It is becoming more and more difficult for companies to keep anything a secret, especially those like Apple. The iPhone SE, launched at an event on Monday the 21st, had been leaked in January (Apple Goes Back One Gen With New iPhone).
We have full coverage of the new iPhone in a separate article (Apple Downsizes iPhone With New 4″ Display), but it was not the only launch at Apple’s event. A new iPad Pro was also introduced, in a smaller 9.7″ size.
Apple introduced the first Pro (Apple’s iPad Pro is a Light Heavyweight) back in September, targeting productivity with the large (12.9″) screen. However, the company as much as admitted that the experiment has been a failure, with marketing VP Phil Schiller saying that 9.7″ was the ‘sweet spot’ for iPad fans: Apple has sold more than 200 million devices in this size category to date. Meanwhile, the company’s tablet sales dropped 25% YoY in Q4’15.
While featuring most of the features that graced the iPad Pro, the smaller model has a new technology that Apple calls ‘True Tone’. The tablet will automatically adjust its white balance, based on the ambient light.
The concept is based on sound principles. Display screens suffer from high reflectivity, with contrast decreasing as the ambient light gets brighter. Colours also shift under different light sources. Apple’s goal is to use the four sensors built into the screen to measure the colour temperature and brightness of ambient light, dynamically shifting the white point to compensate.
The human visual system is actually very good at compensating for white point shifts by itself. Anything we see that is ‘near white’, our brain will define as ‘white’ (until it’s put next to something whiter, that is!). That is not to say that the feature is useless, though. Dynamically-adjusted colour like this will also make images on the display more visible outdoors – something that our friend Ray Soneira of DisplayMate has been calling for for years!
In terms of design, the iPad Pro Mini is much like the iPad Air 2, with the same screen size, resolution (2048 x 1536) and thickness (6.1mm). The resolution is lower than the 12.9″ Pro, but the smaller screen means that pixel density is the same, at 264 ppi. It uses a 64-bit A9X chip, 12MP rear camera, 5MP front camera and has support for the Apple Pencil stylus.
Apple says that the (oxide TFT) screen is 25% brighter and 40% less reflective than the Air 2. It also features the same wide colour gamut as the iMac with Retina Display.
A new Lighting to USB-C cable and 29W USB-C power adapter will be sold alongside the Pro Mini, as well as a smaller Smart Keyboard cover. Pricing starts at $600 for the 32GB WiFi model and $730 for the 32GB cellular tablet. 128GB and 256GB capacity versions are also available. Pre-orders will begin on the 24th March .
While a new Apple Watch didn’t come alongside the iPad, a few new designs – 26! – were revealed, along with a price drop to $300 (from $350) for the cheapest model. Multiple new straps and colours were launched. WatchOS 2.2 also went live at the event, which can be used to pair multiple Apple Watches with a single iPhone.
