Apple unveils 12.9-inch iPad Pro with optional Smart Keyboard and Pencil stylus

It turns out the pre-event rumors were true: Apple has unveiled the iPad Pro, a 12.9-inch tablet with all next-generation hardware underneath. The large screen should allow for excellent use of iOS 9’s new multitasking capabilities, as well as being the first iPad you can truly read a magazine on that roughly approximates the size of the real thing on paper.

The 12.9-inch display features 2,732 by 2,048 pixel resolution (264 dpi), and despite a screen area that’s 78-percent larger than the regular iPad, it weighs almost exactly the same as the first-generation tablet from 2010: 1.57 pounds (the original was 1.54). Under the hood is Apple’s new A9X chip; as is customary for the company, we didn’t get to hear much in the way of details about how the chip is designed. Expect better, faster, longer, and so on. The iPad Pro also sports four speakers for the first time, and they self-balance depending on how you’re holding the tablet. A Touch ID fingerprint scanner and an 8-megapixel rear camera round out the feature set.
Amid calls of copying Microsoft’s Surface Pro all over Twitter, Apple also unveiled the $169 Smart Keyboard, a folding unit with a built-in membrane-style QWERTY keyboard, the existence of which can’t possibly thrill the likes of Belkin or Logitech. The keyboard snaps onto the iPad Pro with a new magnetic latch that transfers power and data.



And in a move sure to get Samsung Galaxy Note (and Wacom) fans aflutter, Apple took the wraps off its $99 Pencil, a pressure-sensitive stylus that at least in the on-stage demos seems delicate and sensitive enough for artwork or graphic design. You can press harder and it will draw thicker lines, for example. The Pencil has a built-in Lightning Connector that you can plug into the iPad Pro itself for charging.

What makes the iPad Pro significant is Apple’s push into higher-end engineering, business, and creative applications. It’s clear the company wants to build out the use cases for tablets in an age of gargantuan phones, and with the iPad Pro, it seems to have staked out territory in a bid for people who would normally drop $1,000 on a MacBook Air to instead give the iPad another look — including if they’ve already got an existing iPad or iPad mini that they’re not using much at home.
The iPad Pro starts at $799 with 32GB. A 128GB version costs $949, while an LTE-equipped 128GB model sits at $1,079. You can get any of the three iPad Pros in space gray, gold, or silver. All three will be available in November.