Apple event: New MacBook Air, iPad Pro and Mac Mini unveiled – everything you need to know
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Your support makes all the difference.Apple has unveiled a huge suite of new products, including a brand new MacBook Air, Mac Mini and completely re-designed iPad Pro.
The launch comes just weeks after the release of the iPhone XS and XR, where the Apple Watch was also updated, and serves to tweak all of the products that got left out of that event.
The MacBook Air brought a completely new look to Apple's most popular – and until now roundly neglected – laptop. It finally added the long-requested Retina Display, but also changed up the computer's look and brought entirely new features like its Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Apple repeatedly referred to the laptop as its "greenest ever computer", because of a new process that allows it to be made using a new process that allows it to use completely recycled aluminium.
As well as its broad redesign, vastly improved screen and new features, the internal components of the computer were vastly improved to make it far quicker than the computer it replaces.
It starts at $1199 in the US, or the same number of pounds. It is available to order now ahead of a release date on 7 November.
Alongside the MacBook Air came a new Mac Pro, which benefits from the same recycled metals, a new look, and vastly upgraded internals. Both the Mac Mini and the MacBook Air have been neglected for years, with so little attention that some feared it was more likely they would be killed off than refreshed.
The iPad Pro came with a similarly radical redesign, which removes the home button from the bottom and almost entirely gets rid of the bezel that has traditionally wrapped around the sides of the screen. That also meant Apple brought a new way of unlocking it, with the introduction of Apple's Face ID facial recognition technology into the tablet for the first time ever.
Apple removed the Lightning port on the bottom of the iPad, and swapped it for USB-C. That has been used on some of Apple's laptops, but will mean that owners will no longer be able to charge their iPad and iPhone with the same cable.
Apple also introduced an upgraded version of the Apple Pencil, which was first introduced with the first iPad Pro. It now charges by clicking onto the top of the tablet, and features a button on the side that can be press for extra controls.
Alongside that came a new look for the Smart Keyboard that is sold alongside the iPad Pro.
The new iPad Pro comes in two sizes: an 11-inch version, which because of the smaller bezel takes up the same space as the previous 10.5-inch one, and a bigger 12.9-inch size.
The smaller one starts at $769 and the bigger at $969. Both are available to order now and will also go on sale on 7 November.
Below is our live blog from the event, detailing Apple's announcements as they happened.
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.
Apple is holding its October event in New York this year. Leaving California is a strange decision, especially when the company relatively recently opened the Steve Jobs Theater that was built specifically for this kind of launch. But it's probably doing so because of the venue: the Brooklyn Academy of Music. That has a beautiful, old theatre, and is presumably part of an effort to emphasise creativity that is also in keeping with the iPad Pro and the unique Apple-themed invites that were created for each invitee.
To add to the weirdness, the timings are all a little strange. In part that's because of the location – the timezone means that everything will be happening earlier than usual, when it's held on the West Coast – but also because the US is still in summer time when the UK isn't, meaning the gap is only four hours compared to the usual five.
BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House is a beautiful, swanky old room. And it's also a very big one – which seems a little strange, since the pool of invitees doesn't appear to be any bigger than normal. Who will Apple be filling all of those seats with? The designers of the invites? Other guests? Or will they be changing the inside of the room entirely?
Here's the view from the other side, if you want to get acquainted with how it might look when the live stream starts up.
The Apple Store is DOWN, so you can't buy anything new even if you wanted to. (That includes the brand new iPhones.)
It used to be said that Apple had to do this, because its ancient back-end meant that it couldn't put new products up on the shop without taking it down entirely. But the site got a redesign relatively recently and you would have thought that would have been fixed.
So now it's not clear why it happens, but it does, every single time. Do they just want to build anticipation ahead of the event? Does it still need all that time to be fixed up instead? Or are they being nice, making sure that people don't buy products that are just about to be overtaken by something new?
Here's some more detail on the Brooklyn Academy of Music, from the Ibrahim Salha, the Independent's head of audience and former New Yorker:
I'm a former BAM member, and I think Apple have done brilliantly in choosing the venue for their latest event. It's a stunning space, as Andrew points out, and will make for quite a departure from the usual announcement live streams we tune in to. Depending on how long the event lasts, attendees can nip in to one of the movie theatres and watch A Star Is Born, or go for a wander around Brooklyn. I recommend the Cesar's Empanadas food truck – worth waiting in line for.
Apple will be livestreaming the event, of course. And you can find that here.
The livestream is, well, live. Though for the moment it's just playing music and showing the Apple logo. I'll give you the nod when you'll want to tune in. (Though please don't go from here!)
Sorry, I was wrong: not just the Apple logo. A whole big selection of them, presumably from the same pool that Apple used to send out unique invites to all of the attendees today.
Some of them are actually pretty nice and oddly satisfying. So maybe you do want to fire up the live stream now, despite there being another seven minutes to go. Again, if you do, click here.
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