Apple Rebrands iPad Air 2 To Simply ‘iPad’, Launches Red iPhone 7
Red iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will help combat AIDS, Apple says, while Clips for iOS and more Swift languages debut alongside new iPad
Apple has refreshed is iPad line, replacing the A8X chip in the 9.7inch iPad Air 2 with a nipper A9 system-on-a-chip and re-branding it to have the simple ‘iPad’ moniker.
Other than the boosted processors, the ‘new iPad’ remains very similar to the iPad Air 2, sporting Apple Retina display and Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
However, the iPad price has taken a tumble with the 32GB model with Wi-Fi connectivity retailing starting at $329 in the US and an £339 in the UK, leaving Brits a tad shirt changed.
Sumptuous software
Apple has also boosted the scope of its software portfolio. Swift Playgrounds, the iPad app designed to tech children the basics of coding in Apple’s Swift language, is now available in five additional languages: Simplified Chinese, Japanese, French, German, and Latin American Spanish.
The Cupertino company also revealed Clips, a new iOS app designed to make video creation easier on iPads and iPhones. The Live Tiles feature gives Clips its USP by enabling the addition of animated titles and captions ot be added to videos via voice control, with support for up to 36 different languages.
Other features include the ability to share videos directly with social media such as Instagram and YouTube, and send then to contacts via the Messages app. Furthermore, multiple video clips without needing to use a fiddly timeline tool. Clips will be available for free on the App Store in April and could usher in a new wave of video creation on iOS devices.
Finally, Apple revealed a (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition version of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which as the name suggest provides a red version of Apple’s smartphones created raise awareness of AIDS and generate funds for the combating it.
Apple has hardly revealed anything ground-breaking, but the re-branding of the iPad and the tweak to its innards, suggests the company could be paving the way for a new range of iOS tablets, injecting some new tech blood into a range that has slowly been stagnating over the past year and a half.
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