For James O’Toole
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – The iPad has been renewed.
Apple unveiled the new editions of the iPad and iPad Mini at an event in California on Thursday, where it also announced that its new Apple Pay system will be available from Monday, October 20.
The new tablets (the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3) come with the TouchID fingerprint sensor, which was previously only available on the iPhone. You can use TouchID to make online purchases with Apple Pay, although it doesn’t work at store cash registers like newer iPhones do.
The Air 2 is only 6.1 millimeters thick, 18% smaller than the previous iPad Air. It also has a new processor, an improved Retina display, and a camera that takes panoramic photos up to 43 megapixels.
It will be possible to reserve the two new iPads on Friday, and shipments will take place at the end of next week. They are available in gold in addition to the traditional silver and dark gray.
The version of the Air 2 that has 16GB of storage and works only with Wi-Fi is priced at $ 499, while the same version of the Mini 3 sells for $ 399.
The 64GB Air 2 costs $ 599, while the 128GB version costs $ 699; For an additional $ 130, you can get a version in each of these sizes equipped with mobile data connectivity. Apple is also reducing the prices of older iPads.
Apple also unveiled a new 27-inch iMac desktop computer that starts shipping today and costs $ 2,499.
On the software side, Apple announced that the new X Yosemite operating system will be available for free download on Thursday from the App Store. The latest update to its mobile software, iOS 8.1, will be available on Monday.
There was a major design update for Yosemite, so now the interface for Mac computers looks a lot more like an iPhone and an iPad. It comes with a new “spotlight” feature that searches both the Mac and the web.
There is also the new iCloud Drive, a cloud storage service that offers to sync all files to a Mac computer through every user’s Mac, iPhone or Windows PC.
The “continuity” function ensures that your different Apple devices recognize each other, so that you can recover on one what you have left pending on the other. For example, you can start a browsing session on your iPad and end it later on your laptop. It also allows you to make calls or send SMS from your computer.
Apple Pay will work on the updated iOS and it brings back the wrap. The new iCloud Photo Library lets you sync your images between devices.
Apple released its iOS 8 software last month, although the launch was affected by the delay in its new HealthKit platform and issues with a software update, so some users were unable to upgrade. ‘calls or use their fingerprint sensors. .
