Apple lowers price on some iPad Pro models

Good news iPad lovers!

Apple has dropped the price of their 11 and 12.9-inch 1TB iPad Pro models by $200!

The 1TB 11-inch iPad Pro now starts at $1,349, and the 1TB 12.9-inch iPad Pro now starts at $1,549.

However, the cost of the 64, 256, and 512GB iPad Pro storage tiers has not changed.

Keep in mind, there are some who believe that we we still see a new iPad Pro model before the year is out, possibly with the triple lens camera that we saw yesterday at the launch of the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.

Is it iPad Pro time?

Apple’s new products revealed!

Apple held it’s “There’s more in the making” media event today in Brooklyn, New York and announced a raft of new products, including a new Mac mini with a space gray finish, a new Retina Display-equipped MacBook Air, and two new iPad Pro devices, with an edge-to-edge LCD “Liquid Retina” display.

Let’s have a look at these brand new beauties.

The new space gray Mac mini is 5 times faster than the previous generation, with all-flash storage up to 2 TB that’s 4 times faster than previous storage drives.  Intel UHD graphics, a Gigabit Ethernet,  4x Thunderbolt ports ( USB-C) , HDMI, a headphone jack, and two USB-A ports, along with a 10Gb Ethernet option fill out the features. The devices also house a T2 chip which means everything stored on the SSD is automatically encrypted.

From the sauce, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing:

“Mac mini is loved by customers for its ability to be used in incredibly diverse environments — from casual desktop use, to live professional performances, to multiple Mac mini computers powering through video renderings and compiling software code, to racks of thousands in giant app build farms — anywhere a small-but-mighty Mac is needed to get the job done.”

You can get one for yourself, with orders already started and availability from November 7th. You’ll be looking at a starting price of $799 with the base level model offering 8GB of RAM, a 3.6GHz Intel quad-core Core i3 processor, and 128GB of storage.

Next up, we have a new MacBook Air, that has a beautiful Retina display, Touch ID fingerprint sensor, the T2 security chip, 3 thunderbolt 3 ports, all coming wrapped in Gold, silver and space grey hues. The computer is smaller all around, with 50% smaller bezels, it’s ten percent thinner than before, and a quarter pound lighter than before. It also features better speakers that provide 25% more volume and twice the bass.

Cost starts at $1,199, preorders have begun, and they’ll be available from November 7th. Alternatively, you can buy the older model beginning at $999.

And finally we have the iPad Pro!

Coming in at 11 inches and 12.9 inches, and only 5.9mm thin, the two models have an edge-to-edge LCD “Liquid Retina” display, way slimmer bezels, and a fancy magnetic attachment for the new Apple Pencil.

According to Apple, the display is its brightest and most color accurate iPad display yet, and features no home button and Face ID. It has a A12X Bionic chip, a 10 hour battery life, and a USB-C connector.

From the Sauce, again, the clearly delighted Philip Schiller:

“The new iPad Pro is a huge step forward for powerful, creative, mobile computing; it has an all-new thinner design, speeds through projects with the super-fast A12X Bionic chip and unlocks with a glance using Face ID in any orientation — while you’re sitting or standing, with iPad Pro on your desk or lap, with the new Smart Keyboard Folio and new Apple Pencil.”

“There has never been a mobile device anything like the new iPad Pro; it has a gorgeous edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display that curves into the corners, breakthrough performance that outperforms most laptops, Face ID, support for the new Smart Keyboard Folio and new Apple Pencil, advanced new cameras and sensors for the best AR experiences ever in any device, a high-speed USB-C connector, louder speakers, faster wireless and more, all packed into a thinner device that has all-day battery life and is 25 percent smaller in volume.”

There is also a 2nd Gen Apple Pencil that, as noted above, can magnetically attach to iPad Pro for pairing and wireless charging, as well as a new Smart Keyboard Folio to protect the front and back of iPad Pro while also providing a full-size keyboard.

So what price point are we looking at for the fancy new iPad Pro?

The 11-inch models start at $799 (Wi-Fi) and $949 (Wi-Fi + Cellular), and the 12.9-inch models start at $999 (Wi-Fi) and $1,149 (Wi-Fi + Cellular).

Both models come in Silver and Space Gray with storage options of  64GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

The 2nd Gen Apple Pencil is ($129), and the Smart Folio will be available in a variety of colors for $79 (11-inch) and $99 (12.9-inch).

You can pre-order all of the above right now and they will be available on November 7th.

More details about the upcoming New York based Apple event

Apple’s next event is coming up soon, set to take place on Tuesday, October 30 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time – in New York City instead of Cupertino.  The event will be held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Howard Gilman Opera House and Apple will, as per usual, provide a live stream of the event on it’s website as well as through the Events app on the Apple TV.

We’re expecting to see two new super thin iPad Pro models with USB-C, no headphone jack, better displays, an updated Apple Pencil, Face ID, slimmer bezels, a smart connector on the back of the devices, and no Home button.

The smaller iPad Pro is suspected to hit 7 inches wide (178.52mm) and 9.7 inches tall, while the larger model will be 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall.

Also tentatively rumored to be announced is an update to the iPad mini, which, having not been updated in years, would be pretty nice.

