in iBooks on your computer and send directions from Maps on your computer to your iDevice. iBooks works with Pages, Apple’s word processing app, so you can easily copy citations from your iBook into a document.
You can also get notifications from websites on your computer similar to how you get notifications from apps on your iDevice. With Keychain, you can save your payment information, passwords and user names across multiple devices.
Apple has a new calendar app that can extract information such as time, date and location from emails and set calendar entries for you directly from the email. You can access Maps from within your calendar and find out how long you will have to travel between appointments. You can set an alert for your computer and iDevice for when you have to leave to make it to your appointment on time.
To update to Mavericks, visit the App Store on your Mac and download the update for free. The update is available for Macs dating back to 2007, even if you haven’t done incremental upgrades.
Apps
Apple has updated its suites of apps for Macs and made iLife and iWork free with the purchase of new computers. Over 20 apps updated have been updated by Apple and are available today.
iLife Apps
iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band, also known as the iLife suite of apps, have been updated to work interchangeably between Mavericks and iOS 7. iPhoto has a new look both on iOS 7 and on Mavericks. You can create photo books and edit them on your computer or your iPad. You can have your photo books printed by Apple and sent to you.
iMovie has been redesigned to make it easier to use. You can edit movies on your iPad, iPhone and Mac to include special effects such as slow motion and picture-in-picture. iMovie also introduces a Theater feature that combines your videos so you can access them from one library across all of your iDevices, Mac computers and AppleTV.
Garage Band has been updated so you can add up to 32 tracks for a single song. Garage Band adds Drummer Track that gives you a virtual drummer you can control for your music. You can add the drummer, control the percussion, the type of drums he plays on and the mallets he uses. “Drummer is powered by performances of some of the best drummers in the world,” according to Apple. You can have 15 different drummers with a single in-app purchase. You can experiment with Drummer until you find a drummer combination that works with your song.
Here’s a demonstration of a Garage Band Drummer track:
http://youtu.be/BadzCQw_BZE
iWork
The iWork apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote, have also been updated with new features. The updated apps bring compatibility between Macs and iOS devices so you can open, create and edit a document on any iDevice or Mac.
The apps have a new look and feel designed to make them more powerful but easier to use. For example, in Pages editing tools are displayed based on the content you are creating so you only see the tools that you would need.
Sharing documents is made easier using email and links in iCloud. You can send a document to others using a link in email directly from Pages but the recipients don’t need Pages or iCloud to open the link and read or edit the document.
The updated Keynote app includes new effects and animations. Apple demonstrated Keynote by running its presentation using the app. Keynote has updated transitions with more choices and more realistic physics and the new control panel provides more style choices.
iWork apps now offer collaboration so two people can edit a document simultaneously and see changes in real time. Collaboration can occur across iDevices, Macs and PC’s so people can edit documents on different devices and different platforms.
Your Thoughts
Are you excited about all of the news from Apple? Which news is the most interesting to you? Have you updated to Mavericks yet? Which features do you wish were announced? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
What awesome news 🙂
Yes, we have it coming up in our newspapers too and I saw these amazing sleek pictures of Apple, when my kid’s caught up with me asking for one! But knowing me they know I’d never go in for a costly one for them, and currently when it’s not yet reached our end, it’s certainly out for them!
Speaking of myself, you know I’m hardly mobile trendy, but I do love to go through the ones that I see around, and they way you describe them, even a person like me wishes to own one! Perhaps one fine day. But for now, I need to forward your post to an uncle of mine who is an Apple freak and must buy the latest ones that come in the market, and I was SO sure you’d be sharing it all here, so didn’nt bother to search it up elsewhere.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you are impressed with the new Apple offerings. I thought it was very interesting that Apple improved its MacBook Pro line while dropping the price $200 and giving away iLife and iWork for free. Apple seems to be going against Microsoft more aggressively now, both with hardware and software.
I hope your uncle enjoys the announcements from Apple, Harleena. Thanks so much for sharing this with him!
I heard about Maverick, but didn’t get what it was about. I was hoping you would post an update, and here it is!
Thanks, Carolyn 😀
170 mn units? Wow! I remember reading the previews for first iPad..so many blogs were criticizing it – saying it is just useless. And now, look at this (I think most of the sales were made because of the trust people have in Apple).
Thinner, faster and more efficient iPad? That’s all great. But not that many new features? As a tech fan, I was looking to more new features. I wonder why Apple is not investing into new features? (People will buy it anyways..that’s the power of the brand. We could learn a lot of lessons from that).
The new OS X, on the other hand, seems to have a handful of new features. That’s good to hear.
Anyways, thank you for sharing the news, Carolyn 🙂
Hi Jeevan, Yes, many people were disappointed that the Touch ID fingerprint sensor wasn’t included with the new iPads and that they weren’t available in gold. Thinner, lighter and faster is always appreciated but the lack of new features may make people want to wait to upgrade.
You’re right, many people didn’t “get” the iPad when it was introduced. What makes the iPad truly amazing is the hundreds of thousands of apps that make the most of the capabilities of the device. By making the iPad Air more powerful, Apple has also empowered app developers to use that power to bring more useful apps to the iPad.
