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The biggest news from Apple’s March 2016 event
The low-down on the iPhone SE and iPad Pro
The internet has been so awash with Apple leaks for the last few weeks and months that nothing that was announced at Apple’s ‘let us loop you in’ event in March would have come as
much of a surprise. There was a new 4-inch iPhone – but we already knew there would be. There was a smaller, 9.7-inch iPad Pro – but we already knew that too. But while we had an inkling of what was coming in the broadest sense, what about the specifics? What will we be getting with these shiny new products? Let’s find out.
iPhone SE
Perhaps the most interesting news of the event was the launch of the iPhone SE. It’s more or less an iPhone 6s squeezed into an iPhone 5s chassis, so no skimping on the specs here. You get the same A9 chip and M9 motion coprocessor as you’ll find in the SE’s bigger brother, but in a more compact – and very popular – form factor.
There’s also the same 12MP iSight camera, equipped with Focus Pixels for improved autofocusing and True Tone flash for more naturally-lit shots. Plus, the ability to shoot Live Photos and 4K video has come across from the larger iPhones.
It comes with Touch ID and Apple Pay built in to allow you to pay on the go without using your wallet, while the SE features 50% faster LTE compared to the iPhone 5s, plus 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Fans of smaller phones will see all this as great news – there’s no longer an enforced choice between a larger phone with more up-to-date specs or a more comfortably sized device with older components inside. If 4-inch phones are your thing, the iPhone SE will be right up your street.
9.7-inch iPad Pro
For months there was much speculation on the release of an ‘iPad Air 3’ (we even debated it in MF297’ s Split View), so it was something of a surprise when whispers emerged before the launch event that Apple would be announcing a smaller iPad Pro instead. And yet that’s exactly what came to pass.
As with the iPhone SE, Apple has taken an already successful formula (the iPad Pro) and condensed it down into a smaller package. So you get the same Apple Pencil support as with the 12.9-inch Pro, and the same A9X chip and M9 motion coprocessor too. Although the size may be smaller, you won’t miss out on power.
In fact, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro has a couple of things that the 12.9-inch doesn’t – for one thing, it’s available in Rose Gold. It’s also got a new True Tone display that automatically adjusts the colour temperature and brightness to match the ambient light wherever you are to aid concentration and reduce eye strain. Combined with iOS 9.3’s new Night Shift