At a special October event Apple unveiled the new fifth-gen iPad which the company is calling, iPad Air. The new 9.7 inch tablet will be available on November 1.

iPad Air features an all-new design which has been inspired by iPad mini. The new tablet has thinner bezel and reduced thickness which makes it lighter and thinner. The 16GB WiFi model weights just 1 pound which is 20% lighter, 20% thinner and 24% less in volume when compared with the previous generation model.

While the retina display remains the same at 9.7 inch, the new iPad Air is smaller in height, width and depth. With a thickness of 0.29 inches it is as thick as the iPad mini. Apple has a known obsession to make its newer products thinner and refining the production process to the extreme.

The man behind this obsessive simplicity and manufacturing precision, Jonathan Ive, continues to evolve the existing product line up and make them look fantastic year after year.

iPad Air features the same diamond-cut chamfers and anodised aluminium body as the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and the iPad mini. It is not just an all-new design but it also features the latest 64-bit that Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s. iPad Air runs on A7 chip that makes its CPU and GPU performance twice as fast as its predecessor. It also includes M7 motion coprocessor which enables optimal battery performance. Even with a 64-bit iPad Air continues to provide 10 hour battery life.

Apple did not update the camera sensor in the fifth-gen iPad. It continues to feature 5MP rear camera and FaceTime HD Camera which is a 1.2MP sensor.

This year the company has added support for even more LTE bands as they prepare to launch the new device in China on the same day as the rest of the countries.

iPad Air is available in WiFi andWiFi+ cellular versions with storage capacities ranging from 16GB to 128GB.

There had been a few rumours about fingerprint Touch ID being part of the feature set however, it seems that we’ll have to wait for iPad Air 2 (?) for that.

Are you excited about the new thinner tablet from Apple? Will you be upgrading your tablet this holiday season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Apple recently sent out media invites for the new iPad launch event scheduled for October 22nd. The company is busy making preparations for the iPad event decorating the venue with huge posters resembling the invite.

This year Apple is expected to announce new iPad 5 and second gen iPad mini alongwith other product updates. The theme of the fall event is “We still have a lot to cover.” It doesn’t give us much insight into what the company has in store for us however, based on many analysts reports and rumors published in the past we certainly have a fair idea of what to expect.

The company has a history for fine tuning their products to perfect and have a certain penchant for making products thinner and lighter. Fifth gen iPad is widely expected to shed some weight it put on during its third iteration. In addition to losing some weight it will also become smaller with thinner bezel. In the past, when announcing iPhone 5 Apple in its advertisements asked how can a phone become larger yet lighter and thinner.

Second gen iPad mini is rumored to feature retina display. The smaller tablet from Apple has the same resolution as an iPad 2. iPad mini is the only iOS device that doesn’t ship with a high resolution model. Even though many rumors have suggested that we might get a high resolution display some analysts have expressed doubt over cost and product rates.

The fall event is also expected to feature OS X Mavericks, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and other product updates as well.

{Images via Apple Spotlight and MacRumors}

Apple recently sent out media invites for the iPad keynote event. The event  will be held on October 22nd at 10 AM PT at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California.

Last week WSJ leaked the date and now the event has been confirmed by Apple. The media invite features Apple logo with leaves in the iOS 7 color palette flying in the background. The leaves signify autumn line-up of new iOS 7 devices.

The theme of the event is “We still have a lot to cover.” This clearly suggests that Apple is planning to announce more than just one product line. Rumors and reports in the past have revealed that the company is prepared to launch new iPad, second gen iPad mini, new MacBook Pro with Haswell processors and OS X Mavericks.

Apple events usually focus on one major product and try not to announce too many new products at the same event. However, as the company is offering two line-ups of iPads and other product categories also need to be updated before the holiday season, this years’ event will be packed with announcements.

The fifth-gen iPad is expected to be inspired by the advancements in iPad mini and feature a thinner bezel which will make it lighter. Rumors suggest the new iPad will feature new camera and could possibly run on the new A7 chip. It isn’t clear if we will see TouchID in the iPad as the company has experienced low product yield of the sensor in the past.

Many analysts believe the second-gen iPad mini will go retina this year. iPad mini with a high resolution screen could prove to be a big boost in terms of new hardware feature. However, there have been some doubts expressed over cost and pricing of an iPad mini with a retina display.

OS X Mavericks was announced during WWDC. The company has been busy with iOS overhaul this year and during the iPad event we may finally get a release date for the upcoming software update for Mac.

Apple teased the developers at WWDC with the all-new Mac Pro. The release date wasn’t announced and it was showcased as a work in progress. The company could use the event as a platform to release the new Mac Pro.

iMac product lineup was recently updated with the Haswell processors and MacBook Pro line up has also been due for an update. It is expected that Apple will make these available on or before October 22nd.

The fall iPad event will be packed with major announcements. Stay tuned as Touch Reviews brings you the latest information and product launches from Apple.

A Chinese reseller that specializes in parts for Apple devices has listed on its website what is claimed to be a glass digitiser panel for the upcoming iPhone 5’s touch screen, and suggests the device will feature a larger screen and a thinner bezel.  There aren’t currently any measurements for the cutout in this part, however, it could tie in with previous rumors that say the fifth-generation iPhone will sport a 4-inch display.

The discovery of this part also strengthens rumors that Apple’s next smartphone will have an “edge-to-edge” display, as this new digitizer has a thinner bezel on all sides. The design is the same as the iPhone 4, so apart from the larger display window, the home button, speaker, and front-facing camera are all in the same place.

Below is a mockup, courtesy of 9to5 Mac, which shows what Apple’s iPhone 5 could look like – isn’t it beautiful?

As usual with many Apple products, rumors surrounding the iPhone 5 started just a little while after the launch of the iPhone 4, and many have speculated that this summer’s launch will see a “completely re-designed” device that may include – amongst other things – a processor upgrade from Apple’s A4 to an A5 chip, and a dualmode wireless chip capable of using both CDMA and GSM networks. The latter certainly seems plausible, especially after the Verizon iPhone 4 was released with this functionality, but would Apple really upgrade their processor just one year after its debut?