That would have increased the cost of iPad (might not be the best move..then again, people tend to buy Apple’s product, despite them being expensive).
Yes, but weren’t apps already available in iPhone and iPod? That’s great 🙂 Good luck to Apple 😀
Hi Jeevan, Apple was able to include Touch ID on the iPhone 5s without raising the price of the device so it is doable to add it without making the cost higher. I suspect that the Touch ID is challenging to manufacture which may be why the iPhone 5s was in short supply on launch day and since.
Yes, many apps existed already for the iPhone and iPod Touch when the iPad was launched. But there are over 475,000 iPad apps that didn’t exist then and still aren’t available on smaller devices. Without these apps, the iPad is just another tablet. The apps are what make the iPad so useful. With the 64 bit processors coming to the new iPads, prepare for apps to become even more powerful.
Yay! I was waiting for this new macbook pro as my computer is …sooooooo slow. It’s killing my productivity! So onwards and upwards. Solid state drive, fast wifi, crazy fast chip and lots of RAM here I come :>
Hi Ashley, Yes, all this and a lower price, how great is that? You may want to install Mavericks on your old Mac first. This OS X puts a lot less strain on your computer, using less memory and processing power. Your old computer may become zippier!
Thank you Carolyn for the update. I like what is going on with this mobile phone and tablet providers. Without this competition there is no way they will upgrade these devices and apps for us. I will visit them to update my iPad. ~ Anetta
Hi Anetta, Yes, you’re right. Competition is good, and with Google’s Android hot on the heals of Apple’s iPad, these updates help Apple give more to its customers without raising the price.
Customers definitely win when Apple makes Mavericks free, so there really isn’t a reason not to upgrade to the latest operating system.
Well they’ll keep coming out with newer and better models I’m sure and eventually create something new along the way I’m sure Carolyn.
Since I’ve never had any of these before I wouldn’t have a clue about these new additions but leave it to you to always keep us up to date! Thank you for that by the way.
Have a good weekend.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, Apple now makes two big announcements in the fall now so it can be challenging to keep up with Apple news. That’s what The Wonder of Tech is here for, keeping you updates with the news that will make a difference to you.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us, Adrienne!
Disapointed to see no updates to Apple Mail, which is really falling behind. Not anxious to update to Mavericks since I think the iOS7 update reduces visibility in apps like Clock and Calendar with no added benefit. Expecting Mavericks to be equally disappointing. Sorry to be negative, Ann.
Hi Ann, Good news! Mail has been updated in both iOS 7 and in Mavericks. No worries about Mail or other apps being difficult to read in Mavericks. You’re right, reading on iOS 7 can be a challenge. Check out 30 Top iOS 7 Tips and Tricks! https://wonderoftech.com/30-top-ios-7-tips-and-tricks/ for ideas on making the text more readable on iOS 7.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us here, Ann.
Thanks Carolyn for a thorough review of the recent Apple announcements.
I’m generally happy with the new hardware and software. I don’t really care for some of the “cute” stuff such as the motion sensor that makes the screen look like 3D. One of the first things you need to do is turn that effect off since it and numerous other new “features” drain the battery rapidly.
Beyond new features It was absolutely amazing that Apple was able to introduce a 64 bit processor on all three mobile devices, convert iOS to 64 bit and upgrade all their apps to 64 bit at the same time. It took many years for the PC industry to make that transition and Apple did it overnight. Other device and OS makers will be scrambling to catch up and it won’t be easy.
Game makers and other developers of powerful apps are salivating at the thought of what they can do with the new devices. I try to use video zoom from time to time and the time it takes to render the videos is a real annoyance. I’m sure that will improve with the new processors. I did this with my grandson’s cross country race but had to switch apps when one clip was not rendered when it was time to shoot another. Of course the app could have deferred rendering but this one (my favorite) did not.
It was amazing that the iWork apps could go for years without upgrading and from what I’ve seen the new versions are worth getting. The fact that Mac and iOS operating systems are free from now on is stunning. They will just download like apps do now. Remember a few short years ago when operating systems cost over $100 – actually Windows still does. Not to mention free word processing, presentation app and spreadsheet. Wow! I’ve been using Keynote for presentations for three years and could not imagine going back to Powerpoint.
Hi Gary, Excellent points. Apple upgrading its devices to 64 bit gives developers a powerful platform to develop apps. While some people have been clamoring for more features, Apple is giving more power so that apps can provide the functionality that will make the devices even more useful to users.
I understand rendering the slow motion videos on the iPhone 5s can be challenging too but I haven’t tried that yet.
Making updates to OS X and iOS could be more profitable in the long run as that will help Apple and app developers avoid the fragmentation that plagues Android and even Windows.
Thanks for sharing your insights with us here, Gary. Always great to have you share your thoughts with us. :-bd
Apple has launched a new version of iPad and some cool new apps like the iLife.
Further more we can now download OS X Mavericks too. I am downloading it right now.
Hi Arbaz, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! That’s great you’re downloading Mavericks now. I just updated yesterday and it took quite a while. I hope you enjoy the new features!