Ahead of next week's launch, Apple's online store on Friday began taking presales of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, its new Touch ID-equipped tablets being introduced for the holiday shopping season.
Following Thursday's big reveal, Apple posted a trio of promotional videos taken from the product launch event to its YouTube page, touting the new iPad Air 2 and iMac with 5K Retina display.
The iPad Air and iPad mini have both been outfitted by Apple with Touch ID fingerprint sensors, but it's clear that Apple is positioning its flagship iPad Air 2 as the tablet to beat, boasting a beefed-up A8X CPU, improved camera, thinner design, and anti-reflective laminated display.
Apple has posted to its website an on-demand version of Thursday's special event that saw the introduction of new iPads, a Retina display iMac, revamped Mac mini and OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
The next-generation iPad Air will ship with a multitude of new features — like the A8X chip, faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and a fully-laminated display — but there is one addition that the company did not reveal on stage: a preinstalled "Apple SIM" that will be recognized by wireless providers around the world.
Apple's diminutive iPad will also receive an update this week, the company announced Thursday, in the form of the iPad mini 3, which features a Touch ID fingerprint sensor and new gold color option starting at $399.
Ahead of Apple's iPad media event on Thursday afternoon, AppleInsider has teamed up with the industry's two leading electronics trade-in & buyback services to offer readers an exclusive $20 cash bonus on the sale of their old iPad when they lock in a price quote today. The services are currently paying up to $405 for old iPads before the bonus.
Join us as we join Apple in Cupertino this Thursday, October 16th, for the anticipated launch of the iPad 2, iPad mini 3 with Retina display, Mac OS X "Yosemite" & ApplePay
With less than 24 hours to go before Apple is set to present its latest products, preview images for the company's iOS 8.1 user guide in the iBookstore reveal the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, both featuring a Touch ID fingerprint sensing home button.
With new iPad Air and iPad mini models expected to be introduced on Thursday, a newly leaked logic board claimed to be from a 2014 iPad Air purports to show an A8X processor, as well as an Elpida RAM module with 2 gigabytes of memory.
With only days to go before Apple's Oct. 16 event, new photos out of East Asia claim to show components bound for a next-generation iPad, including a logic board, Touch ID hardware and cover glass with incorporated digitizer.
Apple on Friday announced through its website plans to live stream an upcoming special media event to be held on Oct. 16, at which the company is expected to unveil revamped iPad and, possibly, iMac models.
As it has done in years past, Apple will again hold a media event this month, as the company officially invited members of the press on Wednesday to an Oct. 16 presentation with the tagline "It's been way too long."
Apple is reportedly planning to hold an event on Thursday, Oct. 16, to showcase the rest of its fall 2014 product lineup, which is expected to include new iPads with Touch ID fingerprint sensors, as well as a 27-inch iMac with Retina display.
Though the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch have been formally introduced, Apple is far from calling it quits on 2014, with the company's next major product unveiling expected to take place around mid-to-late October, AppleInsider has learned.
At a media event already expected to be packed with the unveiling of two new iPhone models and a so-called "iWatch," the company may also showcase its next full-size iPad Air with Touch ID fingerprint sensor and a new gold color option, according to well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
With the Touch ID sensor expected to come to all of Apple's new iPhones and iPads later this year, the fingerprint scanning hardware is also rumored to see internal improvements that will make the home button more durable, according to a new report.
This year's anticipated iPad refresh is rumored to expand implementation of Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor beyond the iPhone, bringing it to the next iPad Air and iPad mini. Now, newly discovered code in the iOS mobile operating system offers further evidence in support of those claims.
The iPad Air may be the only model in Apple's tablet lineup to receive a refresh this year, with an allegedly still-in-development 12.9-inch model unlikely to launch, and even a successor to the iPad mini with Retina display in doubt, according to one well-connected insider.
Apple will get more aggressive on pricing its all-in-one iMac desktop in 2014, with a new "budget" model apparently slated to launch next year, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities.
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AppleInsider Staff
Sam Oliver
Katie Marsal
Neil Hughes
