Apple's new $329 iPad will be available in India from April

Apple on Tuesday announced the launch of a new iPad, featuring a brighter 9.7-inch retina display, starting at a price of $329. Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, noted that their customers prefer large 9.7-inch screens for different use cases, from watching TV and movies and surfing the web to making FaceTime calls and looking at photos. He said in a statement,

iPad is the world’s most popular tablet... New customers and anyone looking to upgrade will love this new iPad for use at home, in school, and for work, with its gorgeous retina display, our powerful A9 chip, and access to the more than 1.3 million apps designed specifically for it.

Features

Apple claims to have designed the new iPad for portability and ease of use, along with an all-day battery life. The new iPad features a retina display with over 3.1 million pixels (2048×1536 resolution), and is enclosed in a sturdy yet thin aluminium unibody enclosure, weighing one pound, for portability and durability. The iPad also includes an Apple-designed A9 chip with 64‑bit desktop-class architecture, which delivers fast processing and graphics performance for apps and games.

The front and back-facing cameras offer low-light performance and HD video recording. It also includes 'Ultrafast wireless', which claims to make connecting with the iPad quick and easy. The device also supports LTE cellular bands worldwide to help customers stay connected when travelling. The release noted that Apple SIM will make it easier to connect to wireless data plans right from the device when travelling in more than 140 countries and regions.

As expected, the iPad also includes Touch ID, to help users keep their personal information on the devices and across apps secure, and Apple Pay, to pay for physical goods.

On the software front, iPad comes with iOS 10, which brings more expressive and animated ways to communicate in Messages, new ways to use Siri with apps, and redesigned Maps, Photos, Apple Music, and News. The new Home app lets users securely set up, manage, and control their home all in one place. Multitasking features include Slide Over, Split View, and Picture-in-Picture.

Pricing and Availability

The iPad comes in silver, gold, and space gray, and starts at $329 for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and $459 for the 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

The iPad is available to order beginning Friday, March 24, 2017, from Apple's website, and starts delivering to customers and arriving next week in Apple Stores, through select carriers and Apple Authorised Resellers in the US and more than 20 countries and regions, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

Other countries, including Denmark, India, Mexico, Norway, Russia, and Turkey, will follow in April, with Brazil, Taiwan, and more countries and regions to follow in May.