Everything Apple Announced at Today’s Event

The iPad Air 2, right, and iPad Mini 3 are photographed side by side at Apple headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014 in Cupertino, Calif. Apple unveiled the thinner iPad with a faster processor and a better camera as it tries to drive excitement for tablets amid slowing demand. Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA—Today, Apple introduced new iPads, a new 5K iMac, and detailed two of its latest software offerings: OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.1. Unlike the giant media event the company held last month to show off its new iPhones and Watch, today’s gathering at its headquarters here was more subdued.

First, the software news. OS X Yosemite is available as a free download starting today. The latest update to Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 8.1, will be available Monday. In addition to a beta of iCloud photo libraries, 8.1 will also include Apple Pay. It will also bring back Camera Roll, for those who missed that feature. On top of that, Apple reworked its iWork suite in an update you can grab today. And for developers looking forward to the Apple Watch, the company announced WatchKit, an SDK for those who want to get their apps ready for the device before it goes on sale.

Thinner, Lighter, More Golden iPads

Josh Valcarcel / WIRED

But Apple knew what everyone was really there for: new iPads. Shaving 18 percent of its thickness from the iPad Air (which was already 20 percent thinner than its predecessor), the iPad Air 2 measures in at 6.1mm thick, making it the thinnest tablet on the market. You can stack two on top of one another and they’ll still be thinner than the original iPad.

To make it so thin, Apple eliminated all the micro thin layers of air between the layers of the display, optically bonding them together. The company also reduced internal reflection and added an anti-reflective coating that it claims reduces reflections by 56 percent. Inside, the new iPad Airs have a 64-bit A8x processor that offers 40 percent faster CPU performance and 2.5 percent faster GPU performance. In all, it’s 180 times faster than the original iPad. It gets 10 hours of battery life, too.

Better Camera, and TouchID

Josh Valcarcel / WIRED

Apple also updated its camera, which is now 8 megapixels, with f/2.4 aperture. It can shoot 1080p video, and can also do panoramas, burst mode, time-lapse, and slo-mo. The FaceTime HD front camera is also improved with an f/2.2 aperture. Connectivity is faster with more LTE bands and faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Oh, and of course, it has TouchID, so it can take advantage of ApplePay and TouchID app extensions.

The new iPad Air 2 can be pre-ordered tomorrow starting at $499 for 16 GB, $599 for 64 GB, and $699 for 128 GB. In addition to Silver and Space Gray, it now comes in Gold.

Mini Gets TouchID Too

Josh Valcarcel / WIRED

Apple also upgraded the iPad mini, giving it Touch ID. The iPad Mini 3 starts at $399 for 16 GB, $499 for 64 GB and $599 for 128 GB. Apple dropped the price of the iPad mini 2 and iPad Air by $100, and you can still grab the original iPad mini for $249.

Big Resolution Bump for iMacs

Josh Valcarcel / WIRED

In other news, Apple introduced the iMac with Retina Display. It’s a 27-inch display with 5120 x 2880 pixel resolution (that’s 14.7 million pixels). Apple calls it a “Retina 5K” display. Apple’s introduced a slew of new technologies to control all those pixels, including a new timing chip, oxide TFT materials, and organic passivation, as well as a thinner, more efficient LED backlight. The company says the new machine is 30 percent more energy efficient than its predecessor.

Powering that beautiful display is a 3.5 Ghz i5 processor (upgradable to 4 Ghz), Radeon graphics, 8 GB of memory, and a 1 TB fusion drive. Apple is selling the iMac with Retina display starting today for $2,499. It’s configurable all the way up to roughly $5,000.

Last but not least, Apple updated the Mac Mini with 4th-generation Intel processors, Iris and HD graphics 5000, PCIe based Flash storage, and 802.11ac WiFi. It also has two Thunderbolt 2 ports. The tiny, energy-efficient desktop starts at $499.