Today's event wasn't quite as buzzy as the iPhone 6 launch, but Apple rolled out new hardware and more that you're going to want to know about.
In a smaller, more intimate venue than last month's much-ado-about-mobile extravaganza, Apple debuted a handful of products -- a new iMac, Mac Mini, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3-- plus availability of its OS X 10.10 Yosemite and iOS 8.1.
Did you have a pesky job to do instead of watching the event or following our live blog? Never fear. We've got the complete recap for you.
Updates
- Apple Pay will be here on Monday.
- Apple Watch will be shipping early next year, and Watchkit, rolls out next month.
- Lots of traction for Swift, Healthkit and extensions.
- They've sold a lot of iPads.
You can also check out our video highlights.
iPads: iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3
The iPad Air 2 is 18 percent thinner, only 6.1mm. As rumored, it gains Touch ID but not NFC. It has a gapless new Retina display with an anti-reflective coating and incorporates a new faster A8X chip (3x the transistors as A8). There's also a new M8 motion coprocessor, faster Wi-Fi and up to 20 LTE bands. The new camera has 8MP resolution, 1.12 micron pixels, f2.4 aperture and 1080p video. It now supports burst shooting, time lapse and slo-mo. FaceTime camera has better face detection, burst selfies, HDR (since shot) and 1080p video. Plus, a new gold version.
IPAD PRICING
| iPad Air 2 | iPad Mini 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| US retail price | Wi-Fi: $500 (16GB), $600 (64GB) and $700 (128GB); Wi-Fi with cellular: $630 (16GB), $730 (64GB) and $830 (128GB) | Wi-Fi: $400 (16GB), $500 (64GB) and $600 (128GB); Wi-Fi with cellular: $530 (16GB), $630 (64GB) and $730 (128GB) |
| UK retail price | Wi-Fi: £400 (16GB), £480 (64GB), and £560 (128GB); Wi-Fi with cellular: £500 (16GB), £580 (64GB) and £660 (128GB) | Wi-Fi: £320 (16GB), £400 (64GB), and £480 (128GB); Wi-Fi with cellular: £420 (16GB), £500 (64GB) and £580 (128GB) |
| AU retail price | Wi-Fi: AU$620 (16GB), AU$740 (64GB) and AU$860 (128GB); Wi-Fi with cellular: AU$780 (16GB), AU$900 (64GB) and AU$1,020 (128GB) | Wi-Fi: AU$500 (16GB), AU$620 (64GB) and AU$740 (128GB); Wi-Fi with cellular: AU$660 (16GB), AU$780 (64GB) and AU$900 (128GB) |
There wasn't much updated in the iPad MIni 3, just the addition of Touch ID and a new gold version.
Both will ship starting next week, with preorders starting now.
- iPad Air 2 First Take
- iPad Mini 3 First Take
- Apple fields iPad Air 2 to breathe new life into tablet sales
- Apple iPad finally gets its own Touch ID
- Apple investors shrug at thinner iPad Air, beefed-up iMac
- First-generation iPad Air remains, price dropped to $399 to start
- Why the larger iPad Pro is a no-show this year
- iPad Air 2 goes for the gold
- What's your take on Apple's new iPads (poll)
Macs: iMac goes Retina, plus Mac Mini updates
For iMacs, the big news is the incorporation of Retina displays into these all-in-one veterans. Given how popular they've become for image and video editing, this is really welcome news. More pixels: it's got a resolution of 5,120x2,880, and Apple's dubbing it Retina 5K. It uses an AMD Radon R9 to drive that. There's also Thunderbolt 2. Prices will start at $2,500, and you can get it now.
There's also a new, Mac Mini with faster everything: two Thunderbolt 2 ports, Intel Iris and HD Graphics 5000 and fourth-gen Intel Core processors. Prices start at $500. It's also available now.
- iMac Retina 5K First Take
- Mac Mini First Take
- Apple refreshes iMac with Retina Display, looks to upend all-in-one PCs again
- Apple's Mac Mini gets long-awaited refresh, starts at $499
iOS 8.1
After less than a month, 48 percent of users have updated to iOS 8. This update addresses the top sources of customer feedback, including the return of Camera Roll (yay!), In addition, iCloud Photo Library -- shared photos and videos across devices -- is enabled with the update, as is Apple Pay on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. It will be available Monday, October 20.
OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Although Apple announced the new operating system at its Worldwide Developer's Conference in June, that was for seeding to developers. Here we learned when it will be available for the rest of us: Today. So is iWork, and both it and Yosemite are free. AirDrop file sharing and Handoff will be enabled when it ships as well.
Plus
- Everything UK readers need to know
- What we didn't get
- Craig Ferderighi makes an in-presentation call to Stephen Colbert.
- Want to see how Apple did? Compare today's announcements with our Mac update report card.
- Did the new iPad fulfill our wish list? Here was what we wanted going into today's announcement: What the iPad needs next.
But wait -- there's even more! Check out our full coverage of Apple's October 2014 launch event.
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