Apple announces iPad Air 3

Apple has surprised us all by announcing the iPad Air 3 a couple of weeks early. Announced alongside a brand-new iPad Mini , the iPad Air 3 is the first of its kind to support the Apple Pencil; it also runs on the A12 bionic chip and promises a performance boost of up to 70% over previous models.

The announcement was expected to happen on 25 March at the Apple event in Cupertino, California. Rather than do things by the books, however, Apple has chosen to simply update their online store and treat us all to a nice surprise.

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The iPad Air 2 launched in 2014 , making the new tablet the first of its kind in almost five years.

Highlights include a Retina display that is over 20% larger than previous models, packing in more than half a million more pixels.

The iPad Air 3 also features eSIM support, as well as intelligent processing in the form of Apple’s Neural Engine. The device measures 10.5in from edge to edge, and is a mere 0.24in thick, weighing in at around 460g.

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As per usual, the new iPad packs single front- and rear-facing cameras – seven and eight megapixels respectively. Both cameras, Apple says, have been given a hardware bump to improve low-light photography, and will also leverage Core ML technology to give apps that use augmented reality a new lease on life.

You’ll be able to purchase one right now, in one of three colours – silver, space grey and gold – with memory sizes of either 64GB or 256GB. Prices start at £479 for the Wi-Fi-only model and £599 for the SIM-enabled model.

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