Apple unveils smaller, cheaper iPad Pro tablet aimed at Windows laptop users

Los Angeles (Variety.com) - Apple unleashed a 9.7-inch version of the iPad Pro weighing in at just under one pound, designed as a replacement for laptops -- and targeted in large part at users of old Windows PCs.

The company unveiled the new iPad Pro and the iPhone SE, with a 4-inch screen as a replacement to the 5s, at a “town hall” press event Monday at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.



Apple launched the 12-inch iPad Pro last fall, which includes the Apple Pencil stylus, engineered for business users. But the company found users wanted a smaller-size version of the tablet, according to Phil Schiller, senior VP of worldwide marketing. To date, he said, Apple has sold 200 million iPads with 9.7-inch displays.

The new iPad Pro with 32 Gigabytes of storage lists at $ 599-$ 200 less than the 12-inch-screen model. Apple will begin taking pre-orders for the tablet on Thursday, 24 March, and it will start shipping on 31 March.

Today, some 600 million PCs in use are more than five years old, according to Schiller: “This is really sad,” he said, adding that many of those Windows users will find the new iPad Pro “the ultimate PC replacement.”

The new device is an effort to reinvigorate iPad sales, which fell 21% year-over-year for the quarter ended 31 December 2015. Apple sold 16.1 million iPads during the 2015 holiday quarter, compared with 21.4 million a year earlier.

The new iPad Pro features a 12-megapixel 4K camera and a Retina display. The tablet comes in four colors: silver, gold, space gray and -- for the first time - rose gold.

“It truly is the future of personal computing,” CEO Tim Cook boasted of the new iPad Pro.

Earlier at the event, Cook said Apple recently crossed a milestone with more than 1 billion devices in use around the world.