Apple Announces iPhone SE & 9.7-Inch iPad Pro

Apple has unveiled two new iOS devices: the often leaked iPhone SE and the smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro. After jumping on the bandwagon of smartphones with massive displays with the iPhone 6/6s and iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus, Apple thought that there is still a market for smartphones with a smaller display. Here comes the iPhone SE, which is basically a rehash of the 2013 iPhone 5s. Physically, the iPhone SE and iPhone 5s have a lot in common. Both sport a 4-inch Retina Display with a pixel density of 326 ppi. They also have the same dimensions though the former is a tad heavier than the latter. The iPhone SE also has smoother frame edges compared to the sharp and shiny chamfered edges of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone SE also comes in the three color variants that the iPhone 5s was available during its reign: gold, silver, and space gray. Naturally, the new Apple iPhone also comes with a rose gold color option.

Image by Apple

The bigger upgrades on the iPhone SE can be seen under the hood. It packs the powerful 64-bit dual-core Apple A9 chipset with the embedded M9 motion co-processor, which also powers the higher end iPhone 6s/6s Plus. It ships with iOS 9 installed complete with Apple Pay, Touch ID, Siri, and ultra-fast LTE. Unfortunately, to keep the costs down, the iPhone SE does not come with a 3D Touch display. When it comes to camera, the iPhone SE inherited the 12-MP iSight camera of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus, complete with True Tone Flash and Live Photos. While its front camera got stuck with 1.2-MP, it now has Retina Flash, which uses the iPhone's Retina Display as a camera flash.

Image by Apple

Maybe, you are wondering how much it would cost. Well, the Apple iPhone SE will sell for $399 for its rather small 16GB variant while the 64GB model will retail for $499. It will become available on March 31, 2016.


Then we have the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which Apple has also made official. It is essentially a smaller version of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, also compatible with the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard. It has an anodized aluminum body with four stereo speakers and a Touch ID. Its 9.7-inch Retina Display has a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution with a pixel density of 264 ppi. It is similar to the iPad Air 2's display but with 40% less reflection and comes with the new True Tone display technology. The latter simply adjusts the color temperature of the display to match the ambient lighting.

Image by Apple

Hardware-wise, the 9.7-inch Apple iPad Pro comes with the A9X chipset with 32GB/128GB/256GB of non-expandable internal storage. It runs iOS 9 out of the box and comes with all the features that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has, namely: picture in picture video, fingerprint-protected notes, etc. Apple also made sure that the new iPad Pro is a capable imaging device. It has a 12-MP iSight camera with True Tone Flash, capable of shooting 4K videos, slo-mo videos, Live Photos, and 63-MP panoramas. In front, a 5-MP FaceTime HD camera with Retina Flash can be found.

Image by Apple

The new Apple iPad Pro will come in four colors: gold, silver, space gray, and rose gold and will start shipping on March 31, 2016. The 32GB variant starts at $599 and goes all the way up to $899 for the 256GB model. Are you getting one?

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Til then...

xoxo Nash