The new iPad Air from Apple is 20% thinner and 28% lighter that than the fourth generation iPad.
“iPad created an entirely new mobile computing experience, and the new iPad Air is another big leap ahead. It is so thin, light and powerful, once you hold one in your hand you will understand what a tremendous advancement this is,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
The 9.7″ device weighs only a pound, but apple says the new A7 chip doubles the tablets performance and maintains up to a 10-hour battery life.
The 7.9″ iPad Mini also has the A7 chip as well as the 3.1 million pixel display and a 64-bit desktop class architecture. Apple says all of this adds up to four times the CPU and eight times the graphics performance than the previous version of iPad Mini.
Both devices also have two antennas, which Apple promises will bring twice the WiFi performance with data rates up to 300 Mbps.
They also promise improved backside illumination and better low-light performance for the camera and faster auto-focus.
All of this comes at a price, and iPads still remain on the high-end for tablet pricing.
iPad Air with Wi-fi will retail for $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB and $799 for 128GB. iPad Air with WiFi and cellular prices start at $629 and go up $929.
iPad Mini will be priced at $399 for the 16GB model and could run up to $699 for 128GB. Models with cellular access will run between $529 and $829.
iPad Air will go on sale November 1 and iPad Mini will be available later in the month.