We should also see Mac updates to the MacBook, iMac and Mac mini with the possibility of a new low-cost notebook, and people have been talking about the hope to see new AirPods and (finally) see the release of the Airpower, the device, which was first announced in Sept of 2017, would charge three devices at once.

We’re looking forward to the iPad Pro models in particular!

Rumored details on the upcoming iPad pro

The rumors surrounding the next Apple iPad pro are coming in thick, with people speculating that this will be one of its thinnest devices yet, measuring in at just 5.9mm thick (possibly 5.86mm?), with no headphone jack.

This device would be the smaller of the two 2018 iPad Pro models expected, with the smaller iPad Pro hitting 7 inches wide (178.52mm) and 9.7 inches tall, while the larger model will be 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall.

Other purported updates include slimmer bezels all the way around with no Home button, the top bezel housing a TrueDepth camera system for Face ID, as well as a smart connector on the back of the tablets,  a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port, a faster A12X chip, and support for a second-generation Apple Pencil.

Invites should be going out soon to media for the Special Event, which is expected to be at the end of this month.

PSA: Apple has raised prices on some models of iPad

Apple has  raised the prices on all of its 256 and 512GB iPad Pro models.

All 256 and 512GB 10.5 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models are $50 more expensive, which means for the 10.5 model, the prices are now $649 for the 64GB model, $799 for the 256GB model, and $999 for the 512GB model.

For the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, prices are now $799 for the 64GB model, $949 for the 256GB model, and $1149 for the 512GB model. All cellular models are an additional $130 over the above listed prices.

Not all retailers have updated this price, and it’s not really clear why the prices have changed, but keep it in mind if you’re about to buy an iPad Pro!

New iPad News

The rumored upcoming 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro are apparently already deep into production, ahead of a reported announcement during the keynote address at WWDC this June.

Sneaky leaks have come out in the last couple of days, which talk about a device that has smaller bezels, four speakers, a new microphone slot located at the top rear of the case, a Lightning port, camera with vertically-aligned flash, side volume rockers, and a Smart Connector.

The most talked about feature is the bezels, which mean squeezing in a 10.5-inch display into the same form factor as the 9.7-inch iPad.

Alongside software updates (iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS), the upcoming WWDC is said to have smallish MacBook announcements as well as possibly a reveal of a Siri Speaker.

WWDC begins with the Keynote address on Monday, June 5th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA, and you should be able to watch it on the Apple website, through the iOS Apps, and on your Apple TV.

Something Apple this way comes?

Apple has updated its System Status page to say that its online store will be “updated and unavailable” due to “maintenance” tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21, between midnight and 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time .

This could mean that Apple is preparing for the rumored iPad launch that’s been predicted for the week, with the extra hint that Apple commonly issues press releases at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, which is exactly when the maintenance update is scheduled to end.

A little light for an actual hint, but we can work with it.

The last couple of weeks has been home to a host of rumors expecting Apple to announce three new iPad Pro models in the next few weeks, including an all-new 10.5-inch model with slimmer bezels and updated 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch versions.

This wouldn’t necessarily be a launch, per se, rather an official press invite to a launch. If it’s actually a real life Apple Thing at all.

Other products rumored to be in the launch line up include a larger iPhone SE model with 128GB storage, new Apple Watch bands, and a red color option for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Of course, this could just mean that the store is down for maintenance. Booooorrrrring. We want new iPads for all!

Will we see a new iPad Pro announced in April?

It’s not like Apple is a totally mysterious company when it comes to launching new products, right?

Uh…. not right. So here’s what we’re looking at, rumor-wise for the possibly upcoming announcement of a new iPad:

First week of April, Apple will announce two new iPads at an event that will be marking the inauguration of its Apple Park campus. When we say first week of April, we mean from approximately March 20th to mid April.

Apple plans to target the education and business sectors with a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a refreshed 12.9-inch model.

The 12.9-inch iPad will probably only feature small upgrades, but the 10.5-inch model might feature a nearly bezel-free edge-to-edge display.

What do you think would be some sweet iPad Pro upgrade features? What would make you want to upgrade?

New iPad Pro!

The next big thing in iPads is apparently not so big… reports are that Apple will be revealing a new member of the iPad Pro family at the Special Media Event on March 15th – albeit a baby one.

The smaller iPad Pro will be a 9.7 inch device (the current iPad Pro is a 12.9 inch model) however will have the same awesome features as it’s bigger brother.

Apple is rumored to be slimming down their iPad  line-up and focusing only on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and 7.9-inch iPad mini 4 as its main devices, with the iPad Air 2 possibly available as an entry-level model at the middle size.

Did the size of the iPad Pro previously put you off despite it’s many attributes? Would you be more likely to buy a smaller iPad Pro?

New iPad Pro Ad released!

Pre-orders for the iPad Pro begin tomorrow and as such, Apple has released another video celebrating the new device.

It does look pretty sexy, doesn’t it?

Pricing for the iPad Pro starts at $799 for the entry-level 32GB Wi-Fi only model. A 128GB Wi-Fi only model is available for $949, and a 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model is available for $1,079.

The iPad Pro is available in the three signature iPad colors: Space Gray, Silver, and Gold. The Apple Pencil retails for $99, while the Smart Keyboard comes in at $169.