Apple to launch iPad Pro and Apple TV at end of October

9 Oct 2015

The iPad Pro is Apple's largest tablet device ever

The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the Siri-powered Apple TV are expected to appear for sale online in late October, and will be in stores in early November, according to reports.

Both devices were unveiled at a special event in San Francisco in September.

The new iPad Pro is the equivalent size of two iPad minis in portrait postion and features new oxide TFT materials that make it possible to light up photos quickly in uniform brightness and separate diodes from each other to provide accurate colour photography.

It features a new A9X chip that is up to 1.8-times faster than the A8X processor that featured in the most recent iPad Air.

The iPad Pro, Apple’s largest tablet device ever, is faster than 90pc of portable PCs released in the last year, Apple claims, and features a 10-hour battery.

Siri at heart of new Apple TV

Apple’s artificial intelligence agent Siri is at the heart of a new transformative TV experience that will be unveiled with the new Apple TV.

Siri will be capable of navigating through Netflix and Hulu apps that will feature in a new dedicated App Store for Apple TV. Siri can be used to search for good comedy, ideal movies for kids or movies featuring specific actors, for example, or to attain the latest sports scores.

Using the swipe controls on the new remote, users can bring up information about the show or movie they are watching, or bring up controls.

The future of TV is apps, says Apple

Apple also opened up a new dev kit for developers to create compelling apps and games for the all-new Apple TV.

The new Apple TV will be available at the end of October in a 32GB model that will cost US$149, and a 64GB model that will cost US$199. The original Apple TV will cost just US$64. The Apple TV will be available in more than 100 countries worldwide by the end of the year.

“The future of TV is apps,” said Apple’s internet chief Eddy Cue. “Apps themselves have changed and what we expect from and do from iPhone and iPads is what we should expect from apps on TV.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com