Today in TechApple officially reveals the new iPad, and yes, you’re probably going to want one
At today's Apple event in California, CEO Tim Cook revealed a brand new tablet that is sure to make existing iPad owners drool, and potentially bring many more consumers into the company's ranks. It's called simply the new iPad, and while the number 3 is nowhere to be seen, you can rest assured that this new slate is most definitely a proper evolution of Apple's tablet brand.
As expected, the new iPad will feature a 2048 x 1536 Retina display, effectively doubling the number of pixels when compared to both the original iPad and the iPad 2. The new slate keeps the same 9.7" form factor as its predecessors, so with double the pixel density, the screen appears much sharper than any tablet before it.
Powering this new display takes more muscle than the current iPad can offer. Apple takes care of that with a new, quad-core A5X processor that is up to 4 times as powerful as the chip powering the iPad 2.
Another major change is the 5-megapixel, rear-facing iSight camera capable of 1080p video recording. The iPad 2 caught a lot of heat for its less-than-stellar camera and video performance, and Apple apparently took notice. The new lens features video stabilization, noise reduction, face detection, and autofocus.
The new iPad also breaks ground as the first Apple device to support 4G LTE mobile connectivity. Supporting the ultra-fast new mobile broadband standard will allow the tablet to take advantage of the 4G infrastructure from carriers Verizon and AT&T, and hopefully offer speeds similar to — or greater than — what you'd find on a home wifi connection.
Unfortunately, the iPhone 4S's voice assistant Siri hasn't made the trip to the new slate. However, the new iPad comes with a voice dictation feature that lets you speak your texts or emails instead of typing them out with the tablet's software keyboard.
The fresh new tablet will launch on March 16 with prices starting at $499, $599, and $699 for the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions with wifi, and $629, $729, and $829 for those same storage sizes with the addition of 4G LTE support. This is the same pricing tier that the iPad 2 launched at, so it's nice to see them remaining stable for the new generation.
This article originally appeared on Tecca
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