Apple's iPad launch 2013: live blog

Apple's iPad launch: What to expect
All the iPad news, all the time

11.25 We're done here. Well, only in this bit - we've got to go and bring you hands on reviews of these devices ASAP. Stay tuned... it's been a blast.

11.24 That's it. Tim's off stage. The hell is over. How was the iPad section the shortest part?

11.24 Here's the full run down of the iPad mini with Retina:

  • Retina display added.
  • 7.9-inch, 2048 x 1536
  • A7 chip with 64 bit architecture
  • 4x fast CPU tasks, 8x faster GPU tasks
  • 10 hour battery life
  • 2x faster Wi-Fi with MiMo
  • Extended 4G support
  • 5MP iSight Camera
  • HD FaceTime camera
  • No TouchID
  • Color options: Silver & White and Space Grey & Black
  • from $399 - 16GB Wi-Fi
  • from $529 - 16GB 4G + Wi-Fi

11.23 It's a weird omission when both have an A7 chip.

11.22 Seriously, where's TouchID? Why is that not on either?

11.22 Which iPad is better? We'd argue for both... but at least the iPad Air has more new stuff.

11.20 Front and back covers: $79 for iPad Air, $69 for iPad mini 2.

11.18 iPad mini with Retina will cost $399, and the older one will cost $299.

11.16 The iPad mini now has Retina display. Surprise!

iPad launch

11.15 Definitely no TouchID.

11.15 This has been in development for years. Imagine if Apple had made this back then. Nobody would have bothered competing.

11.14 Jony Ive looks so, so sad when he's telling us about stuff.

11.13 The iPad 2 just won't die - it's still being sold for $399. Who would buy that when $100 more gets you the new one??

11.11 iPad Air release date is set for November 1.

11.10 This is basically an iPhone 5S. 5MP camera, Facetime HD, dual mics, 10 hour battery life, and comes in silver and white, and space gray and black. Will replace the iPad 4, and will start at $499 for Wi-Fi 16GB, and cellular will be $629.

11.09 A7 chip on board. 2x increase in graphical rendering. Doesn't look like it's Touch ID.

11.08 Weighs just one pound... or 453 g. That's Xperia Tablet Z beating. AND they also talked up Gizmodo! The feud is over!

iPad launch

11.06 43% thinner bezel. 7.5mm thick. 20% thinner across the entire device. Apparently this took years of work - every hundredth of a mm was hunted down and killed.

iPad launch

11.06 The iPad AIR? Whut? Who saw that coming? Thinner, faster, betterer... it's all new.

11.06 The internet in your hands you say?

11.05 Next generation of iPads is here. Phil is back. We'd love it if Tim was supposed to do it, but the autocue was down so he threw Schiller under the bus.

11.04 Actually, someone was using it to take a picture. Now THAT'S not right.

11.03 A fireman was using an iPad while in a truck. A surgeon has it in the OR. This doesn't seem right.

11.02 People using iPads in crazy places... that's how everyday they are. Underwater. On a lake, in a restaurant. Wait, that chef just looked at a picture of the food they were making?

11.02 It's video time.

11.02 475,000 iPad only apps.

11.00 We're kind of hoping he says 'And that's it! Thanks bye!'

11.00 170 million iPads sold. And apparently 81% of all tablet usage is iPad. You can talk about activations all you want, but apparently this is the big thing. iPad > everyone.

11.00 Cook is castigating us for doubting the iPad, thinking it would take on netbooks. Well, Apple is showing YOU GUYS. It's one of the successful products ever ever ever ever ever thankyouverymuch.

10.59 iPAD IPAD iPaD IT'S HERE.

10.58 Tim Cook just paused for about five seconds, staring at the auto-cue. This is the bigger story.

10.57 We could have done all of this in about three minutes at the start.

10.56 Office costs $99 a year. iWork is now free with a new Mac or iOS device. That's actually pretty cool.

10.56 Roger and Eddy are out-laming each other on stage right now. It's amazing.

10.55 Where's Jonney Shih when you need him?

10.53 Eddy just made an amazingly off the cuff joke about wearing a different shirt today. It made us chuckle. That's how low we've sunk. We don't even want the new iPad. We just want it to be over.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.