Apple's Fall Event: iPad Air 2 and Everything You Need To Know

During their fall event, Apple introduced their newest generations of iPad Air, iPad mini, iMac and iMac mini. The light-hearted keynote featured cameos from Stephen Colbert, secret security handshake rituals, and not one sign of a free U2 album. Check out our recap of the event below. iPad Air 2

The newest iteration of the best-selling tablet is called the iPad Air 2. At 6.1mm thin, it is 18% thinner than the first iPad Air and now the World’s thinnest tablet. It’s so thin that you can stack two Air 2’s on top of each other and they’ll still be thinner than the original iPad.

The display is also thinner and better, according to Apple. Now instead of the standard three separate components that made up the previous iPad screens, they have been combined into one. The combination of the three layers eliminates gaps between layers and the internal reflectance caused by those gaps.

This along with custom designed antireflective coating reduces glare by up to 56%, which makes it the least reflective tablet on the market, according to Apple. Faster and powerful is also the theme of the new iPad. With the new A8X chip and 64-bit architecture, the Air 2 has 2.5x faster graphics and a 40% faster CPU than the previous model with the A7 chip. The M8 motion coprocessor improves power efficiency by offloading work from the A8X.

The iPad Air 2 also features new and improved iSight and FaceTime cameras, ultrafast wireless connections and TouchID. A major perk of adding Touch ID will be the ability to make payments with TouchID through Apple Pay.

The iPad Air 2 comes in the colors space gray, silver and gold. Pre-orders start October 17^th, although an exact in-store release date has not been confirmed.

Pricing for the tablet start at $499 for 16GB, $599 for 64GB and $699 for 128GB for the Wi-Fi only versions. Full details for the new iPad Air 2 can be found here. If you blinked, you probably missed Apple briefly mentioning the iPad mini 3 that will feature Touch ID and faster Wi-Fi connection. Price points for the iPad mini 3 start at $399 for 16GB, 64GB is priced at $499 and the 128GB option is $599.

iMac

Apple also debuted a new iMac that sports a 5K Retina display. It has a resolution of 5120 x 2800 and almost 15 million pixels, four times as many pixels as the standard 27 –inch iMac display.

The new iMac features a quad-core Intel Core processor up to 4.0GHz, the latest AMD graphics card, advanced Fusion Drive and up to 20Gbps Thunderbolt 2 bandwidth. The new iMac will set you back $2,500.

Software

Apple’s software platforms and applications iOS 8.1, OS X Yosemite are now available for download. A major functional application that Apple introduced today was Continuity. When using a Mac or iOS device you can now enable features that allow your devices to work together, seamlessly.

Now you can make or pick up a phone call straight from your MacBook or iMac, receive SMS messages on any device, and access and edit your reports, emails and presentations on any Apple device.

With Continuity you can also share files more easily with AirDrop and use your iPhone as a personal hotspot for your Mac or iPad, even when there’s no Wi-Fi to be had.

Are you planning to get the latest generation of Apple products? Let us know in the comments below. And while, we don’t have the latest iPad Air in stock, check out our stock of refurbished iPad 2’s if you’re looking for a reliable tablet that won’t break your budget.

Photos courtesy of TechRadar