IPads, Macs get new screens, heftier prices
Latest devices ditch home button in favor of facial recognition
NEW YORK — Apple’s new iPads will more closely resemble its latest iPhones as they ditch a home button and fingerprint sensor to make more room for the screen.
As with the latest iPhone models — the XR and XS —the new iPad Pro will use facial-recognition technology to unlock the device and to authorize app and Apple Pay purchases.
Apple also unveiled new Mac computers, including an overdue refresh of the MacBook Air laptop, now with a high-resolution screen.
Better screens come with price increases for both iPads and Macs.
Tuesday’s announcements took place at an opera house in New York, where the company emphasized its products’ ability to create music, video and sketches.
Tablet sales have been declining overall, though Apple saw a 3 percent increase in iPad sales
last year to nearly 44 million, commanding a 27 percent market share, according to research firm IDC. Apple has been promoting its high-end iPad Pro as ideal for artists, photographers and other creators.
D.A. Davidson Co. analyst Tom Forte said Apple did “a nice job of rolling out next-generation devices with features customers want to sustain momentum” in iPad sales growth.
The smaller of the two new Pros will have a wider display than before when held horizontally. Its screen is 11 inches rather than 10.5 inches, measured diagonally. It starts at about $800, or $150 more than the 10.5-inch version.
For the larger, 12.9-inch model, Apple is fitting the same-size display into a smaller device — about the size of a standard sheet of paper. That starts at about $1,000, a price hike of $200.
Apple is bringing a high-resolution display to its low-end MacBook Air, but the starting price goes up $200 to about $1,200.
The new MacBook Air and iPad Pros will now use a standard, oval-shaped connector called USB-C. That means accessories using the iPad’s old Lightning port will need adapters, sold separately.
All the new products come out Nov. 7.