Thinner. Lighter. Faster. That's what Apple promises in its newest iPad, which also has a new name: the iPad Air.
The company rolled out the fifth generation of its market-leading tablet Tuesday. Among its new features, the iPad will weigh 1 pound, down from 1.4 pounds. It's 20% thinner and 28% lighter than the current fourth-generation iPad.
The iPad Air will have the same 9.7-inch screen as previous iPads and pack the same A7 processing chip that's in the iPhone 5S. That will make it 72 times faster than the original iPad, according to Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller.
'This is our biggest leap forward ever with a full-size iPad,' Schiller said.
The iPad Air will go on sale November 1. Prices will start at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi-only model and go up to $629 for a 16GB with 4G LTE connectivity.
Schiller also announced an revamped iPad Mini starting at $399. It will be available later in November in silver or space gray and will pack a speedy A7 processor and the same high-resolution 'Retina display' as bigger iPads.
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The older iPad Mini is still around and will cost $299. And the full-size iPad 2, launched in 2011, is still available for $399.
Apple took another new direction on Tuesday, announcing that the newest version of its Mac operating system, OS X Mavericks, is available now for download and will be free.
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